Tostig Godwinson
Brother and Traitor to the King
Nov 28, 2006 Joseph Allen McCullough
Born around the year 1025, Tostig was the third son of the power Earl Godwin and the younger brother to the future King Harold. For most of his early life, he lived in the shadow of his two older brothers. In 1051, he married Judith the daughter of Count Baldwin IV of Flanders, which cemented an already powerful alliance between the two families. In 1055, when Earl Siward died, King Edward named Tostig the Earl of Northumbria, Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire. The most important of these was Northumbria, which at the time was a lawless domain, ruled by bandits and robbers. With the backing of his powerful family, Tostig was able to impose new laws and round up the outlaws that had plagued0 the country. It was a great achievement, and set up Tostig as one of England's most capable leaders.
It is unfortunate that there is no chronicle of Tostig and that his story can only be pieced together from a variety of sources concerned with other men and other affairs, because sometime around the year 1060, something happened to Tostig. We'll never know what, and it is pointless to speculate, but something caused this rising star of English politics to completely come apart. We know that in the early years of that decade, his rulership over his Earldom became increasingly brutal and irrational. In 1064 Tostig had a meeting with two of his most important Thegns, an old English term for minor nobility on par with a knight. At the meeting, Tostig had the men arrested and executed. Such an action was not only violent, but against English common law, which stated the men were under the Earl's protection at the meeting and should not be harmed. Later that same year, Tostig had another of his important Thegns assassinated.
Northumbria had had enough. In 1065, 200 Senior Thegns met in York and declared they would no longer serve under Tostig. They chose Morcar, the son of a house opposed to the Godwinsons, as their new leader. When King Edward the Confessor learned of the uprising, he sent Harold Godwinson to deal with the situation. Harold sensed that England could be on the brink of Civil War and rode to the scene of the rebellion without the military force the King had suggested. Harold met with the leaders of the rebellion, and, deciding against his own brother, confirmed Morcar as Earl of Northumbria. Tostig was declared an outlaw and fled the country.
Tostig went to live with his wife's family in Flanders, and likely could have lived out his life in wealth and comfort. It was not to be. For the next year, Tostig would seek out a way to extract revenge on his brother and those that had forced him out. When he heard of the death of King Edward, Tostig went to Normandy and met with Duke William, offering him his help in invading England. Although William agreed, Tostig was unable to wait for William to gather his forces. Tostig took his own small army and attacked the North of England, only to be defeated by Earl Morcar and the Northumbrians. Next, Tostig sailed to Denmark and tried to convince King Sweyn to attack England. When Sweyn declined, Tostig sailed for Norway. Here he convinced King Harald Hardrada to make a bid for the English Crown. Together, the two decided on a plan. Tostig sailed for Scotland and gathered an army of Scots, Flemmish, and mercenaries. Meanwhile, Harald Hardrada gathered his own forces. In late 1066, the two armies met on English soil and launched their attack against England.
The rest of the story is told in my article about Fulford Gate and Stamford Bridge.
What do you think about this article?
More in History
Latest Articles