Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 363.

Preason. This show is ad-free due to member support and is a way of thanking members for

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Peace by Peace. The board was being set for a comeback.

Wolfnoth had been thrown out of power decades ago. But his son, Godwin, knew how to be patient

and to grind it out. And now Godwin and his family were on top. In fact, Earl Godwin

himself was the second most powerful person in England, at least, is actually possible

that he was the most powerful person in England. He'd even managed to get the king

to marry his daughter, which very likely wasn't the king's first choice, considering that

it was Godwin who'd been involved in the murder of the king's brother. So even a thousand

years later, it's obvious that Godwin was an expert politician. But I'm not sure he

was a great parent. His eldest son and heir, Swain, was to put it lightly, a colossal

f*** up. And this was the fact that even Godwin couldn't have escaped. The failures of

his parenting were on full display in the mid-40s, when Swain rode off to commit an act of

treason by supporting the Welsh enemy of the crown, only to return triumphantly with

an abyss that he looted from her own nunnery. Godwin had spent decades carefully placing

all the pieces on the board. Unfortunately, though, the rook was a dumbass. And this was

far from just a family problem. Because Godwin was King Edward's chief man and father-in-law,

Godwin's problems were the king's problems. And actually, Swain Godwin's sin wasn't

...