N-Y - Politics and treachery in England during the autumn of 1036 lyrics

Godwine, as we have seen, had been the principal ally of Queen Emma in the aftermath of Cnut's d**h - 'her most devoted supporter', in the words of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. But that had been when he, like she, had been confident of Harthacnut's imminent return. Once that return started to look increasingly unlikely, Godwine's support must have begun to waver. At some stage he decided to switch his allegiance to Harold, and the trigger for his desertion may well have been Emma's attempt to promote Edward and Alfred. Godwine had been the principal beneficiary of the Danish conquest; the last person he wanted to see on the throne was one of that conquest's principal victims, seeking to settle old scores. A creature of Cnut, he could only hope to prosper under one of Cnut's sons; if not Harthacnut, then Harold. His only problem was how to make up for his late conversion to Harold's cause; the arrival of Alfred in the autumn of 1036 presented him with the perfect opportunity. Despite the equivocation of some modern commentators, there is considerable agreement in our sources about what happened next. Both the Encomium and William of Jumieges agree that when Godwine met Alfred he took him under his protection; according to the Encomium this entailed diverting him from his intended destination of London and leading him instead to Guildford, where he and his followers were feasted with plenty of food and drink, and shown to beds in separate lodgings. Then, during the night they were seized and attacked. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, which breaks into mournful verse, 'some of them were put in chains, some of them were blinded; some were mutilated, and some were scalped'. It was, the Chronicle laments, the single worst atrocity in England since the Danish conquest. Alfred himself was spared, but cast in chains and taken to Ely in Cambridgeshire, where he was blinded and left in the care of the local monks. A short while later, in February 1037, he died from his wounds and was buried in the town's abbey.