Gunhilda of Denmark ( 1020 – 18 July 1038), was
Queen consort of Germany by her marriage with King
Henry III from 1036 until her death.
Biography
Gunhilda was a daughter of King
Cnut the Great
Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norwa ...
(985/95 – 1035), ruler over the Anglo-Scandinavian
North Sea Empire
The North Sea Empire, also known as the Anglo-Scandinavian Empire, was the personal union of the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway for most of the period between 1013 and 1042 towards the end of the Viking Age. This ephemeral Norse-ruled ...
, and his second wife
Emma of Normandy
Emma of Normandy (referred to as Ælfgifu in royal documents; c. 984 – 6 March 1052) was a Norman-born noblewoman who became the English, Danish, and Norwegian queen through her marriages to the Anglo-Saxon king Æthelred the Unready and the ...
(c. 985 – 1052). She was thus a member of the
House of Knýtlinga
The Danish House of Knýtlinga (English: "House of Cnut's Descendants") was a ruling royal house in Middle Age Scandinavia and England. Its most famous king was Cnut the Great, who gave his name to this dynasty. Other notable members were Cnut' ...
and a sister of King
Harthacnut, a half-sister of King
Svein Knutsson
Svein Knutsson (Old Norse: ''Sveinn Knútsson''; c. 1016–1035) was the son of Cnut the Great, king of Denmark, Norway, and England, and his first wife Ælfgifu of Northampton, a Mercian noblewoman. In 1017 Cnut married Emma of Normandy, but the ...
of Norway and King
Harold Harefoot
Harold I (died 17 March 1040), also known as Harold Harefoot, was King of the English from 1035 to 1040. Harold's nickname "Harefoot" is first recorded as "Harefoh" or "Harefah" in the twelfth century in the history of Ely Abbey, and according ...
of England, and
Alfred Aetheling
Ælfred Æþeling (English: ''Alfred the Noble'') ( 1012–1036), was one of the eight sons of the English king Æthelred the Unready. He and his brother Edward the Confessor were sons of Æthelred's second wife Emma of Normandy. King Canute ...
,
Edward the Confessor and
Godgifu (daughter of Æthelred the Unready)
Goda of England or Godgifu; (french: Godjifu; the Old English name Godgifu or Godgyfu meant "gift of God", Godiva was the Latinised version; c.1004 – c.1049) was the daughter of King Ethelred the Unready and his second wife Emma of Normandy, a ...
.
About 1025, Gunhilda came to
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
as a child. Her engagement with Henry III, the son and heir of Emperor
Conrad II
Conrad II ( – 4 June 1039), also known as and , was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 until his death in 1039. The first of a succession of four Salian emperors, who reigned for one century until 1125, Conrad ruled the kingdoms ...
and his consort
Gisela of Swabia
Gisela of Swabia ( 990 – 15 February 1043), was queen of Germany from 1024 to 1039 and empress of the Holy Roman Empire from 1027 to 1039 by her third marriage with Emperor Conrad II. She was the mother of Emperor Henry III. She was regent of ...
, was part of a pact of her father Cnut over peaceful borders of the Danish
Duchy of Schleswig with Imperial
Holstein
Holstein (; nds, label=Northern Low Saxon, Holsteen; da, Holsten; Latin and historical en, Holsatia, italic=yes) is the region between the rivers Elbe and Eider. It is the southern half of Schleswig-Holstein, the northernmost state of German ...
in the area of
Kiel
Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021).
Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the Jutland ...
. The agreement had occurred prior to the death of Canute in 1035.
Queen
During the Easter celebration in 1028, Henry received regality from the hands of his father with consent of the
princes
A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...
and was vested with the duchies of
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
and
Swabia. Conrad temporarily had evolved plans to marry his son with
Zoe Porphyrogenita
Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to:
*ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life"
People
* Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name
Film and television
* ''Zoe'' (film)
* ZOE Broadcast ...
