Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy Read Online Free PDF

to show that he was consecrated at all.
    KING HARTHACANUTE
    He died unmarried (and childless), on 8 June, 1042, at Lambeth in London, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
    He was succeeded by his half-brother Edward, the son of Ethelred II.

    Harold I
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    F ATHER : King Canute (?) ( see here ).
    M OTHER : Elgiva of Northampton, Canute’s concubine or handfast wife .
    S IBLINGS : ( see here , under King Canute ).
    HAROLD I
    He was born in c. 1016/17, perhaps at Northampton. He was probably illegitimate, but contemporary doubts as to his paternity were probably mere political propaganda. In 1037, when King Harthacanute was still in Denmark, Harold usurped the throne of England and was recognised as King, being crowned that same year at Oxford.
    Harold I married (although no record exists of the date or the place):
    Elgiva
    Her origins are unknown, as are her dates.
    Issue of marriage:
    1   Elfwine
    He was born in London, but no dates are recorded for his life. Some sources infer he was illegitimate, but they are unreliable. He became a monk at Sainte-Foi Abbey, Conques, Aquitaine, his own foundation.
    HAROLD I
    He died on 17 March, 1040, at Oxford, and was buried, according to a faint tradition, in the old Abbey Church of St Peter at Westminster. It is less probable that he was buried in Winchester Cathedral, as issometimes stated. His body, after a dishonourable exhumation, was reburied, probably in St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London (less probably, in St Olave’s Church, Southwark, London). He was succeeded by his half-brother Harthacanute, whom he had once deposed (previous chapter), who, in turn, was succeeded by Edward, son of Ethelred II.

    King Edward the Confessor
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    F ATHER : Ethelred II ( see here ).
    M OTHER : Emma of Normandy ( see here , under Ethelred II ).
    S IBLINGS : ( see here , under Ethelred II ).
    KING EDWARD
    Known as ‘the Confessor’, he was born around c. 1003/4 (by 1005) at Islip, Oxon. When he succeeded his half-brother King Harthacanute, on 8 June, 1042, the crown of England reverted from the usurping Danish dynasty to the line of Cerdic once more, and for the last time. Edward was crowned on 3 April, 1043, at Winchester Cathedral.
    King Edward married , on 23 January, 1045 (although no record exists as to where):
    Edith
    She was the daughter of Godwine, Earl of Wessex, by his wife Gytha ( see here , under Harold II), and she was born in c .1020. Edith was perhaps anointed and crowned on her wedding day, but details of the ceremony have not been recorded. Her marriage to Edward was purely platonic, the King being unwilling, for religious reasons, to consummate it, hence there were no children. Edith died on 18 December, 1075, either at the Palace of Westminster or at Winchester, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
    KING EDWARD
    He died on 4/5 January, 1066, at the Palace of Westminster, and wasburied in the new Westminster Abbey, built by his command and only recently consecrated.
    He was succeeded by Harold, Earl of Wessex, his brother-in-law, to whom he left his throne, with the support of the Witan, there being no adult claimant to the crown of the line of Cerdic.
    On 7 February, 1161, Edward the Confessor was canonised, thus becoming the only King of England to be made a saint.

    Harold II
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    F ATHER : Godwine
    He was the son of Wulfnoth, Cyld of Sussex, and was born in c .987. He married firstly Thyra, daughter of King Sweyn, and secondly, in c. 1019/20, Gytha (below). He was first created Earl in 1018, but his earldom is unknown. He was created Earl of Wessex and Kent in 1020. He died on 15 April, 1053, at Winchester Castle, of apoplexy, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
    M OTHER : Gytha
    She was the daughter of Thorgils Sprakalegg by Thyra, daughter of Harold Bluetooth, King of Denmark (and sister of King Sweyn); some authorities state that Thorgils was the son of Thyra, not her husband. Gytha was born in Denmark. She married Earl Godwine in c. 1019/20. She died in