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Godwin

(Encyclopedia)Godwin or Godwine both: gŏdˈwĭn [key], d. 1053, earl of Wessex. He became chief adviser to King Canute, was created (c.1018) an earl, and was given great wealth and lands. After Canute's death (103...

Ine

(Encyclopedia)Ine īˈnə [key], king of Wessex (688–726). In 694 he forced the people of Kent to pay compensation for the murder of a kinsman, and he extended his sway over Sussex and Surrey and probably over De...

Wells

(Encyclopedia)Wells, town (1991 pop. 9,252), Somerset, SW England. Primarily a cathedral town, it has changed little since medieval times, although shopping and tourism have become important. The first church was e...

Tostig

(Encyclopedia)Tostig tŏsˈtĭg [key], d. 1066, earl of Northumbria; son of Earl Godwin of Wessex. He was banished with his father in 1051 and returned with him in their armed invasion of 1052. Made earl of Northum...

Sussex

(Encyclopedia)Sussex, former county, SE England, since 1888 divided for administrative purposes into East Sussex and West Sussex. Lewes is the county seat of East Sussex; Chichester of West Sussex. The South Downs�...

Athelstan

(Encyclopedia)Athelstan or Æthelstan both: ăthˈəlstən, ăthˈĕlstän [key], d. 939, king of Wessex (924–39), son and successor of Edward the Elder. After coming to the throne, he vigorously built up his kin...

witenagemot

(Encyclopedia)witenagemot wĭtˌənəgĭmōtˈ [key] [Old Eng.,=meeting of counselors], a session of the counselors (the witan) of a king in Anglo-Saxon England. Such a body existed in each of the Anglo-Saxon kingd...

Harold

(Encyclopedia)Harold, 1022?–1066, king of England (1066). The son of Godwin, earl of Wessex, he belonged to the most powerful noble family of England in the reign of Edward the Confessor. Through Godwin's influen...

Strathclyde

(Encyclopedia)Strathclyde străthˌklīdˈ [key] [Gaelic,=Clyde valley], one of several early medieval Celtic or Welsh kingdoms in present-day S Scotland and N England. Strathclyde was in SW Scotland. To the east w...

Oswald, Saint

(Encyclopedia)Oswald, Saint, d. 641, king of Northumbria (633–41), son of Æthelfrith. In exile during the reign of Edwin, Oswald and his brother Oswy became Christians. After Edwin's death Oswald defeated (633) ...