The House of Godwine: The History of a Dynasty

by Emma Mason

Overview

Harold Godwineson was king of England from January 1066 until his death at Hastings in October of that year. For much of the reign of Edward the Confessor, who was married to Harold's sister Eadgyth, the Godwine family, led by Earl Godwine, had dominated English politics. In The Rise and Fall of the House of Godwine, Emma Mason tells the turbulent story of a remarkable family which, until Harold's unexpected defeat, looked far more likely than the dukes of Normandy to provide the long-term rulers of England. But for the Norman Conquest, an Anglo-Saxon England ruled by the Godwine dynasty would have developed very differently from that dominated by the Normans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781852853891
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	03/04/2004
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Emma Mason is a Emeritus Reader in History at Birkbeck College, University of London, and the author of many books and articles on Medieval England.

Table of Contents

	Illustrations	vii
	Acknowledgements	ix
	Prologue	xi
1	The Kingdom of England	1
2	Threats from Abroad	15
3	Earl Godwine	31
4	Struggle at Court	49
5	Triumph	69
6	Harold Godwineson	83
7	William of Normandy	107
8	Before Hastings	123
9	Hastings	155
10	Survivors	177
	Notes	203
	Further Reading	257
	Index	261