My theme for the next while will be. . . . “ancient and Medieval rulers who died horribly according to their gleeful enemies who ended up recording history.” This is a fun theme, because writers of Days of Yore liked to tart up their death narratives, and if they could finesse a good sense of self-righteous vengeance at the same time, all the more entertaining.
And I shall start with the Earl Godwin of Kent in southern England. In 1053, this most powerful leader was at a royal banquet when he suddenly fell ill and died. About 100 years later, the writer Aelred of Rievaulx elaborated on Godwin’s death — in this version, the Earl choked violently on a piece of bread as he swore an oath.
This swearing on bread — called _corsned_ in English sources — was actually a thing. A person would eat a lump of corsned to testify his innocence, with the idea being that God would cause the guilty to choke up and convulse, but the innocent would be able to digest unhindered.
Obviously, Aelred considered Godwin guilty. Turns out Godwin had been implicated in the murder by blinding of an aristocrat named Alfred who had been in line to the throne. Writers who wanted to justify the 1066 Norman Conquest of England had a reason to paint the whole Godwin family poorly, since they had led up the main resistance to the takeover. In Aelred’s words, Godwin shouted at his final dinner party “May this crust which I hold in my hand pass through my throat and leave me unharmed to show that I was faultless of treason towards you, and that I was innocent of your brother’s [Alfred’s] death!”.
Wha-whaa. Readers of Aelred’s account would have felt the joy of revenge at Godwin’s ill-spoken oath, but comparisons with other sources less hostile to Godwin point to the fact that Aelred was just making up details (or borrowing the rumors he had heard) to suit his purposes.
This image is from a 13th Century manuscript showing Godwin’s family returning from exile after thwarting the king of England.
