Gyrth Godwinson (aft. 1035 - 1066)

Born after 1035 in Wessex, England

Ancestors

Died 14 Oct 1066 before age 31 in Battle, Sussex, England

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Biography

Gyrth Godwinson is a member of the House of Godwin.

Gyrth was the son of Godwin and Gytha.^[1] He was the fourth in the list of Godwin's sons given by Orderic Vitalis, after Sweyn, Tostig and Harold.^[2] His birth year is uncertain but was probably after 1035. According to the Vita Ædwardi Regis, commissioned by his sister Eadgyth after the death of her husband Edward the Confessor, Gyrth was still in his boyhood years when Edward the Confessor gave him control of Norfolk in the early to mid 1050s.^[1]

In 1051, when Godwin and his family fled England, Gyrth went with his parents to Flanders.^[1][3] The next year Edward the Confessor was compelled to accept the Godwin family back.^[4]

Norfolk was entrusted to Gyrth in, perhaps, 1055. Gyrth soon after became Earl of East Anglia - probably in 1057 when Ælfgar, who had been Earl, succeed to the Earldom of Mercia. The first charter on which Gyrth's name appear as Earl in dated 1059. Gyrth's authority extended beyond East Anglia into Oxfordshire.^[1]

In 1061 Gyrth went to Rome with his brother Tostig, and attended a papal synod there.^[1]

Gyrth died on 14 October 1066 in the Battle of Hastings.^[1][2][5] Orderic Vitalis says that he had tried to dissuade his brother Harold II from engaging in battle with William the Conqueror at that stage, and suggested instead that Harold should stay in London, preparing for further fighting, while Gyrth himself led an Anglo-Saxon army against William.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6} Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Ann Williams for 'Gyrth, earl of East Anglia', print and online 2004
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Charles Cawley. GYRTH (c.1032-killed in battle Hastings 14 Oct 1066), entry in "Medieval Lands" database (accessed 23 July 2021).
3. ↑ Michael Swanton (translator and editor). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, revised edition, Phoenix Press, 2000, p. 172
4. ↑ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Frank Barlow for 'Edward [St Edward; known as Edward the Confessor]', print and online 2004
5. ↑ Michael Swanton, The Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, pp. 198-199

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry by Ann Williams for 'Gyrth, earl of East Anglia', print and online 2004
• Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Vol. 23, p. 411, entry for 'GYRTH (d. 1066', Wikisource
• Cawley, Charles. "Medieval Lands": A prosopography of medieval European noble and royal families © by Charles Cawley, hosted by Foundation for Medieval Genealogy (FMG). See also WikiTree's source page for MedLands. Entry for GYRTH (c.1032-killed in battle Hastings 14 Oct 1066).
• Wikipedia: Gyrth Godwinson