Tostig Godwinson

Tostig was the third son of the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the daughter of Danish chieftain Thorgil Sprakling.

[a] The banished Godwin family, including Gytha and Tostig, together with Sweyn and Gyrth, sought refuge with his brother-in-law the Count of Flanders.

They returned to England the following year with armed forces, gaining support and demanding that Edward restore Tostig's earldom.

[8][9] He was on intimate terms with his brother-in-law, Edward the Confessor, and in 1061 he visited Pope Nicholas II at Rome in the company of Ealdred, archbishop of York.

He was frequently absent from the court of King Edward in the south, and, possibly, showed a lack of leadership against the raiding Scots.

Tostig had been a major commander in these wars attacking in the north while his brother Harold Godwinson marched up from the south.

Tostig was outlawed a short time later, possibly early in November, because he refused to accept his deposition as commanded by Edward.

Harold was keen to unify England in the face of the grave threat from William of Normandy, who had openly declared his intention to take the English throne.

One of the sagas claims that he sailed for Norway, and greatly impressed the Norwegian king and his court, managing to sway a decidedly unenthusiastic Hardrada, who had just concluded a long and inconclusive war with Denmark, into raising a levy to take the throne of England.

King Harold Godwinson raced northward with an English army from London and, on 25 September 1066, surprised his brother Tostig at Stamford Bridge.

[9][16] The victorious Harold, at the head of troops still exhausted by their previous fight with Tostig and Hardrada, would go to confront and suffer defeat at the hands of the Normans at the Battle of Hastings nineteen days later.

They were fostered at the Norwegian court, probably before his marriage in 1051:[17] Popular (as opposed to scholarly) non-fiction books that cover Tostig's life and role in history include: He is portrayed by Luther Ford in the 2025 TV series King and Conqueror.