His mother, Edith Swan-neck, was married to Harold more danico, "in the Danish manner", that is to say they had a form of marriage which was not recognized by the Church but which was at the time widely considered legitimate among the laity.
[8] Godwin is not specifically mentioned in contemporary sources as being part of this south-western rebellion, but it is very likely that he and his brothers Edmund and Magnus were there, asserting their claim to be leaders of the Anglo-Saxon opposition.
They seem to have had Harold Godwinson's remaining housecarls in their service, and still had the resources to make Diarmait gifts such as the "battle standard of the king of the Saxons" mentioned by the Annals of Inisfallen, and to hire a force of mercenaries.
[19][24][25] After pillaging the area around Barnstaple they took their forces into the hinterland and at the Battle of Northam encountered an army under the command of Brian of Brittany, which, to quote the Chronicle again, "slew all the best men from the [brothers'] troops while the few survivors escaped to their ships".
[29] The historian and genealogist Dr. Józef Puzyna [pl] investigated a legend from Samogitia in Lithuania and in his research findings concluded that Godwin moved east and found shelter in Ruthenia, where either he or a son of his carved out a principality, initially the Duchy of Nalška (var.
Nalszczańska, Alsen), its capital at Utena, his descendants in time becoming the hereditary Grand Dukes of Lithuania, Kings of Poland, of Bohemia and Hungary (see the Gediminid and Jagiellonian Dynasties).