This statement, unsupported by any contemporary source, presumably derives ultimately from The Brut,which records that following his marriage to Godwine's daughter, Edward the Confessor `yaf the Erldome of Oxenforthe to Harolde, that was Godwynes sone, & made him Erle ...' - F.W.D. Brie (ed.), The Brut I, Early English Text Society original series 131 (1906), 131.