Edith the Fair (Old English: Ealdgȳð Swann hnesce, "Edyth the Gentle Swan"; c. 1025 – c. 1086), also known as Edith Swanneck, was one of the wealthiest magnates in England on the eve of the Norman Conquest and may also have been the first wife of King Harold Godwinson. "Swanneck" (or Swan-Neck) comes from the folk etymology that made of her name, Swann Hnecca in Old English, "Swan Neck". The formula was actually most likely a corrupted form of Swann Hnesce, "Gentle Swan".
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Early life
Edith was born circa 1025, and is thought by some to have been a daughter of Thorkell the Tall and his wife, a daughter of Ethelred the Unready.
Marriage
Edith may have been the mother of Harold's daughter Gunhild of Wessex, who became the mistress of Alan Rufus, and Gytha of Wessex, who was taken by her grandmother to Denmark in 1068. Gytha was addressed as "princess" and married Grand Prince of Kiev Vladimir II Monomakh.
Though Harold is said to have lawfully married Ealdgyth, who was the daughter of Earl Ælfgar and the widow of the Welsh ruler Gruffydd ap Llywelyn, the marriage in spring 1066 is seen by most modern scholars as one of political convenience. Mercia and Wales were allies against England, and the marriage gave the English claims in two very troublesome areas, also gave Harold Godwinson a marriage deemed "legitimate" by the clergy, unlike his long-time common-law marriage with Edith the Fair.
Folklore
According to folklore, Edith identified Harold's mutilated body after his loss to William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings. Despite pleas by Harold's mother, Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, for William to surrender Harold's body for burial, the Norman army refused even though Gytha offered Harold's weight in gold. It was then that Edith the Fair walked through the carnage of the battle so that she might identify Harold by markings on his chest, known only to her. It was because of Edith the Fair's identification of the body that Harold was given a Christian burial by the monks at Waltham Abbey.
