Gytha Thorkelsdottir (Old English: Gȳða Þorkelsdōttir), also called Githa, was the daughter of Thorgil Sprakling (also called Thorkel).[1] She married the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Godwin of Wessex.
They had a large family together, of whom five sons became earls at one time or another, three remaining earls in 1066:
Two of their sons, Harold II and Tostig Godwinson, faced each other at the Battle of Stamford Bridge, where Tostig was killed. Less than a month later, three of her sons, Harold II, Gyrth, and Leofwine, were killed at the Battle of Hastings.
Shortly after the Battle of Hastings, Gytha was living in Exeter and may have been the cause of that city's rebellion against William the Conqueror in 1067, which resulted in his laying siege to the city.[2] She pleaded unsuccessfully with him for the return of the body of her slain son Harold II. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Gytha left the Kingdom of England after the Norman conquest of England, together with the wives or widows and families of other prominent Anglo-Saxons. Presumably, after all the Godwin family estates were confiscated by William, there was little hope left. Little else is known of Gytha's life or future, although it is probable that she went to Scandinavia (like her granddaughter and namesake), where she had relatives.
Her surviving (and youngest) son Wulnoth lived nearly all his life in (pleasant) captivity in Normandy until The Conqueror's death in 1087. Only her eldest daughter Queen Edith (d. 1075) still held some power (however nominal) as widow of Edward the Confessor.
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