Talk:Godwin Family Tree

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[edit] Sources?

There are, AFAIK, no sources giving any information to the ancestry of Godwin's father Wulfnoð. Of the two sources linked here, both websites, one is offline and the other does not even mention Wulfnoð. Havard 19:24, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

To expand on the above, after looking into some sources... There are theories as to the descent of family of Earl Godwin from the Wessex kings, based parts on stubs of genealogic information and parts on tracing land ownership. The weakest link in the tree as shown is the line linking the ancestry of Wulfnoð Cild to the old Wessex line. There is one source mentioning the three Æthelmar-Wulfnoð-Godwin together as if a continued descent (the will of the Æthelstan, son of Æthelred II). The source does not identify this Godwin as the Earl Godwin, nor does it identify this Æthelmar with the Ealdorman Æthelmar, son of Ealdorman Æthelward (who might be the same as Æthelward the historian). It would appear to me that the best thing would be to split the tree in two; one showing the old Wessex lines, including the ancestry of Æthelward, and one showing the descent from Wulfnoð with references to the theory that he was descending from the old Wessex kings. Havard 14:13, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

• I have a family tree of the english royal family published by ancestors.co.uk which I purchased at Westminster Abbey which disproves a good chunk of this. I would change this page accordingly if I knew how. Shadowblade 14:24, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

The story of Godwin's humble ancestry are a traditional myth spread by Norman apologists and populist material such as tourist pamphlets from Westminster Abbey reflect this. They describe Godwin as a boy who took Cnut's horse through a fog or alternateively that Wulfnoth Cild was a herdsman. Wulfnoth was Thegn of Sussex and leader of the Sandwich naval mutiny in 1009 against his uncle Brihtric, brother of Eadric Streona. Eadric is also described by Florence & John of Worcester as "of humble birth". The question is whether this is because the whole family were the equivalent of the Dingles in the British soap Emmerdale, or whether this is a standard way of dissing them. William of Malmesbury described Eadric Streona as "the refuse of mankind and a reproach unto the English" so there was no love lost there. Athelstan Atheling's will restores to Godwin the land taken from his father at Compton, which had previously been put aside by Alfred for the descendants of Aethelhelm, son of King Ethelred and this land is later owned by Godwin as Earl of Wessex. Professor Kelley has written a monogram on this for the Foundation for Medieval Genealogy. He also attributes Eadric Streona's father as being Aethelweard the Historian although "Aethelric" is given, this may be a typo (or "quillo").There is also confusion that this may be the previous incumbent as Ealdorman of Mercia to whom Eadric was not related at all.The attribution of Eadric's father to being Aethelweard the Historian who explicitly states his royal descent is attractive in that Aethelweard and Archbishop Alfheah (St. Alphege) are recorded as negotiators with the Danes on Ethelred the Unready's behalf. Later Eadric attempted to ransom Alfheah from Thorkell the Tall, but Alfheah was killed and Thorkell defected to become a close chum of Streona. signed Streona 09:54, 21 October 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Streona (talk • contribs) 08:40, 21 October 2007 (UTC)