Gunhild (Swedish queen)
Encyclopedia
Västergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, c. 1060) was a queen consort of king Anund Jacob of Sweden
Anund Jacob of Sweden
Anund Jacob, Swedish: Anund Jakob was King of Sweden from 1022 until around 1050. He is believed to have been born on July 25, in either 1008 or 1010 as Jakob. When the Swedish Thing was to elect him the co-ruler of Sweden, the people objected to his non-Scandinavian name...
and of king Sveinn II of Denmark
Sweyn II of Denmark
Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1074. He was the son of Ulf Jarl and Estrid Svendsdatter. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood and Niels...
. Her parentage is not confirmed; she is called Gunnhildr Sveinsdóttir or Gunnhildr Haraldsdóttir depending on parentage. She is also sometimes called Guda or Gyda, but this is probably because she is often confused with her daughter, Princess Gyda Anundsdóttir of Sweden
Gyda of Sweden
Gyda Anundsdotter of Sweden, also known as Guda and Gunhild , was a mediaeval and Viking age Swedish princess and Danish queen consort, spouse of King Sweyn II of Denmark.-Biography:...
, who is also known under her mother's name Gunnhildr.
Background
The information about Queen Gunnhildr is often contradictory. Some sources claim that she was the child of the Norwegian Saint Harald, but the other suggested parentage is considered more likely. Here, she is said to be the child of the Norwegian jarl Svein HåkonssonSveinn Hákonarson
Sveinn Hákonarson was an earl of the house of Hlaðir and co-ruler of Norway from 1000 to c. 1015. He was the son of earl Hákon Sigurðarson. He is first mentioned in connection with the battle of Hjörungavágr, where the Heimskringla says he commanded 60 ships...
and Princess Holmfrid of Sweden, daughter (or sister) of king Olof Skötkonung and sister of king Emund the Old of Sweden.
Queen of Sweden
Gunnhildr married king Anund Jacob on an unknown date. Sometimes, the marriage is called childless, and sometimes, they were said to have a daughter by the name of Gyda, sometimes also kalled Guda or Gunnhildr. It is possible that Gyda was the daughter of Anund by another woman, and that Gunnhildr was her stepmother. Gunnhildr and her daughter/stepdaughter Gyda are often confused with each other. Gyda was married to king Sveinn II of DenmarkSweyn II of Denmark
Sweyn II Estridsson Ulfsson was the King of Denmark from 1047 to 1074. He was the son of Ulf Jarl and Estrid Svendsdatter. He was married three times, and fathered 20 children or more, including the five future kings Harald III Hen, Canute IV the Saint, Oluf I Hunger, Eric I Evergood and Niels...
, who had spent some time at the Swedish court during his political exile from Denmark, in about 1047, but she soon died (in 1048/49).
Queen of Denmark
In 1050, King Anund Jacob died, and Queen Dowager Gunnhildr went to Denmark and married her stepdaughter's widower, her former son-in-law King Sveinn Estridsson of Denmark. The marriage did not last long; the church considered the marriage illegal because they were to closely related - either because they were cousins, or because Sveinn had been married to her daughter - and they were threatened with excommunication if they did not separate. Gunhild was thereby forced to return to Sweden, in 1051/52. Gunnhildr and her daughter's marriage with Sveinn have also been confused with each other.Later life
Gunnhildr returned to her estates in VästergötlandVästergötland
', English exonym: West Gothland, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden , situated in the southwest of Sweden. In older English literature one may also encounter the Latinized version Westrogothia....
where she, according to tradition, spent her remaining days in pious repentance for her sins and religious acts. She is raported to have founded a studio of the making of textiles and habits for clerical use. Her most known work was a choir
Choir
A choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
gown she made for the cathedral
Cathedral
A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...
of Roskilde
Roskilde
Roskilde is the main city in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark on the island of Zealand. It is an ancient city, dating from the Viking Age and is a member of the Most Ancient European Towns Network....
. According to legend
Legend
A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...
, she was to have founded the convent of Gudhem Abbey
Gudhem Abbey
Gudhem Abbey, Swedish Gudhems kloster, in operation from 1152 to 1529, was a nunnery in Sweden, initially Benedictine and later Cistercian. It was located in Gudhem outside Falköping in Västergötland...
in 1052/54. In reality, however, this convent was founded exactly one hundred years later (in 1152). It is possible that the legend of the convent came about because she and her women lived an isolated religious life and the making of churchrobes on her estates; one of her estates is believed to have been Gudhem. Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen
Adam of Bremen was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. He is most famous for his chronicle Gesta Hammaburgensis Ecclesiae Pontificum .-Background:Little is known of his life other than hints from his own chronicles...
calls her Sanctissima, and describes her hospitability toward the missionary bishop Adalvard, who had been turned away from Skara
Skara
Skara is a locality and the seat of Skara Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden with 18595 inhabitants in 2005. Despite its small size, it has a long educational and ecclesiastical history. One of Sweden's oldest high schools, Katedralskolan , is situated in Skara...
by King Emund the Old. Tradition says she died in Gudhem, where she had "shown so much virtue" during her set-back, and was buried under a gravestone shaped to her likeness.
The years of her birth and death are not known, but she survived her first husband (d. 1050) and lived during the reign of king Emund the Old of Sweden (reign 1050–1061). One suggested date of her death is 1060.