Edward the Confessor and the Balance of Power
Edward the Confessor, a model of medieval piety, was a surprisingly effective ruler, relying on the Normans to keep the powerful Godwine dynasty at bay.
Godwine, a man who had risen to become Earl of Wessex during the reign of Cnut (d. 1035), sailed up the Thames in 1052. Having paused in Southwark to recruit Londoners, Godwine took advantage of a rising tide to continue upriver, his ships sticking to the southern bank. After his exile from England the year before, Godwine’s aim was clear: to threaten Edward the Confessor with war so that he (and his children) could be restored to their former positions of power.
This is the story as told in two versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, an annual record of events. A third version of the Chronicle offers a rather different account. Rather than concentrating on Godwine’s military forces and aggressive tactics, it says that he and his son, Harold, ‘sent to the king and asked him legally to return to them all those things of which they had been unjustly deprived’. Edward is depicted as being reluctant to give any response, leaving Godwine’s men so angry that they wanted to attack the king. It was only through great effort that Godwine was able to calm his men and prevent them from advancing against Edward.
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