The House of Wessex
When King Edward the Confessor died in 1066, he made the fateful mistake of nominating two heirs to his throne; his distant kinsman William of Normandy and his unwitting brother-in-law Harold of Wessex. This blunder would ultimately be the Norman Conquest in 1066. The irony was that both men were not even the true heirs to the throne; instead the claim belonged to the young Edgar the Atheling who was bypassed due to his youth.

Wulnoth, Cyld of Sussex, had issue:

• A1. Godwine, Earl of Wessex and Kent (1020-53), *ca 987, +of apoplexy at Winchester Castle 15.4.1053, bur Winchester Cathedral; 1m: Thyra of Denmark (*ca 993, +1018); 2m: Gytha (*ca 1000, +after VI.1069), dau.of Thorgils Sprakalegg; all issue by 2m.
  • B1. Harold II, Earl of East Anglia (ca 1045-66), Wessex, Kent and Hereford, King of England (1066) -cr St.Paul’s Catehdral 6.1.1066, *ca 1022, +k.a.Hastings, Sussex 14.10.1066, bur Waltham Abbey, Essex; m.York ca III.1066 Edith (*ca 1042, +in exile after 1070), dau.of Alfgar, Earl of Mercia
    • C1. Harold, *Chester XII.1066, +in exile after 1098
    • C2. Ulf, *Chester XII.1066, +Normandy in exile after 1087
      *** King Harold also had the following illegitimate issue all by Edith Swanneshals "the Swan Neck":
    • C3. Godwine
    • C4. Edmund
    • C5. Magnus
    • C6. Gunhilda, a nun at Wilton Abbey, Wiltshire
    • C7. Gytha, *ca 1055/60, +Kiev 7.5.1107; m.ca 1070 Great Pr Vladimir II of Kiev (*ca 1053, +19.5.1125)
  • B2. Sweyn, Earl of Mercia (1043-52), *ca 1023, +in exile at Lycia nr Constantinople 29.9.1052; he had the following illegitimate issue by Edgiva, Abbess of Leonminster
    • C1. Haakon, *1046/47, +?
    • C2. Tostig
  • B3. Tostig, Earl of Northumbria, Northampton and Nottingham (ca 1055-65) deprived of titles on 3.10.1065, *ca 1026, +k.a.Stamford Bridge, Northumberland 25.9.1066, bur York Minster; m.X.1051 Judith of Flanders (*ca 1037, +5.3.1094)
    • C1. Skule, reached adulthood; married and had issue of whom no details recorded
    • C2. Ketel, reached adulthood; marriedand had issue of whom no details recorded
  • B4. Gyrth, Earl of East Anglia (1057-66), *ca 1028, +k.a.Hastings, Sussex 14.10.1066
  • B5. Leofwine, Earl of Kent, Surrey, Middlesex, Herfordshire and Buckinghamshire (ca 1057-66), *ca 1030, +k.a.Hastings, Sussex 14.10.1066
  • B6. Wulfnoth, +after 1087 in Normandy or in Salisbury, Wiltshire
  • B7. Alfgar, a monk at Rheims, France
  • B8. Edith, *ca 1020, +Winchester 18.12.1075, bur Westminster Abbey; m.23.1.1045 King Edward "the Confessor" of England (*1005 + 5.1.1066)
  • B9. Edgiva
  • B10. Elgiva, +ca 1066
  • B11. Gunhilda, a nun at Bruges, Flanders, +Bruges 24.8.1087, bur Bruges Cathedral

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Rulers of England
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Last updated 13th May 2003