Sir Robert Goushill

The early 15th century alabaster tomb and effigies of Sir Robert Goushill and his wife Elizabeth Fitz-Alan Duchess of Norfolk are found at the parish church of the village of Hoveringham in Nottinghamshire, England. The tomb is located just to the right as you enter the church. The original medieval St. Michael church at Hoveringham was razed in 1865, and the present plain, small brick church (above left) was erected in it's place. The above copyright photographs were taken during a visit to Hoveringham in 1991 by Bruce Morrison of Lexington, Kentucky, a descendant of Robert Goushill and Elizabeth Fitz-Alan.
The effigies show effects of earlier vandalism and mutilation incurred during earlier centuries. The right arms of both effigies are broken and missing--they originally were holding hands. Some damage also occured when the monumemt was relocated when the present church was erected. The figures are of alabaster with Sir Robert Goushill shown wearing a camail and hawberk and plate armor on his arms and legs. His feet rest upon the figure of a dog, and his collar shows the badge of his Lancastrian loyalty. He wears a Bacinet on his head with a wreath which rests on a crowned Saracen's head. The Saracen's head was derived from the Goushill family crest. The Goushill of Hoveringham coat of arms was a barry of six or and gules with a canton ermine. The figure of Elizabeth Fitz-Alan is shown wearing a peeress gown with a coronet on her head emblematic of her rank as a duchess. The tomb was created after Sir Robert Goushill's tragic death in 1403, probably by the design of his widow Elizabeth Fitz-Alan who lived to 1425. It is likely that she was also buried in the tomb, but no definitive proof or evidence exists. Robert Thoroton's description of the tomb in the 17th century states that about the fair tomb were the arms of Leek, Longford, Babington, Chaworth impaling Caltofts, Remptons, and divers others. These are long lost as well as the tomb of Sir Nicholas Goushill, the son of Sir Thomas Goushill, who died in 1393. This stone was in the south isle of the original St. Michael Church. The lower base portion of the Goushill Fitz-Alan tomb is decorated by a series of shields on all sides which were probably the location of the large number of now lost coats of arms described in Thoroton's History.
Sir Robet Goushill was knighted by King Henry IV at the battle of Shrewsbury on July 21,1403. At the Battle of Shrewsbury the loyalist forces of Henry IV were opposed by the rebel army of Henry Percy (Hotspur). The army of King Henry IV won the day with the killing of Hotspur during the conflict. Casulties on both sides were high with estimates of 3000 killed or wounded on each side. Sir Robert Goushill was knighted the day of the battle for his gallantry, but was badly wounded in the side. Found lying wounded by his servant on the eve of the battle, Goushill asked that his armor be removed and a note sent to his wife Elizabeth in case of his death. The servant then stabbed and murdered Sir Robert Goushill and made off with his purse and ring. Another wounded man lying nearby recognized the servant, and he was later caught and hanged for the crime. The arms of Sir Robert Goushill would be placed in the Shrewsbury Battlefield Church by King Henry IV.
Robert Goushill was the son and heir of Sir Nicholas Goushill of Hoveringham. The date of his birth is unknown, but can be estimated to be circa 1360-1365. Likewise, the name of his mother also remains unknown. The Goushill family had held extensive lands in Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire since the 13th century. Walter Goushill, an early ancestor in the direct line, gained a number of these considerable holdings for the Goushills through his marriage to Maud (Matilda) Hathersage, the co-heiress of Mathew Hathersage in Derbyshire. (The early pedigree of the Goushill family of Hoveringham can be found in the History of Nottinghamshire by Dr. Robert Thoroton). In the calendar of patent rolls of Richard II on March 12, 1386, the King orders the arrest of Sir Nicholas Goushill the elder and his son Robert Goushill to answer the suit brought by William Birkes accusing the Goushills of threatning him with the loss of life and limb that he dare go about his business. On July 16, 1385, Sir Nicholas Goushill received the King's pardon. During 1387, Nicholas Goushill knight of Hoveringham and his son Robert Goushill are found in the chancery records to owe a debt of 22 pounds to Robert Wells of London. The next mention of Robert Goushill occurs in 1390 when he receives the King's pardon for alleged outlawry and other felonies through the supplication of Thomas Mowbray. Thomas Mowbray was at that time Earl of Nottingham and later would become the Duke of Norfolk. This evidences that Robert Goushill was already a supporter of Thomas Mowbray of whom he would be an employee of for the next decade. Elizabeth Fitz-Alan, the future wife of Robert Goushill, had been the wife of Mowbray since 1384.
