Godwin, Earl of Wessex

Godwin of Wessex (Old English: Godwine; died 15 April 1053) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who became one of the most powerful earls in England under the Danish king Cnut the Great (King of England from 1016 to 1035) and his successors. Cnut made Godwin the first Earl of Wessex (c. 1020). Godwin was the father of King Harold II (r. January – October 1066) and of Edith of Wessex, who in 1045 married King Edward the Confessor (r. 1042–1066).