Now Edward had an even more mischievous thought, "All right, if Godwine wants an heir to the throne of England so badly, I'll give him one, but one more to my liking." And thus at this point, Norman chronicles claimed, that Edward apparently promised the succession to the Duke of Normandy, William the Bastard. Of course, nobody knew anything about this in England, least of all Godwine, who in 1053 died suddenly of a stroke while at dinner with the king. But there were plenty of other Godwines ready to step into the Godfather's place. His sons now took over where he had left off, controlling England, virtually unchallenged. And presiding over the family empire was the eldest son, Harold. Harold Godwineson seemed to have everything: land, power, riches, charisma, an aristocratic wife and a supporting troop of loyal and clever brothers. He even managed to make himself patron of churches, like this one at Bosham in Sussex.


现在，爱德华又酝酿着一个更过分的恶作剧。"好吧，既然戈德温如此迫切地需要一个英格兰王位继承人，那我就给他找一个，但找谁得听我的。"在这个时候，根据诺曼史官的记载，爱德华似乎把继承权许诺给了当时的诺曼底公爵，私生子威廉。当然，此事在英格兰，无人知晓。尤其是戈德温，他在1053年陪国王吃饭时因中风猝死，但许多戈德温家族的人，对教父的位置已跃跃欲试，他的儿子们承继父业，继续毫无阻拦地操纵着英格兰。主持这个家族帝国的是长子，哈罗德，哈罗德·戈德温森似乎拥有一切，土地、权力、财富、领袖气质、一位贵族妻子和由忠诚而聪明的弟弟们所率军队的支持，他甚至成为了教堂的资助人，比如在苏塞克斯博山姆的这座教堂。