Following the death of his father in April 1053, the Godwinsons managed to retain their hold on England.
Gyrth was made Earl of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire some time between 1055 and 1057.
[2] Together with his brother Leofwine's Earldoms of Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertford, Surrey and probably Buckinghamshire[3] the Godwinsons now controlled the entirety of East England.
Gyrth fought at and was killed in the Battle of Hastings alongside his brothers Harold and Leofwine.
[4] Gyrth was portrayed by actor Malcolm Webster in the two-part BBC TV play Conquest (1966), part of the series Theatre 625.