Hardicanute, 1018-42, and Gunhild (Kunigunde), son and daughter of Cnut the Great and Emma of Normandy. Gunhild ~ king Henrik III of Germany.

Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905)

Hardicanute, 1018-42, king, son of Cnut the Great
and Emma, was appointed king in Denmark 1028, but
since he after his father's death stayed too long
in Denmark, his halfbrother Harald was elected king
of England. H. had been busy fighting Norway's
king Magnus, but he finally had an agreement with
him and could in 1039 go with a fleet to Flandern
to his mother. Harald died shortly after,and the
English magnates agreed in summoning H., who was
crowned king in June 1040. His rule did not last
for long, the weak king died 8. June 1042, when he
at a wedding toasted the bride; he was buried in
Winchester by his father's side.

Unfortunately there is nothing good to be told about
this last male of the Danish kings' family in
England; he had persecuted his opponents in a brutal
way, he had taunted his brother's body and imposed a
considerable war tax, which caused unrest in the
country.

Freeman, Norman Conquest I.
Dictionary of National Biography XXIV.
Steenstrup, Normannerne III.

Gunhild, ab.1020-1038, daughter of Cnut the Great.
In his marriage to Aethelred's widow Emma of
Normandy Knud had two children, Hardicanute and
G. In June 1035 Knud arranged with Emperor Conrad
II a marriage between G. and the emperor's son
king Henrik, the later Henrik III, but Knud never
saw the marriage established, since he died 12
November 1035. The wedding took place in great
splendor in June 1036 in Nimwegen, where G. was
crowned and took the name Kunigunde.
G. is described as a fine and delicate woman with
a body and mind like a child. She had a weak
constitution and died after 2 years of marriage
18 July 1038; she had only one child, the daughter
Beatrix, who became an abbess.

Legend and folklore has incorrectly transferred to
G. the tale about a queen, who by her husband's
accussation of adultry proved her innocence by
letting a dwarf defend her in a fight with a giant
and defeat him.

Steindorff, Jahrbïcher des deutschen Reichs unter
Heinrich III.
J. Steenstrup, Normannerne III.

Johannes C. H. R. Steenstrup.

Dansk Biografisk Lexicon
Carl Fr. Bricka
Project Runeberg
(1887-1905) 

translation grethe bachmann  ©​ copyright