Magnus, son of Harold Godwinson

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] Magnus's grandmother Gytha, the widow of Earl Godwin, retreated to the south-west of England to consolidate her power in that still unconquered part of the country, but at the beginning of 1068 William led his army against her, and besieged her in Exeter.

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.

There is no further explicit mention of Magnus by any contemporary source, but it is recorded that two unnamed sons of Harold made a second raid on south-west England in the summer of 1069 which ended with the disastrous Battle of Northam fought in Devon against the forces of Brian of Brittany, resulting in the deaths of "all the best men" of the brothers' expedition.

[25] An ancient monument now built into an outer wall of the Church of St John sub Castro, Lewes has a Latin inscription which has been translated thus: There enters this cell a warrior of Denmark's royal race; Magnus his name, mark of mighty lineage.

[26]A tradition recorded in the early 19th century states that this was Magnus Haroldson, and certainly he was a relation of the Danish royal family through his greatuncle Ulf, father of King Sweyn II.

Following the defeat of Harold by the Norman William the Conqueror, Magnus' sister Gytha of Wessex and at least two of her brothers (believed by some to be Godwin and Edmund) escaped to the court of their first cousin once-removed, King Sweyn II of Denmark.

Polish historian and genealogist Marek Skarbek-Kozietulski, working off the premise laid out by Jurek, theorized that Haroldson, following his stay in Denmark trekked to Poland and entered into a strategic marriage to a woman he believed to be an unrecorded sister of King Bolesław II the Generous.