Tostig Godwinson

Tostig Godwinson
Earl of Northumbria
Reign	1055-1065
Predecessor	Siward
Successor	Morcar
Died	25 September 1066 Battle of Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, England
Burial	York Minster
Spouse	Judith of Flanders
Issue	Skuli Tostisson Kongsfostre Ketil Tostisson
House	House of Godwin
Father	Godwin, Earl of Wessex
Mother	Gytha

Tostig Godwinson (circa 1026 -25 September 1066) was an Anglo-Saxon Earl of Northumbria and brother of King Harold Godwinson.

Tostig was the third son of the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Godwin, Earl of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, the daughter of Danish chieftain Thorgil Sprakling. In 1051, he married Judith of Flanders the only child of Baldwin IV, Count of Flanders by his second wife, Eleanor of Normandy. The Domesday Book recorded twenty-six vills or townships as being held by Earl Tostig forming the Manor of Hougun which now forms part of the county of Cumbria in north-west England.

In September 1051, Godwin and his sons were banished from England by king Edward the Confessor. Godwin, Gytha and Tostig, together with Sweyn and Gyrth, sought refuge with the Count of Flanders. They returned to England the following year with armed forces, gaining support and compelling Edward to restore his earldom. Three years later in 1055, Tostig became the Earl of Northumbria upon the death of Earl Siward.

Tostig appears to have governed in Northumbria with some difficulty. He was never popular with the Northumbrian ruling class, a mix of Danish invaders and Anglo Saxon survivors of the last Norse invasion. Tostig was said to have been heavy-handed with those who resisted his rule, including the murder of several members of leading Northumbrian families. In late 1063 or early 1064, Tostig had Gamal, son of Orm and Ulf, son of Dolfin, assassinated when they visited him under safe conduct. Also, the Vita Edwardi, otherwise sympathetic to Tostig, states that he had 'repressed [the Northumbrians] with the heavy yoke of his rule'.

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