GODWIN'S CLAN - 4: MAKING OF AN EARL - Harold's Performance Down the Years - (Part Two)

attention was taken again by the news of the death of the emperor Heanrig. Another attempt would be made to bring back the exiles. The emperor's young son was amenable to allowing Eadward 'the Exile' safe passage through his domain, and this time Harold would take centre stage as mediator. Although there is no direct reference to him being involved, there are pointers to this being the case. Harold's name as 'Harold Ducis' os found on the witness list of a dimploma issued by his brother-in-law Count Baldwin V of Flanders at St. Omer.

He may already have set out on hearing of the emperor's death. Baldwin went on from St. Omer to Cologne to broker a peace with Agnes of Poitiers, Heanrig IV's regent and Harold would have joined his party with a view to being introduced to Agnes, and to explain why he was there. At Cologne he was likely to have been successful in gaining her support, possibly also of the Pontiff Victor II. The party then moved on to Regensburg on the Danube for the Christmas Court, and here Harold would have opened talks with King Andrew of Hungary on the possibility of the exiled aetheling and his young family, and with the aetheling himself. He would, after all, be travelling to a strange land where he had blood ties with the king but had not known since infancy. Doubtless he had to be satisfied his family would be safe from harm on the long journey. Andrew would have been offered a 'sop' to release a man who had helped secure his throne in his youth some years earlier. Whilst Andrew and the aetheling Eadward came to an agreement Harold went on with Victor to Rome for the Easter festivities of AD1057. The 'Vita Eadwardi' mentions the business in what was termed 'Frankish territory', reflecting a faint echo of the mission but not saying outright that Harold was involved. The later 'Vita Haroldi' possibly confuses the mission with the visit together with Tostig when Harold collected relics for his church at Waltham - as listed in the reliquium and therefore verifying the account. Harold would have returned by way of Bavaria, where he joined the aetheling and his colourful retinue for the crossing of Frankia to Dover.

Aside from Harold having been in Flanders in November AD1056, and that he was in Rome no direct evidence of his links with these events. The religious relics given to Waltham shows some evidence of travelling in the regions mentioned and it is known he brought relics from Ghent, Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen) Cologne and Worms on his way from St. Omer to Regensburg perhaps - but it might be too much of a coincidence that the items all came from places on the route described above. The relics might have been gathered at other times, but would not be easy fitting them into Harold's itinerary at any other time. Other than this circumstantial evidence nothing can tie the earl in with any of the events, but it is known that Harold was nowhere to be seen in England around July or August AD1056 or before the autumn of AD1057 when Eadward 'the Exile' landed at Dover, which is recorded in the Chronicle as being just before Earl Leofric died on September 30th. After the failure of Ealdred's mission someone with considerably more diplomatic skill had to have been involved in the exile's return to England. n the evidence of his achievements in Wales it is safe to assume he was involved.

Unluckily the aetheling had not long been in England before he died mysteriously without meeting his namesake. In the scheme of things King Eadmund's son had seniority over his kinsman the king through his father being issue of an earlier marriage than Aethelred's to Emma. The coming of the aetheling Eadgar with his mother Agatha and sisters Margarethe and Christina provided the heirless king and queen with an 'instant' family. The Chronicle referred to Eadgar's kingship as being 'his proper due'.

On Earl Leofric's death in September, AD1057 his widespread political weight devolved on his son Aelfgar. Eadward was not in a position to prevaricate, since allowing Harold to take over Wessex on Godwin's death. At this time also Harold's younger brother Gyrth was given the vacated earldom of East Anglia. Earl Ralph had died leaving a young son Harold in the care of Eadgytha until AD1066. Nothing more is known of him. The earldom had to be allocated quickly but the nearest candidate Aelfgar was unlikely to be welcomed by Hereford's former defenders. Being untested, neither of Harold's younger brothers was considered either, Hereford being on the 'front line'. At around this time Leofwin Godwinson was awarded the earldom of Essex and part of East Kent, safe from attacks by either of the Welsh princes. So it befell King Eadward to allocate Herefordshire to Wessex under Harold.

