Toste Godwinson

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Toste Godwinson , also Tosti Godwinson , Tosty Godwinson and Tostig Godwinson (* approx. 1026 - † September 25, 1066 near Stamford Bridge ) was from 1055 to 1065 Count (Earl) of Northumbria .

family

Toste was the son of the Anglo-Saxon Earl Godwin Wulfnothson of Wessex ( Godwins ) and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir , daughter of Torkel Björnsson and sister of Ulf Jarl of Denmark. He had numerous siblings: Harold , the later King of England Harald II, Sven, Gyrth , Leofwine , Wulfnoth , Waeltheow, Morcar, Edwin, Herbert, Ælfgar and his sisters Edith, Elgiva, Gunhilda and Gytha.

In 1051 Toste married Judith von Flanders , the daughter of Count Baldwin IV. Schönbart and half-sister of Baldwin V , known as the Pious . She was thus on her father's side an aunt of Mathilde von Flanders , the wife of William the Conqueror . His sons Skuli Tostisson Kongsfostre (* around 1052) and Ketil Krok Tostisson (* around 1054) presumably come from his marriage to Judith.

The son Olaf, attested by Symeon of Durham , who was present at the Battle of Stamford Bridge in 1066 , is in all likelihood based on a confusion with Olav III. Kyrre , the son of Harald Hardrades .

Life

Early years

Toste is first mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle when he, together with his father Godwin and his brother Harold, fended off a pirate attack with the royal fleet in 1046.

After a failed revolt against King Edward the Confessor , the Godwins had to flee England in 1051. Godwin and his sons Toste, Swegn and Gyrth fled to Baldwin V in Flanders, the sons Harold and Leofwine fled to Ireland.

In 1052, the two parties were reconciled again in London, mainly because Edward could not do without the support of the powerful and popular Earl. Eduard made Godwin's son Toste his favorite and returned property and title to the family. Godwin, Toste and Harold spent Easter 1053 in Winchester at Edward's court, where Godwin collapsed and died a few days later.

Earl of Northumbria

When Earl Siward died in 1055, Eduard the Confessor named Toste Earl of Northumbria . Toste, who came from Wessex in Saxony in the south of England, had difficulties in asserting himself in Northumbria in the Anglican-Danish region . King Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland, Toste and Archbishop Ealdred of York visited Edward the Confessor in 1059. While Toste was in Rome with his wife and Archbishop Ealdred von York in 1061 , the Scots attacked Northumbria. After repeated attacks by King Gruffydd ap Llywelyn of Wales, in 1063 Edward sent his earls Harold and Toste Godwinson, the commander-in-chief of the royal army, to subdue Wales.

exile

Earl Toste ruled despotic, his frequent absence from his earldom exacerbated the antagonism, which in 1065 erupted into a rebellion. When his brother Harold also refused to support him, he was banished by Eduard the Confessor and had to flee to his brother-in-law Baldwin V in Flanders . Harold had put the calculation for his own ambitions to the throne above family ties, which made him a mortal enemy in Toste. Morcar succeeded Tostes as Earl of Northumbria.

However, Toste wanted to take the throne himself and looked in vain for support from King Sven Estridsson of Denmark. He drove on to Norway and was able to win Harald Hardrade , who also had claims to the English throne, for an invasion of England.

Return and death

At the beginning of May 1066, Toste attempted to return to England from exile by force of arms. He devastated the Isle of Wight and then occupied Sandwich , where he took sailors into his service and sailed with 60 ships on the east coast to the mouth of the Humber . When he went on a rampage in Lincolnshire , his army was destroyed by the Earls Edwin of Mercia and Morcar of Northumbria. The survivors fled, Toste sailed north with the remaining 12 ships and took refuge with King Malcolm III. Canmore of Scotland, with whom he had an alliance. Harold Godwinson went to the Isle of Wight to arm the south coast against the Norman Duke. Harald Hardrade already knew that he was preparing an invasion and that he was in contact with Toste, who was waiting in Scotland; but Harold's attention was mostly on Wilhelm.

Harald Hardrade sailed with a large fleet of 200 warships, the necessary supply ships and numerous smaller boats to the Orkney Islands, whose Jarle Paul and Erlend joined him. Toste joined the forces of the Norwegian king in Scotland. At Klifland they landed plundering in England and conquered Scarborough . On September 20, three kilometers south of York near Hellornes ( Fulford ) , the army routed an English contingent from the north of England. Then they finally conquered York , which Tostes brothers Waeltheow and Morcar defended (at least that is the representation in the Heimskringla ). On September 25, 1066, Toste and Harald Hardrade fell in the battle of Stamford Bridge against King Harald II.

Tostes nephew, the Norman Duke William the Bastard (as he was then called), landed at Pevensey on September 28th and defeated the British army, exhausted after the forced march from Stamford Bridge, on October 14th in the Battle of Hastings . Harald II died, Wilhelm became king and became Wilhelm I , the conqueror .

Toste's sons Skule and Ketil went into exile in Norway. His widow Judith married Duke Welf I of Bavaria around 1070 . Skule became the advisor and confidante of King Olav Kyrres , who gave him the Rein estate in return .

swell

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Adams von Bremen Hamburg Church History, translated by Dr. JCM Laurent (1893)  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
  2. ↑ a b Hamburg Church History, Book III, chap. 12, Schol. 65, ch. 51
  3. ↑ Heimskringla, Ólafs saga helga
  4. ↑ K. Schnith: Tostig . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 8, LexMA-Verlag, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-89659-908-9 , Sp. 890.
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Historia regum Anglorum et Dacorum
  6. ↑ a b c d e f g Heimskringla, Haralds Harðráði saga Sigurðarsonar
  7. ↑ Trondheim's History 997–1997. Volume 1: Grethe Autén Blom: Hellig Olavs by. Middelalder til 1537. Oslo 1997, ISBN 82-00-22856-8 , p. 60.
predecessor Office successor
Siward Earl of Northumbria
1055-1065 		Morcar
personal data
SURNAME Toste Godwinson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tosti Godwinson; Tosty Godwinson; Tostig Godwinson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Earl of Northumbria (1055-1065)
DATE OF BIRTH around 1026
DATE OF DEATH September 25, 1066
Place of death at Stamford Bridge