Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-184.155.191.147-20130130170402/@comment-6267274-20130216175052

According to the original Rumplestiltskin's fairytale, the miller went bragging to the King about his daughter being able to spin gold. As the daughter was actually unable to do so, she made a deal with Rumplestiltskin to give him her first born-child in exchange of spinning gold for her, so she could marry the king's son.

My guess  is he lost the kingdom himself, or, he cast out Henry and Cora when he found out Cora wasn't able to keep spinning gold forever.