During the 1390's, Robert Goushill would be in the retinue of Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Nottingham, Marshal of England, and Duke of Norfolk, serving as Mowbray's esquire and attorney. When Thomas Mowbray received his ducal elevation in 1397, he gave to his esquire Robert Goushill a 20 pound annuity for life from his manor at Willington. This grant was confirmed by Henry IV in November of 1399. In 1398, after the Duke of Norfolk was banished by Richard II, Robert Goushill was appointed one of the attorneys for Mowbray. At the coronation of King Edward IV on October 13, 1399, Robert Goushill would make a plea for the return of the banished Duke of Norfolk as Earl Marshall, not knowing Mowbray had already died of the plague in Venice, Italy on September 22, 1399. In the mid 1390's, Robert Goushill had married as a first wife Joan Bracebrugge, who was the widow of Sir Ralph Bracebrugge of Kingsbury, Warwickshire. Joan (maiden name unknown) had married Ralph Bracebrugge in 1380 and his death occured in August, 1395. The marriage of Robert Goushill and Joan Bracebrugge likely was in 1396, and Joan would die early in the year 1400. (IPM Henry IV, 1-6). In 1397 Richard II appointed Sir William Bagot and Robert Goushill to seize into his hands the goods and chattels of Thomas the late Earl of Warwick. (Goushill served as Warwickshire sheriff in 1396/97). After Richard II was deposed, the new King Henry IV made a grant on Feb. 23, 1400 to his kinswoman Elizabeth, the wife of the late Duke of Norfolk, of the remaining goods of the late Duke as well as clearing the debts that the Duke had owed to the deposed Richard II. Others to share in the remaining goods of the deceased Duke of Norfolk included Robert Goushill.
Robert Goushill would marry the widowed Elizabeth Fitz-Alan, Duchess of Norfolk, in the latter part of 1400 or early 1401 without license. On August 19, 1401, King Henry IV seized the lands of Elizabeth, late widow of Thomas Mowbray, for marrying Robert Goushill without license. On September 28, 1401, Henry IV would pardon Robert Goushill esquire and Elizabeth, late wife of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, for their trespass for inter-marrying without license and that they shall have restitution of all lands assigned to her in dower with the issues from the time of their marriage. Joan Goushill, the 1st daughter of Robert and Elizabeth, would be born in 1401, and a 2nd daughter Elizabeth Goushill would be born in 1402. Many present day descendants of these two daughters trace their ancestry to the Plantagenet Kings of England through Joan Goushill who married Sir Thomas Stanley, 1st Baron Stanley, and Elizabeth Goushill who married Sir Robert Wingfield of Letheringham, Suffolk. (My own descent is through the Goushill-Wingfield marriage). A 3rd daughter named Joyce is now credited to Robert and Elizabeth. She was found in a 1407 lawsuit being named after older daughters Joan and Elizabeth. As she is not named in Robert Goushill's Inq. Post Mortum of 1403, she would certainly seem to have been born after Robert Goushill's death. No futher trace of Joyce Goushill has been found. After the tragic death of Sir Robert Goushill at the battle of Shrewsbury on July 21, 1403, his Inquisition Post Mortum was held August 6, 1403. His heirs are given as his daughters Joan and Elizabeth, aged two years and one year respectively. A final thought regarding the pedigree of the Goushill family of Hoveringham as given by Thoroton: the pedigree lists the Sir Nicholas Goushill dying in 1393 as the grandfather of Robert Goushill and Robert's father as another Nicholas Goushill. This 2nd Nicholas Goushill listed in the pedigree was very likely confused with the Sir Nicholas Goushill of Barlborough, Derbyshire who was also at the battle of Shrewsbury. He was certainly a relative and contemporary of Robert Goushill and either brother or first cousin, but not his father. The first 1380's records that mention Robert Goushill appear with Sir Nicholas Goushill the ELDER given as the father of Robert Goushill. I believe the evidence stongly suggests that the father of Robert Goushill was the Sir Nicholas Goushill who died in 1393 and was buried at St. Michael's church Hoveringham.