, a daughter of the Byzantine Emperor
Constantine VIII
Constantine VIII Porphyrogenitus ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Πορφυρογέννητος, ''Kōnstantinos Porphyrogénnetos''; 960 – 11/12 November 1028) was ''de jure'' Byzantine emperor from 962 until his death. He was the youn ...
. Nevertheless, after these ambitions had failed, Gunhilda and Henry were finally betrothed at Pentecost 1035 in
Bamberg and married one year later in
Nijmegen. Upon her wedding, she took the German name ''Kunigunde''.
According to the chronicles of
Alberic de Trois-Fontaines
Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (french: Aubri or ''Aubry de Trois-Fontaines''; la, Albericus Trium Fontium) (died 1252) was a medieval Cistercian chronicler who wrote in Latin. He was a monk of Trois-Fontaines Abbey in the diocese of Châlons-sur-Mar ...
and
William of Malmesbury
William of Malmesbury ( la, Willelmus Malmesbiriensis; ) was the foremost English historian of the 12th century. He has been ranked among the most talented English historians since Bede. Modern historian C. Warren Hollister described him as " ...
, Gunhilda was accused of adultery and defended in
trial by combat
Trial by combat (also wager of battle, trial by battle or judicial duel) was a method of Germanic law to settle accusations in the absence of witnesses or a confession in which two parties in dispute fought in single combat; the winner of the ...
, but after her champion's victory she disdained the success and became a nun. However, it seems that Gunhilda and her husband reconciled shortly afterwards.
In December 1038, Emperor Conrad went on a campaign to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, while Empress Gisela together with Henry and Gunhilda celebrated Christmas in
Regensburg. Stuck in a fierce conflict with quarrelsome Archbishop
Aribert of Milan, Conrad asked his son for support and both Henry III and Gunhilda followed him on his expedition. In Italy, Gunhilda gave birth to the couple's only daughter,
Beatrice (d. 1061), who later became Abbess of
Quedlinburg
Quedlinburg () is a town situated just north of the Harz mountains, in the district of Harz in the west of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. As an influential and prosperous trading centre during the early Middle Ages, Quedlinburg became a center of in ...
and
Gandersheim.
While the siege of
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
proved unsuccessful, Emperor Conrad in 1038 was asked to intervene in a territorial dispute between
Guaimar IV of Salerno and
Pandulf IV of Capua. He campaigned in the
Mezzogiorno
Southern Italy ( it, Sud Italia or ) also known as ''Meridione'' or ''Mezzogiorno'' (), is a macroregion of the Italian Republic consisting of its southern half.
The term ''Mezzogiorno'' today refers to regions that are associated with the pe ...
in support of Guaimar, took
Capua
Capua ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Caserta, in the region of Campania, southern Italy, situated north of Naples, on the northeastern edge of the Campanian plain.
History
Ancient era
The name of Capua comes from the Etrus ...
and had Pandulf deposed. Their victory found most of the Mezzogiorno loyal to the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
.
During the return journey to Germany, an
epidemic
An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics of infectious ...
(possibly
malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...
) broke out among the Imperial troops, which claimed many victims. Duke
Herman IV of Swabia and Gunhilda were among the casualties.
[Fuhrmann, H., trans. Reuter, T. (1995) ''Germany in the high middle ages c.1050–1200'' (Cambridge University Press), p. 40.]
Gunhilda's body was transferred to Germany and buried in the
Limburg Abbey church. As her husband was not crowned
King of the Romans until the death of his father Emperor Conrad II in 1039, Gunhilda was never crowned German queen.
Ancestry
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunhilda of Denmark
1020s births
1038 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
11th-century Danish people
11th-century English nobility
11th-century Norwegian nobility
11th-century German nobility
11th-century Danish women
11th-century English women
11th-century Norwegian women
11th-century German women
11th-century women of the Holy Roman Empire
Danish princesses
English princesses
Norwegian princesses
German queens consort
Duchesses of Swabia
Salian dynasty
Cnut the Great
House of Knýtlinga
Holy Roman Empresses
Daughters of kings