2. Earldoms and Saxon government

• Anglo-Saxon Earldoms

  • Northumbria
  • Mercia
  • East Anglia
  • Kent
  • Wessex
• After the fall of the Roman Empire, various tribes of Angles, Saxons and Jutes invaded over the centuries and several kingdoms formed, known as the Heptarchy or the Seven Kingdoms
• Earls

  • Received one-third of the money raised by taxes
  • Ensured their earldom was well defended and well-run
  • Decided who was guilty or not in their earldom
  • Maintained an elite bodyguard of professional soldiers called house carls
  • Were the king's military leaders against his enemies
• When a king was strong, like Cnut

  The power of the earls was definitely less than that of the king
• When a king was not so strong, like Edward the Confessor

  The king had to depend on earls like Earl Godwin
• When Edward brought Normans into important positions in the English government, Godwin and other earls resisted their appointments and worked to get the Normans sent back to Normandy
• Earls' power relied on the support of the thanes in their earldoms, as shown by occasions when thanes demanded that earls be removed from their positions
• In 1065, Earl Tostig the son of Godwin lost his earldom of Northumbria and went into exile after protests from his thanes about the way he governed
• A strong king like Cnut

  Could punish those who failed him
• A weak king like Edward the Confessor

  Spent most of his time in exile or in prayer and did not have the support of hundreds of important followers in England