By Bruce Morrison, professor at the University of Kentucky.


Godwulf

McBride's page lists his line as: son of Geata, son of Taetwa, son of Beaw, son of Sceldwa, son of Heremod, son of Itermon, son of Hathra, son of Hwala, son of Bedwig, son of Sceaf.

Shurtleff Genealogy lists Godwulf's line the same except Sceaf is the son of Noah, then adds the following line:

Lameach, Methuselah, Enoch, Jared, Mahalaleel, Cainan, Enos, Seth, Adam circa 3074 BC


Godiva

Godiva, Countess Wife of Earl, sister of Thorold, sheriff of Lincs., grandmother of rebel earls Edwin and Morcar. Famous for her naked bareback ride on a horse at Coventry to protest her husband's tax increase; founded Stow Priory near Lincoln. Holdings not yet re-granted, in Leics., Notts. and Warwicks.

Perhaps one of the most famous early personalities of the period was Lady Godiva (Godwa or Godgifu) who allegedly rode naked the streets of Coventry in Warwickshire as a protest against her husband's high taxes on the people of the city. This husband, Earl Leofric, a Saxon Earl of Mercia, died an old man in 1057, nine years before the Norman Conquest. They seemingly had issue, at least one daughter, who married into the Malet family. 29 years after her husband's death, Lady (Countess) Godiva held many estates in Warwickshire, including Coventry, as revealed by the Domesday Book in 1086. Chronologically, either Leofric had married a child bride, or Lady Godiva was a very old woman at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The former is the most likely. The lordships bestowed on Lady Godiva in Warwickshire by William the Conqueror in 1066 were considerable, probably the result of an alliance struck either with Leofric or Lady Godiva before the Conquest. Since, Lady Godiva was a wealthy woman in 1057, and still wealthy after the Conquest, it is not likely she displayed herself in protest after that date, since she would have been protesting her own taxation. She apparently inherited her lands and titles in 1057. Therefore, the event in question probably took place, if at all, several years before 1057, when, young and innocent, the impatient and passionate Lady Godiva, appalled by her aging husband's despotic ways, leapt on her nag and took to the streets of Coventry in all her naked glory, perhaps too young to realize that within a few short years she would be in full control of all the taxation of her husband's considerable holdings at the time of his death, holdings which she carried through to at least 1086. She held Alspath, Ansley, Ansty, Atherstone, Coventry, Foleshill, Hartshill, Kingsbury. Warwickshire and the Domesday Book. http://www.infokey.com/Domesday/Warwickshire.htm

Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in England in order to gain a remission of the oppressive toll imposed by her husband on his tenants.

