Estrid Svendsdatter

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Estrid Svendsdatter (also Estrith and Astrith ; * before 1010; † 1057/1073), was a Danish king's daughter and titular queen, through her marriages a Russian princess and possibly Duchess of Normandy . She was a daughter of Sven Gabelbart and maybe Gunhild of Poland , and sister of Canute the Great . As the wife of Ulf Jarl , she was the mother of Sven Estridsson , King of Denmark , and Björn Estridsson . The dynasty named after her, the House of Estridsson , ruled Denmark from 1047 to 1412. In Denmark she is known as Dronning Estrid (Queen Estrid), although she was not a monarch and was not married to a king

According to a different opinion, she was the daughter of Sven Gabelbart and Sigrid the proud , who in turn was a daughter of Skoglar Toste . Olof Skötkonung , Sigrid's son with Erik Segersäll , was Estrid's half-brother as well as that of Canute the Great, Harald II and Świętosława, the children of Sven Gabelbart and Gunhild, daughter of the Polish Duke Mieszko I.

Life

Estrid was born before 1010. Her father died in 1014. She was allegedly briefly married to an unnamed Russian prince who died as a result of the wars after the death of Grand Duke Vladimir I in 1015 (possibly Vsevolod Vladimirovich , Prince of Volhynia , son of the Grand Duke). After his accession to the throne in England, her brother agreed with Duke Richard II of Normandy to marry Estrid to his son Robert , although it is not known whether the marriage was ever concluded. Rodulfus Glaber reports in his Historiarum libri quinque that a sister of Knut married Robert without giving her name. Adam von Bremen, on the other hand, reports on Estrid's (he calls her Margaret) marriage to Richard II, as well as that she married Ulf after Richard went to Jerusalem (Richard did not move to Jerusalem, however, Robert did). Norman sources, on the other hand, mention such a marriage for neither of the dukes, and historians disagree on whether this was a short-lived marriage, engagement, or plain confusion.

Her brother Knut then arranged a marriage for her with Ulf, Jarl of Orkney , who was killed in 1026 on his orders. It is possible that the murder happened with Estrid's consent, since she did not lose her brother's trust and received large estates from him.

She gave her son Sven an education through the church, made donations to the church and is said to have founded the first stone church in Denmark, Roskilde Cathedral . She supported her son's attempt to rule over Denmark. In 1047 Sven became king in Denmark due to his mother's descent and is therefore known by the nickname Sven Estridsson (son of Estrid). Estrid himself received the honorary title of consort of the king (not queen mother). She came to be known as "Queen Estrid" even though she was neither a monarch nor the wife of a king. The thesis that Estrid's son Sven Estridsson was offered the English crown as the successor to Eduard the Confessor is generally rejected: Ulf's sister was Gytha, the wife of Earl Godwin of Wessex , which firmly linked her family to the Anglo-Scandinavian camp.

When Estrid died is not known, her death did not occur before 1057 and later than 1073, as it is known that Bishop Wilhelm von Roskilde, who was in office at this time, organized her funeral.

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It was widely believed that she was buried on the cathedral's northeast pillar, but an investigation in 2003 dispelled that myth, as the remains belonged to a woman far too young to be Estrid. The new theory is that the sign on the pillar refers to Margareta Hasbjörnsdatter , also known as Estrid, who was married to Harald Hen , son of Sven Estridssen.

Remarks

  1. ^ Ann Williams, Alfred P. Smyth, DP Kirby, A Biographical Dictionary of Dark Age Britain: England, Scotland, and Wales (1991), p. 231.
  2. ↑ a b c d Thyra Nors: Estrid , in: Dansk Kvindebiografisk Leksikon ( online, accessed on May 27, 2019 )
  3. ^ Rafał T. Prinke, Świętosława, Sygryda, Gunhilda. Tożsamość córki Mieszka I i jej skandynawskie związki Świętosława, Sygryda, Gunhilda. The identity of Mieszko I's daughter and her Scandinavian relationships ( online, accessed May 28, 2019 )
  4. ^ MK Lawson, Cnut: England's Viking King (2004), p. 105.
  5. ^ Pauline Stafford, Queen Emma and Queen Edith (1997), p. 23; see. P. 235.
  6. ↑ Wood, p. 35
  7. ^ Last Viking buried with wrong woman , Jyllands Posten, September 2, 2005, accessed May 27, 2019
personal data
SURNAME Estrid Svendsdatter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Estrith; Astrith
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Titular Queen of Denmark
DATE OF BIRTH before 1010
DATE OF DEATH between 1057 and 1073