Edith the Fair

Edith the Fair
Edith discovering King Harold's corpse after the Battle of Hastings (Horace Vernet)
Bornc. 1025
Diedc. 1086 (age about 61)
SpouseHarold Godwinson
IssueGodwin
Edmund
Magnus
Gunhild
Gytha
Ulf
FatherThorkell the Tall
Mothera daughter of Ethelred the Unready?

Edith the Fair (Old English: Ealdgȳð Swann hnesce, "Edyth the Gentle Swan"; born c. 1025, died c. 1086), also known as Edith Swanneck,[note 1] was one of the wealthiest magnates in England on the eve of the Norman conquest, and may also have been the first wife of King Harold Godwinson.[1] "Swanneck" (or Swan-Neck) comes from the folk etymology which made her in Old English as swann hnecca, "swan neck", which was actually most likely a corrupted form of swann hnesce, "Gentle Swan" .[2] She is sometimes confused with Ealdgyth, daughter of Earl Ælfgar of Mercia, who was queen during Harold's reign.


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  1. ^ Williams, Ann (2004). "Eadgifu [Eddeua] the Fair [the Rich] (fl. 1066), magnate". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/52349. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Ardagh, Philip (7 October 2011). Philip Ardagh's Book of Kings, Queens, Emperors and Rotten Wart-Nosed Commoners. Pan Macmillan. ISBN 9781447212010.