Her name occurs in charters and the Domesday survey, though the spelling varies. The Anglo-Saxon name Godgifu or Godgyfu meant "gift of God"; Godiva was the Latinised version. Since the name was a popular one, there are contemporaries of the same name and care should be taken not to confuse them.[1]

It also appears from the chronicles of Ely, Liber Eliensis (end of 12th century), that she was a widow when Leofric married her. Both Leofric and Godiva were generous benefactors to religious houses. In 1043 Leofric founded and endowed a Benedictine monastery at Coventry.[2] Writing in the 12th century, Roger of Wendover credits Godiva as the persuasive force behind this act. In the 1050s, her name is coupled with that of her husband on a grant of land to the monastery of St Mary, Worcester and the endowment of the minster at Stow St Mary, Lincolnshire.[3][4] She and her husband are commemorated as benefactors of other monasteries at Leominster, Chester, Much Wenlock and Evesham.[5]

Her mark, "di Ego Godiva Comitissa diu istud desideravi", appears on a charter purportedly given by Thorold of Bucknall to the Benedictine monastery of Spalding. However, this charter is considered spurious by many historians.[6] Even so, some genealogists have argued that Thorold, who appears in the Domesday Book as sheriff of Lincolnshire, was probably her brother.

At Leofric's death in 1057, his widow lived on until after the Norman Conquest. She appears in the Domesday survey as one of the few Anglo-Saxons and the only woman to remain a major landholder after the conquest. By the time of this great survey in 1086, Godiva had died, but her former lands are listed.[7] It appears that she died between 1066 and 1086. Some sources maintain that she died on September 10, 1067.[8]

The place where Godiva was buried is a matter of debate. According to one source, she was probably buried at the Church of the Blessed Trinity at Evesham[9], which is no longer standing. However the novelist Octavia Randolph says that Godiva was buried next to her husband at the priory church in Coventry.[10]

Dugdale (1656) says that a window with representations of Leofric and Godiva was placed in Trinity Church, Coventry, about the time of Richard II.

Some records show her the sister of Thorold.


Gospatric

Gospatric was not only the First Earl of Dunbar, but also Grandson of Uchtred-Earl of Northumberland, Great Grandson of Ethelred II - King of England, and Father of Aethelreda - wife (and Queen) of Duncan II - King of Scotland. In Gospatric the Earl, the greatest families of Scotland, Pictland, Northumbria, and England were combined.

His death was ordered by Edith, daughter of Godwine and wife of Edward the Confessor for his quarelling with her brother, Tosnig.

Per Wikipedia:
Gospatric is often said to have been a son of Maldred son of Crínán of Dunkeld. If this is correct, Maldred was apparently not the son of Crínán's known wife Bethóc, daughter of the Scots king Malcolm II, as Gospatric's descendants made no such claim when they submitted their pleadings in the Great Cause (though according to this link his descendant, Patrick the Seventh Earl of Dunbar, did indeed make a claim to the throne during these pleadings) to determine the succession to the kingship of the Scots after the death of Alexander III in 1286.

Alternatively, rather than being descended from a half-brother of King Duncan I (Donnchad mac Crínáin), Gospatric may have been the youngest son of Earl Uchtred the Bold (died 1016). Anne: Making Gospatrick's dates completely wrong!!

Another reconstruction would make Gospatric the grandson of Uchtred's discarded first wife, Ecgfritha, daughter of Aldhun, Bishop of Durham, through Sigrida, her daughter with Kilvert son of Ligulf.

Whatever his parentage may have been, Gospatric was clearly an important figure in Northumbria and Cumbria, with ties to the family of Earl Uchtred.


Captain John Gorham

1635: Came to the colonies on the Phillip listed as being 18, would have been 15
1646 moved to Marshfield
1648 became Constable
4 Jun 1650 admitted as Freeman
1651 - became member of Grand Inquiry of the Colony
1652 - moved to Yarmouth, purchased house lot on North County Road
19 Dec 1675 fought at Sanguinany Battle at Swamp Fort in Narraganset County
Second expedition - given 14 men.

