Welcome to the British History Podcast. My name is Jamie and this is episode 370, Breaking

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Earl, Godwin and his family were back baby. Well, mostly. Swain Godwin's in, unfortunately,

was dead, having died during his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. And Swain wasn't the only one missing

from the family reunion. Godwin's youngest son, Wolfnoth, and Swain's son, Hacon, were still

being held as hostages. And they were currently in the hands of the Duke of Normandy, William the

Bastard. And we have reason to believe that their presence was missed by the Godwins. The records

give the impression that the Godwins were a close-knit family despite the occasional conflict regarding

Swain. And Godwin in particular is on record for being close with his children. So the loss of

Swain and the imprisonment of Wolfnoth and Hacon must have weighed heavily on the English

aristocratic house, even as they had their power and wealth restored. But make no mistake,

the house of Godwin was on the rise. And they weren't the only ones. A rising Godwin

lifts all boats. For example, Bishop Stigand of Winchester was now Archbishop Stigand of Canterbury,

having replaced King Edward's hand-picked Norman advisor, Robert of Jumiers. And Stigand was

actually a pretty classic Godwin appointee. In that, like Godwin, he was unabashed about his

acquisition of power and entirely unwilling to relinquish any part of it. And I mean this very

literally because Stigand was a pluralist. Now pluralism in the 11th century wasn't the kind of

pluralism we think of today. Typically, when we hear about pluralism, we think positively on

...