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Tostig Godwinson (1026? – September 25, 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
 earl
Earl

Earl was the Anglo-Saxons form and jarl the Scandinavian form of a title meaning "chieftain" and referring especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead....
 of Northumbria
Northumbria

Northumbria is primarily the name of both a medieval petty kingdom of the Angles people, in what is now north east England and southern Scotland, and of the earldom which succeeded it when a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom became England....
 and brother of King Harold II of England, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England.

ig was the third child of Godwin
Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Godwin of Wessex, also known as Godwine, Goodwin, Godwyn or Goodwyn was one of the most powerful lords in Kingdom of England under the Denmark king Canute the Great and his successors....
, Earl of Wessex and Kent, and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir
Gytha Thorkelsdóttir

Gytha Torkelsdotter was the daughter of Torkel Styrbj?rnsson . In 1019, she married the Anglo-Saxons nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex, apparently as his second wife ....
. In 1051, he married Judith, the daughter of Count Baldwin IV, half-sister of Baldwin V of Flanders, and aunt of Matilda
Matilda of Flanders

Matilda of Flanders was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England and the wife of William I of England.She was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and Adela of France, Countess of Flanders , daughter of Robert II of France....
 who married William the Conqueror
William I of England

William I , better known as William the Conqueror , was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and English monarchy from later 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name....
.

same year, 1051, Tostig and his father were banished from England to which they forcefully returned in 1052.






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Tostig Godwinson (1026? – September 25, 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxons is the term usually used to describe the invading tribes in the south and east of Great Britain starting from the early 5th century AD, and their creation of the English nation, lasting until the Norman conquest of England of 1066....
 earl
Earl

Earl was the Anglo-Saxons form and jarl the Scandinavian form of a title meaning "chieftain" and referring especially to chieftains set to rule a territory in a king's stead....
 of Northumbria
Northumbria

Northumbria is primarily the name of both a medieval petty kingdom of the Angles people, in what is now north east England and southern Scotland, and of the earldom which succeeded it when a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom became England....
 and brother of King Harold II of England, the last crowned Anglo-Saxon King of England.

Early life

Tostig was the third child of Godwin
Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Godwin of Wessex, also known as Godwine, Goodwin, Godwyn or Goodwyn was one of the most powerful lords in Kingdom of England under the Denmark king Canute the Great and his successors....
, Earl of Wessex and Kent, and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir
Gytha Thorkelsdóttir

Gytha Torkelsdotter was the daughter of Torkel Styrbj?rnsson . In 1019, she married the Anglo-Saxons nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex, apparently as his second wife ....
. In 1051, he married Judith, the daughter of Count Baldwin IV, half-sister of Baldwin V of Flanders, and aunt of Matilda
Matilda of Flanders

Matilda of Flanders was Queen consort of the Kingdom of England and the wife of William I of England.She was the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders, and Adela of France, Countess of Flanders , daughter of Robert II of France....
 who married William the Conqueror
William I of England

William I , better known as William the Conqueror , was Duke of Normandy from 1035 and English monarchy from later 1066 to his death. William is sometimes also referred to as "William II" in relation to his position as the second Duke of Normandy of that name....
.

Earldom

That same year, 1051, Tostig and his father were banished from England to which they forcefully returned in 1052. Three years later in 1055, Tostig became the Earl of Northumbria upon the death of Earl Siward.

Tostig appears to have governed in Northumbria with some difficulty. He was never popular with the Northumbrian ruling class, a mix of Danish invaders and Anglo Saxon survivors of the last Norse invasion. The reasons for this are not clear. On 3 October 1065, the thegn
Thegn

File:Map of thegn runestones.jpgThe term thegn , from Old English ?egn, ?egn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly employed by historians to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves....
s of Yorkshire and the rest of Yorkshire descended on York and occupied the city. They killed Tostig's officials and supporters, then declared Tostig outlawed for his unlawful action and sent for Morcar
Morcar of Northumbria

Morcar was the son of ?lfgar, Earl of Mercia and brother of Edwin, Earl of Mercia. He was himself the earl of Northumbria from 1065 to 1066, when he was replaced by William the Conqueror with Copsi....
, younger brother of Edwin
Edwin, Earl of Mercia

Edwin was the elder brother of Morcar, Earl of Northumbria, son of ?lfgar, Earl of Mercia and grandson of Leofric, Earl of Mercia. He succeeded to his father's title and responsibilities on ?lfgar's death in 1062....
, Earl of Mercia
Mercia

Mercia was one of the kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxons Heptarchy. It was centred on the valley of the River Trent and its tributaries in the region now known as the English Midlands....
. The northern rebels marched south to press their case with King Edward. They were joined at Northampton by Earl Edwin and his forces. There, they were met by Earl Harold, who had been sent by King Edward to negotiate with them and thus did not bring his forces. After Harold had spoken with the rebels at Northampton, he realised that Tostig would not be able to retain Northumbria. When he returned to Oxford, where the royal council was to meet on 28 October, he had probably already made up his mind.