His passage is listed on page 125 of The Topo Book by Charles Banks, (John and Ralph) which lists his being from the parish of Benefield, Northamptonshire and bound for Yarmouth, Barnstable, Mass with the notes "NEGR 52/ "

On 5 Mar 1655, John Gorham was presented for "unseemly carriage toward Blanch Hull at unseasonable time being in the night." She was then the wife of Trustrum Hull of Barnstable, and afterwards the second wife of Capt. Wm. hedge of Yartmouth. she was a bad woman, being frequently involved on broils and difficulties. Capt. Hedge in his will cut her out with "a shilling" and gives as a reason that "she had proved false to him". John Gorham was fined 40 shillings, Blanch 50 shillings--a poor speculation for Mrs. Hull.* Genealogical notes of Barnstable families, pg 408

During King Phillip's War, Capt. John Gorham fought in the battle of Swamp Fort Dec 1675. The weather was cold and severe and the the English had to remain in the open. He was wounded by having his powder horn hit and split against his side. Capt. Gorham never recovered from his wound and the cold and fatigue, He was seized with fever and died in Feb 1676.* Genealogical notes of Barnstable families, pg 407

*From 1530 to 1900. Complete lineage of the Sturges families of Maine, pg 8

~~~~~

The Northamptonshire branch of the Gorhams are supposed to have descended from Sir Hugh de Gorham and his wife, Margaret, daughter of Sir William l'Angevin. Sir Hugh de Gorham, in 1281, possessed the manor of Churchfield in the parish of Oundle, and land in Benefield which had belonged to his wife's father. More than three hundred years later, the baptism of "John Gorram, son of Ralph Gorram" was entered in the Benefield register.


Godwine

Godwine became one of the most powerful men in Britain after the death of Ethelred. His daughter, Edith, married Edward the Confessor.

Godwin married twice, both times to Danish women of high rank. His first wife was the Danish princess Thyra Sveinsdóttir (994–1018), a daughter of Sweyn I, who was King of Denmark, Norway and England. His second wife was Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, whose brother or cousin Ulf Jarl was the son-in-law of Sweyn I and the father of Sweyn II. Gytha and Ulf were allegedly grandchildren to the legendary Swedish viking Styrbjörn the Strong (a disinherited prince of Sweden) and great-grand-children to Harold Bluetooth, King of Denmark and Norway. This second marriage resulted in the birth of several children, notably two sons, Harold and Tostig Godwinson (who played a prominent role in 1066) and a sister Edith of Wessex (1020–1075), who was Queen consort of Edward the Confessor.

Godwin married a second time to a Danish noblewoman, Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, said to be the granddaughter of the legendary Viking Styrbjörn Starke and great-granddaughter to Harold Bluetooth, king of Denmark and thus also ancestor to King Canute.

1051 was exiled when he refused to burn down Dover at Edward's orders after Edward's brother in law, Eustace II of Boulogne's men were killed. Reputedly had Edward's brother, Alfred Atheling killed.

1052 Godwine returned to England angered by Edward's promise to William for the throne as well as the Norman influence that had grown in England. He managed to removed many of the high official Normans, including Robert of Jumieges, the Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, replacing him with Stigand.

When Godwine died, Harold became the Earl of Wessex and proceeded to become the King of England

His daughter, Edith, was proclaimed to be beautiful, intelligent, modest, tender in her affections and accomplished. She was accused of adultery before and after Edward's death. At the Christmas feast of 1064 she ordered the death of Gospatric who had quarrelled with her favortie brother, Tosnig.

Godwin (sometimes Godwine) (c. 1001 – April 15, 1053), was one of the most powerful lords in England under the Danish king Canute the Great and his successors. Canute made him the first Earl of Wessex. Godwin was the father of Harold II and of Edith of Wessex, wife of Edward the Confessor.

Godwin's father was probably Wulfnoth Cild, Cild being a nickname (c.983-1015) who was Thegn of Sussex, although later documents describe his father as a churl. Wulfnoth was a sixth generation descendant of King Ethelred of Wessex, the elder brother of Alfred the Great. His descendants were passed over in the royal succession, but became prominent nobles in the kingdom. Wulfnoth led a section of the royal fleet into piracy and as a consequence had his lands forfeited, and was exiled. It was left to his young son, Godwin, to improve the family fortunes after his father's death in 1014. The patrilineal descent of Godwin from a King of Wessex is still being researched, however, and should not be taken as certain. In his day, Earl Godwin was seen as very much of a new man, who had been "made" by two advantageous marriages to Danish noblewomen .

