THE MAGNATES 95 



5. Leofwin, Earl of Bucks, Herts, Middlesex, Essex, 

 Surrey, and Kent. 



6. Harold, Earl of Wessex, comprising all the country 

 south of the Thames except Surrey and Kent, with the addition 

 of Gloucester and Hereford. 



Of these, Edwin and Morcar were the sons of Alfgar, who 

 had preceded the former in the earldom of Mercia, and Harold 

 Gurth and Leofwin were the sons of Godwin. Tostig, another 

 son of Godwin, had been Earl of Northumbria till 1065, when 

 the Northumbrians expelled him and forced the King to put 

 Morcar in his place. 



The internal history of the reign of Edward the Confessor 

 is a record of the struggles between the families of Godwin 

 and Alfgar for the King's support, and, till the expulsion of 

 Tostig from Northumbria, Godwin's family was most favoured. 

 The events accompanying this expulsion show that this family 

 feud was shared by the inhabitants of the several earldoms. 

 The Northumbrians then raided Northamptonshire and Oxford- 

 shire, and wrought so much damage that it had not been 

 repaired twenty years later, as is shown by the large number 

 of houses in Oxford (478 out of 721) which were "so waste 

 and destroyed that they could not pay geld" in IO86. 1 

 Possibly Harold would have won the battle of Hastings if 

 Edwin and Morcar had brought the Mercian and Northumbrian 

 forces to his support. 



The deaths, at Hastings, of Harold, Gurth, and Leofwin 

 vacated their earldoms, out of which the Conqueror created 

 four smaller earldoms. Ralph Guader became Earl of Norfolk ; 

 William fitz Osbern became Earl of Hereford ; Odo, Bishop 

 of Bayeux, was made Earl of Kent ; and the earldom of 

 Cornwall was given to the Count of Mortain. Edwin was 

 killed in 1071, and the Mercian earldom was given to Wal- 

 theof, who soon afterwards married Judith, the Conqueror's 

 niece. But Waltheof was not satisfied, and in 1075 joined 

 1 D. B., 1. 154 a i. 



