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Gytha Thorkelsdóttir

Type Figure Region England Time c. 1022–1098 Also known as Gytha

A Danish noblewoman, wife of Earl Godwin of Wessex and mother of Harold, Tostig, Leofwine, and others.…

Timeline

  1. 1040–1065Wessex · WessexShe married Earl Godwin of Wessex and bore him several children including Harold, Tostig, and Leofwine. As the Godwin family rose to become the most powerful magnates of Edward the Confessor's era, she maintained noble marriages and personal networks as its lady, consolidating the family's foundations in southern England.
  2. 1066–1070Exeter · DevonAfter her sons Harold, Leofwine, and Tostig fell in succession in 1066, Gytha became the surviving core of the family. Later tradition holds that she demanded the return of her sons' bodies and was rumored to have taken part in the anti-Norman resistance at Exeter; she fled to Flanders around 1068 and continued to seek refuge for the family's descendants.

Sources