Godwin was a major supporter of Edmund Ironside, the son of King Aethelred the Unready. While Edmund was in rebellion against his father, Canute and his army invaded England. Edmund was killed, along with many of his supporters, but Godwin survived and pledged his loyalty to Canute. He befriended Canute's brother-in-law, Earl Ulf, and became one of Canute's advisors, accompanying him to Denmark to suppress a rebellion there. By 1018 he was an earl, becoming Earl of the West Saxons in about 1019. In 1022 he married Thyra Sveinsdóttir, Canute's sister. She died soon afterwards without issue, but Godwin continued to gain prestige and by 1023 he was the most powerful earl in England

On November 12, 1035, Canute died. His kingdoms were divided among three rival rulers. Harold Harefoot, Cantute's illegitimate son by Aelgifu of Northampton, seized the throne of England. Harthacanute, Canute's legitimate son by Emma of Normandy, reigned in Denmark. Norway rebelled under Magnus the Noble. In 1037, the throne of England was reportedly claimed by Alfred of Wessex, younger son of Emma of Normandy and Ethelred the Unready and half-brother of Harthacanute. Godwin is reported to have either captured Alfred himself or to have deceived him by pretending to be his ally and then surrendering him to the forces of Harold Harefoot. Either way Alfred was blinded and soon died at Ely.

On March 17, 1040, Harold Harefoot died and Godwin supported the accession of his half-brother Harthacanute to the throne of England. When Harthacanute himself died (June 8, 1042), Godwin finally supported the claim of his half-brother Edward the Confessor to the throne. Edward was another son of Emma and Ethelred, having spent most of the previous thirty years in Normandy. His reign restored the native royal house of Wessex to the throne of England.

Despite his alleged responsibility for the death of Edward's brother Alfred, Godwin secured the marriage of his daughter Edith (Eadgyth) to Edward in 1045. As Edward drew advisors, nobles and priests from his former place of refuge in a bid to develop his own power base, Godwin soon became the leader of opposition to growing Norman influence. After a violent clash between the people of Dover and the visiting Eustace II, Count of Boulogne, Edward's new brother-in-law, Godwin was ordered to punish the people of Dover (as he and Earl Leofric had done in Worcester, in Leofric's own earldom). This time, however, Godwin refused, choosing to champion his own countrymen against a (visiting) foreign ruler and his own king. Edward rightly saw this as a test of power, and managed to enlist the support of the other earls Earl Siward from Northumbria and Earl Leofric from Mercia. Godwin and his sons were exiled from the kingdom with his sons in September 1051. However, they returned the following year with an armed force, which gained the support of the navy, burghers, and peasants, so compelling Edward to restore his earldom. This however set a precedent to be followed by a rival earl some years later, and then by Godwin's own son in 1066.

On April 15, 1053, Godwin died at Winchester, supposedly while denying that he had any role in the death of the King's brother Alfred in 1036. His son Harold succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, an area then covering roughly the southernmost third of England. With the death of Earl Siward (1055) and later Earl Algar (1062), the children of Godwin were poised to assume sole control. Tostig was helped into the earldom of Northumbria, thus controlling the north. The Mercian earl was sidelined, especially after Harold and Tostig broke the Welsh-Mercian alliance in 1063. Harold later succeeded Edward the Confessor and became King of England in his own right. At this point, both Harold's remaining brothers in England were earls in their own right, Harold was himself king and in control of Wessex, and he had married the sister of Earl Edwin of Mercia and Earl Morcar of Northumbria (who had succeeded his brother Tostig). Godwin's family looked set to inaugarate a new royal dynasty, much as the Capetians had replaced the Carolingians in France.