The upshot of the AD1057 changes was that Aelfgar was the only earl in England not of the Godwin clan. Knut's three senior earls had sired sons of their own but Siward's eldest Osbeorn was slain in Scotland. Leofric's only other son had died some years before Leofric himself, and thst left Godwin's male offspring, of whom one - Svein - was now out of the picture. Ralph's infant son was in the care of the queen and Earl Odda left no offspring. At the time of his father's death Waltheof was too young to take over Northumbria - the kingdom's equivalent of the 'Wild West' - and he would have to wait until after Eadward's death to be given reponsibility of Middle Anglia by Harold.

Earl Aelfgar may have been worried about being ringed by Harold's brothers Tostig's lands being to his north and east, Harold's to his south. In a bid to strengthen his position Aelfgar arranged the marriage of his daughter Aelfgifu to Gruffyd ap Llewellyn. When Aelfgar in died in AD1063 his son Eadwin was still a callow, inexperienced youth only a little older than Waltheof. In sealing a marriage between his daughter and the Welsh prince in AD1058 a second banishment loomed over him. Another ally was added in the form of the West Norse heir Magnus Haraldsson with his fleet. with this added military weight Aelfgar hoped to win back his earldom once again. The Norsemen raided the coast north of the Mersey whilst the Welsh pressed on the Herefordshire boundary. Magnus Haraldsson's attacks would surely be the trigger for Tostig to join his brother in over-running Gruffyd's home-ground of Gwynedd (it seems odd that eight years on he would be allied to Magnus through his father in an invasion to regain his own earldom from another of Aelfgar's sons, Morkere).

Domesday recorded Tostig's lands in Amounderness as 'waste' in AD1086 - almost thirty years after the event; whether this was due to the Norse attack or later Norman activity in AD1069 is unknown (the earldom stretched east to west at the time from the mouths of the Humber to the Mersey.

Gruffyd had raided Eadward's western borders without reprisals and he had beaten off several attempts to stop him. He was plainly a threat to Eadward's kingdom and needed to be cut to size. With his alliance to Aelfgar, and the Mercians being unwilling to tangle with 'their' earl it looked almost impossible to tackle him. Nor was it likely in the foreseeable future that the alliance would come to a close again. Aelfgar would need to secure his standing with his Mercian underlings, and when he did so he would be within the king's jurisdiction - even if it meant having to do without Mercian help again. Eadward and Harold would wait.

Little detail was entered in the Chronicle between the years of AD1057-65; AD1058 was known to have been hectic but all that is recorded in the 'D' version is: "...It is tedious to relate fully how things went. Events notwithstanding, Harold found time to oversee the decoration of and to attend the dedication of his newly erected collegiate church at Waltham. This was performed on May 3rd, AD1060, the Feast of the Finding of the True Cross. Archbishop Cynesige of York was present instead of the ecclesiastically dubious Archbishop Stigand, in whose jurisdiction the church was. The king and queen also graced the proceedings with their presence at the eight days of feasting and merrymaking, along with eleven bishops, the same number of abbots as well as many earls and other laymen of high standing". Although no official list is available the formal confirmation charter of AD1062 bears their names with the exception of that of Cynesige. Their names were set down in an earlier draft charter to be used as the grounding of the formal document. This would have been a worthy gathering for what was not even a royal church, showing how venerated Harold was at the time. He would have taken the opportunity here to present the relics he had obstained on his travels across the continent.

The Earl of Wessex and his brothers could now flex their muscles, consolidate their position in the kingdom, attend the shire courts to see that the judicial machinery ran smoothly and in doing so extend their friendships with those of standing within their respective earldoms.

In AD1061 Tostig and Gyrth felt secure enough to cross to Rome with Ealdred the newly appointed Archbishop of York. This was the only time Malcolm Canmore took advantage of tostig's absence to raid Northumbria, including Lindisfarne. On the earl's return he withdrew and peace reigned in Northumbria again. It was around AD1062 when the broad consensus of public opinion agrees that Earl Aelfgar died. He is not mentioned in the Chronicles between regaining his earldom - again - in AD1058 and Eadwin being made earl in AD1065 just before the time his brother Morkere was given the earldom of Northumbria and Tostig banished. Aelfgar supported the election of Wulfstan to the Bishopric of Worcester, that much is certain from a document dated August 27th, AD1062. This seems to have been his last recorded act as Earl of Mercia. He would have died late in AD1062, not long before Christmas whilst attending King Eadward's Christmas court at Gloucester. This was the trigger for Harold's strike at Gruffyd, when the prince would have been unaware of the earl's intentions.

Next - 5: An Earl's Wealth