CovSoc historian Peter James tells us some interesting history about Lady Godiva and her family and descendants. Peter writes….
Leofric son of Leofwine the Ealdorman of the Hwicce was made Earl of Mercia by King Cnut some time before 1032. The boundaries of the Hwicce kingdom would have been similar to those of the ancient Diocese of Worcester founded in 679AD. Encompassing Worcestershire, Gloucestershire and southwest Warwickshire. Earl Leofric and Countess Godiva had a son Aelfgar who became Earl of Mercia after his father died in 1057. Verified in The Genealogia Fundatoris of Coventry Monastery naming “Algarius tertius” as son of “Leofricus tertius”. Aelfgar had previously become Earl of East Anglia in 1051 when Godwin Earl of Essex and his sons had been exiled by King Edward. This title had belonged to Harold son of Godwin.
Later in 1055 Aelfgar was also exiled. In the Anglo Saxon Chronicle one article stated “he was outlawed without any fault” another said “without nigh any fault”. In Ireland he raised a fleet of 18 ships and set sail for Wales where King Gruffydd (Griffith) joined forces with him. Their aim was to fight and defeat King Edward of England. On the 24th October 1055 they defeated an army led by the Earl of Herefordshire 2 miles outside Hereford killing 500 mounted English soldiers. They proceeded to Hereford where they burnt most of the properties and killed many inhabitants.
In retaliation King Edward sent a much larger army so Aelfgar and Gruffydd fled into South Wales. Eventually the sides came to a peaceful agreement and Aelfgar became an Earl again.
The Anglo Saxon Chronicle reported “and when they had done most harm it was decided to reinstate Earl Aelfgar”
Aelfgar’s daughter Ealdgyth (Edith) married Gruffydd ap Lywelyn her father’s ally in 1057 by which time he was King of all Wales. She was described by William of Jumieges as a woman of considerable beauty. On her marriage she was given a fairly modest amount of land in England. An estate in Binley Warwickshire and one in Elmbridge Worcestershire. The couple lived at Rhuddlan Palace in Denbighshire overlooking the River Clwyd.
Ealdgyth was Queen Consort of Wales until Gruffydd died on 5th August 1063 in Wales. He died in Snowdonia in a battle against Tostig the brother of Harold Godwinson. Gruffydd was the last King of Wales. Aelfgar had previously died in 1062 and was buried in Coventry. It seems that his death had robbed Gruffyd of support in England.
Amazingly in 1066 Ealdgyth married her late husband’s enemy King Harold Godwinson and became Queen Consort of England. Having married early in 1066 by 14th October she was a widow again after the Battle of Hastings. Her brothers Edwin the Earl of Mercia and Morca Earl of Northumberland quickly took her from London to Chester as she was pregnant. What happened to Ealdgyth after that is a mystery. She had a son named Harold born in 1067 after his father’s death in 1066. From Chester his uncles sent him to Ireland to keep him safe from capture by the Normans. Much later he arrived in Norway where he was greeted by King Olaf III and made welcome. Olaf was grateful to Harolds’ father King Harold Godwinson who had spared his life after the Battle of Stamford Bridge. When Olaf was succeeeded by Magnus III young Harold continued to provide support to him. Nothing further is known of Harold.
So in her lifetime Countess Godiva had seen her grandaughter become Queen of Wales then Queen of England. Ealdgyth was the last Saxon Queen of England. Unfortunately Earl Leofric didn’t live to see it as he died in 1057 and was buried at Saint Mary’s Priory in Coventry.
The Domesday Book shows that the Lord of Binley in Stoneleigh Hundred in 1066 was Ealdgyth. By 1086 it was held by the Priory of St. Mary in Coventry who had acquired it from Osbern son of Richard (Fitzrichard). In 1066 Ealdgyth also held Elmbridge a small settlement in Clent Worcestershire with 35 householders. By 1086 it also belonged to Osbern Fitzrichard. His father Richard Scrob who was a Norman had arrived before the Norman Conquest and built Richard’s Castle in Herefordshire. Osbern had married Nest the daughter of Ealdgyth and husband Gruffydd. It appears most likely that Binley had been a wedding present for Ealdgyth from Godiva and Elmbridge a present from Leofric.