Godwin married a second time to a Danish noblewoman, Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, said to be the granddaughter of the legendary Viking Styrbjörn Starke and great-granddaughter to Harold Bluetooth, king of Denmark and thus also ancestor to King Canute.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin_of_Wessex

Possible father: Wulfnoth Cild (c.983-1015), Thegn of Sussex, was the father of Earl Godwin and the grandfather of King Harold II of England. Wulfnoth was himself a descendant of King Ethelred I of Wessex, through Ethelred's youngest son, Aethelhelm, and by virtue of that a prince of the royal blood, as were his descendants including Harold Godwinson (Harold II).

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wulfnoth_Cild"


Harald Gormsson

King Hakon of Norway ventured into Harald's territory of Denmark, Hakon's wife made marriage arrangements with her children to the rulers of the Orkney area to ease tensions.

Erik Bloodaxe's sons, with a Dane army supplied by Harald, battled Hakon's Norwegian shores.
The Heimskringla, the Saga of Hakon, Section 10, 22

Earl Hakon was staying with Harald, he asked Harald if he would split his country, which incensed Harald, who said, "no man had asked his father Gorm to be king over half of Denmark, nor yet his grandfather King Hordaknut, or Sigurd Orm, or Ragnar Lodbrok."
The Heimskringla, King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, section 8

Soon after King Harald Gormson ordered a levy of men over all his kingdom, and sailed with 600 ships (i.e., 720 ships, as they were counted by long hundreds, 100=120.) There were with him Earl Hakon, Harald Grenske, a son of King Gudrod, and many other great men who had fled from their udal estates in Norway on account of Gunhild's sons. The Danish king sailed with his fleet from the south to Viken, where all the people of the country surrendered to him.
The Heimskringla, King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, section 15

Harald Gormson, heard that Earl Hakon had thrown off Christianity, and had plundered far and wide in the Danish land. The Danish king levied an army, with which he went to Norway; and when he came to the country which Earl Hakon had to rule over he laid waste the whole land, and came with his fleet to some islands called Solunder. Only five houses were left standing in Laeradal; but all the people fled up to the mountains, and into the forest, taking with them all the moveable goods they could carry with them. Then the Danish king proposed to sail with his fleet to Iceland, to avenge the mockery and scorn all the Icelanders had shown towards him; for they had made a law in Iceland, that they should make as many lampoons against the Danish king as there were headlands in his country; and the reason was, because a vessel which belonged to certain Icelanders was stranded in Denmark, and the Danes took all the property, and called it wreck. One of the king's bailiffs called Birger was to blame for this; but the lampoons were made against both.
The Heimskringla, King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, section 36

King Harald told a warlock to hie to Iceland in some altered shape, and to try what he could learn there to tell him: and he set out in the shape of a whale. Based on his report,  Harald headed back home.
The Heimskringla, King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, section 37

Harald's son, Svein, asked his father to divide his land again, to which Harald said no. Svein collected ships and men, fought his father and won, becoming the King of Denmark.
The Heimskringla, King Olaf Trygvason's Saga, section 38

Harald converted around 965, he had the Jelling mounds (pic here)– previously started by his pagan father Gorm – adapted into Christian monuments honoring both Gorm and Thyre. The Jelling monuments are said to have been a statement of Harald's new-found religion; it was thought that with these monuments, he was trying to conduct a smooth transition from paganism to Christianity both for himself and his subjects.

He was forced twice to submit to the renegade Swedish prince Styrbjörn the Strong of the Jomsvikings. First by giving Styrbjörn a fleet and his daughter Tyra, and the second time by giving up himself as hostage and an additional fleet. Styrbjörn brought this fleet to Uppsala in Sweden in order to claim the throne of Sweden. However, this time Harald broke his oath and fled with his Danes in order to avoid facing the Swedish army at the Battle of the Fýrisvellir.

More info not listed here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harald_Bluetooth