Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It

by Janina Ramírez

Her father was the extremely influential Lord Godwin, who became Earl of Wessex,75 and her brothers held some of the country’s most important positions of authority as Earls of East Anglia, Northumbria, Kent, Sussex, Essex, Surrey and more. She was a well-educated woman and spoke many languages, having grown up at the royal convent in Wilton. The Norman chronicler William of Poitiers described her as ‘intelligent as any man … a woman in whose bosom there was a school of all the liberal arts’.76 Her marriage to Edward was politically motivated for, although Edith was not of royal birth, her familial connections would prove useful. And in a strategic move to keep the Godwin family onside, unlike most wives of Saxon kings in the tenth and eleventh centuries Edith was crowned queen in her own right. This coronation led to accusations of nepotism, so much so that in 1051 Edward exerted some damage control, exiling the family to Flanders and sending Edith to a convent. But the Godwin family put on a show of force and returned more powerful than they left. From this point Edith became not just queen but also close adviser to her husband. Her influence increased.