Battle of Stamford Bridge

Hardrada's army invaded York
York

York is a walled city, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire and River Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city status in the United Kingdom is noted for its rich heritage and it has played an important role throughout much of its almost 2,000 year existence....
, taking hostages after a peaceful surrender, and likely agreed with the local inhabitants to gather commandeered supplies at Stamford Bridge, near York, a conveniently central spot, well fed by streams and roads. King Harold Godwinson raced northward with an English army from London and, on September 25, 1066, surprised Tostig and about 6,000 of his men, basking in the sun and awaiting supplies. The Norwegians, and the Flemish mercenaries hired by Tostig, were largely without armor and carried only personal weapons. The day was very hot and no resistance was expected. The remainder of the 11,000 man force remained guarding the Norse ships, beached miles away at Riccall. After a brief meeting of the two kings, where Harald refused to surrender, and Tostig to abandon him, a long battle ensued. Despite making a brave stand, and reinforced late in the day by a desperate, sweating column from Riccall, the Norwegians suffered a complete and utter defeat. Fewer than twenty of the three hundred Norwegian ships returned home. King Harald of Norway died there, as did Tostig Godwinson.

After his death, Tostig's two sons took refuge in Norway, while his wife Judith married Duke Welf
Welf I, Duke of Bavaria

Welf I was duke of Bavaria from 1070 to 1077 and from 1096 to his death. He was the first member of the Welf branch of the House of Este. In the Welf genealogy he is counted as Welf IV....
 of Bavaria
Bavaria

Bavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is a region located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest States of Germany of Germany by area....
. It is believed that after Stamford Bridge his body was taken to York and buried at York Minster
York Minster

York Minster is a Gothic architecture cathedral in York, England and is one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe alongside Cologne Cathedral....
.

His two sons with Judith:
  • Skuli Tostisson Kongsfostre (* born 1052)-his great-great-granddaugther Helena Guttormsdotter was the mistress of Valdemar II of Denmark
    Valdemar II of Denmark

    Valdemar II , called Valdemar the Conqueror or Valdemar the Victorious , was the King of Denmark from November 12, 1202 until his death in 1241....
     and mother of Vlademar son Canute, Duke of Reval
    Canute, Duke of Reval

    Canute or Knud Valdemarsen was Duke of Revelia, Blekinge and Lolland, a bastard son of King Valdemar II of Denmark.Canute was the son of the king by his concubine, Helena Guttormsdotter, widow of an important Denmark nobleman and daughter of the late Guttorm, Riksjarl of Sweden....
    .
  • Ketil Tostisson (* born 1054)


Tostig in non-fiction books

Popular (as opposed to scholarly) non-fiction books that cover Tostig's life and role in history include:
  • 1066: The Year of the Conquest (1977) by David Howarth (ISBN 0-88029-014-5)
  • The Making of the King 1066 (1966) by Alan Lloyd (ISBN 0-88029-473-6)


Tostig in fiction

Tostig features in the novels The Last English King
The Last English King

The Last English King is a historical novel by English people writer Julian Rathbone. The novel covers the events leading up to and including the Battle of Hastings....
 (2000), by Julian Rathbone
Julian Rathbone

Julian Christopher Rathbone was an English people novelist....
 (where he is depicted as Edward the Confessor
Edward the Confessor

Saint Edward the Confessor , son of Ethelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy, was the penultimate Anglo-Saxons List of the monarchs of the Kingdom of England and the last of the House of Wessex, ruling from 1042 until his death....
's catamite
Catamite

A catamite is the younger partner in a Pederasty relationship between two males, which was a popular arrangement in many areas of the ancient world....
), Harold, The Last of the Saxon Kings, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, The King's Shadow, by Elizabeth Alder, and The Interim King, by J. Colman McMillan.

On screen, Tostig was portrayed by actor Frederick Jaeger
Frederick Jaeger

Frederick Jaeger was a Germans-born actor who found success working in United Kingdom television.He is well remembered by fans of the science fiction series Doctor Who for his roles in three serials - The Savages in 1966, Planet of Evil in 1975 and The Invisible Enemy in 1977....
 in the two-part BBC TV play Conquest (1966), part of the series Theatre 625
Theatre 625

Theatre 625 is a British television drama anthology series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC Two from 1964 to 1968. It was one of the first regular programmes in the line-up of the channel, and the title highlighted the fact that it was produced and transmitted on the higher-definition 625-line format, which at the time only BBC...
.

See also

  • Godwin family tree
  • Canute's family tree
  • Viking
    Viking

    A Viking is one of the Norsemen explorers, warriors, merchants, and Piracy who raided and colonized wide areas of Europe from the late eighth to the early eleventh century....
    s


External links

  • .