Gunhild of Poland

Gunhild von Polen (or Gunhild von Wenden ) is a semi-legendary Polish or more generally Slavic princess and Danish queen of the Viking Age as the presumed wife of Sven Gabelbart (986-1014). It can be assumed that Gunhild is not her Slavic, but her Scandinavian name. Research has accepted the hypothesis that it was originally called Świętosława .

Heimskringla

In Heimskringla , a collection of legends from the 13th century, Snorri Sturluson tells that Sven Gabelbart was captured in an attack on the Jomswikings and that Burislav, king of the Wends , was turned over. As part of the negotiations that followed, the marriage between Sven and Burislav's daughter Gunhild was agreed, in return Burislav Sven's sister, Tyra Haraldsdatter, was to marry. Gunhild became the mother of Harald II and Canute the Great . While this report is consistent with certain aspects of the historical record, there are also differences.

According to Mohnike , Suhm was of the opinion that "the Nordic historians had confused the Mjesko (or Mjeczislaw) King of Poland and the rear part of Pomerania, which is meant here, with his son Boleslav (here Burislav) ..."

Chroniclers

There is hardly any information about the marriages of Sven Gabelbart in the medieval chronicles:

• Thietmar von Merseburg mentions that an unnamed daughter of Mieszko I of Poland and sister of Boleslaw I of Poland married Sven Gabelbart and gave birth to the sons Knut and Harold. Thietmar is probably the best informed of all medieval chroniclers, as he lived contemporary to the events described and was well informed about the events in Poland and Denmark . Claiming that Harald and Knut's mother was Boleslaw's sister could explain some of the mysterious statements that appear in medieval chronicles, such as the involvement of Polish troops in invasions in England.
• Adam von Bremen writes that a Polish princess was the wife of Erik Segersäll and through this marriage the mother of Olof Skötkonung of Sweden. In her second marriage to Sven, she became the mother of Knut and Harald of Denmark. As a result, Adam calls Knut and Olof brothers. Some historians consider Adam's account to be unreliable as it is the only source from which this relationship can be established.
• The Gesta Cnutonis regis , a volume of the Encomium Emmae Reginae , mentions in a short passage that Knut and his brother went to the land of the Slavs and brought their mother to Denmark. This does not necessarily mean that his mother was Slavic, but this chronicle strongly suggests it nonetheless.
• The Liber vitae of New Minster and Hyde Abbey in Winchester says that King Canute's sister was called "Santslaue" (" Santslaue soror CNVTI regis nostri "), which is undoubtedly a Slavic name. The historian Johannes Steenstrup suggested that Knut's sister might have been named after her mother, which is why the (now generally agreed) hypothesis was coined that her old Polish name was Świętosława , but only as a reconstruction based on a single mention of the name her daughter and the hypothesis that she named her daughter after herself.

Identities

Several alternative interpretations of this data have been suggested. Gunhild could be identical to Sven's historical wife. In addition, the double marriage reported by Adam von Bremen corresponds to the Heimskringla report on Sigrid der Stolzen . So this could represent a mix-up between two women, or it could be that Sigrid is a tangled double memory of the same historical woman. This would mean that Gunhild was Erik's widow in the sagas, a conclusion that several historians have come to. After all, it is possible that Gunhild is simply a legendary invention that is not based directly on Sven's well-known Polish wife.

Remarks

1. ↑ Gottlieb Mohnike (ed.), Heimskringla. Legends of the Kings of Norway by Snorre Sturlason , Stralsund 1837, p. 488.
2. ↑ cf. Lars O. Lagerqvist: Kings and Rulers of Sweden , ISBN 91-87064-35-9 , p. 10.