Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (12 page)

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Authors: Alison Weir

Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Royalty, #History, #General, #Historical, #Reference, #Genealogy & Heraldry, #Non Fiction

BOOK: Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy
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2  
Gunhilda
Alternatively called Ethelfrida, she adopted the name Kunigunde upon her marriage. Born in
c.
1020, she married Henry III, Emperor of Germany (
d
.1056), on 10 June, 1036, at Nimeguen, Germany, and had issue:
1  Beatrice (
b
.1037), Abbess of Quedlinburg.
Gunhilda died on 16 or 18 July, 1038, on the Adriatic coast.
3  
Daughter
Her name is not known; neither are her dates. She died aged about 8, and was buried in Bosham Church, Sussex.
Canute also had the following
illegitimate issue
:
By Elgiva (996?–1044?), daughter of Alfhelm, Ealdorman of
Northampton, by his wife Wulfrun; some sources state that Elgiva was Canute’s ‘handfast’ wife, according to Danish custom; others state that she was his repudiated wife; at all events, their union was uncanonical. They had issue:
1  Sweyn, King of Norway (1015?–1036/7).
2  Harold I (
see here
).
There were contemporary doubts in certain court circles that Canute was the father of Elgiva’s two sons.
KING CANUTE
He died on 12 November, 1035, at Shaftesbury, Dorset, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral. His bones now lie in one of the mortuary chests there.
He was succeeded by his son Harthacanute.
King Harthacanute
F
ATHER
:
King Canute
(
see here
).
M
OTHER
:
Emma of Normandy
(
see here
, under
King Canute
).
S
IBLINGS
: (
see here
, under
King Canute
).
KING HARTHACANUTE
Alternatively called Hardicanute, he was born in
c
.1018, and was designated titular King of Denmark in 1028. He succeeded his father as King of Denmark on 12 November, 1035, and as King of England on the same day, in his absence from that country. He remained in Denmark, and his authority in England was usurped by his half-brother Harold I in 1037. He was restored to the English throne on 17 March, 1040, upon the death of Harold I. He is said to have been crowned in June, 1040, at Canterbury Cathedral, Kent, but no contemporary evidence exists to show that he was consecrated at all.
KING HARTHACANUTE
He died unmarried (and childless), on 8 June, 1042, at Lambeth in London, and was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
He was succeeded by his half-brother Edward, the son of Ethelred II.
Harold I
F
ATHER
:
King Canute
(?) (
see here
).
M
OTHER
:
Elgiva of Northampton, Canute’s concubine or handfast wife
.
S
IBLINGS
: (
see here
, under
King Canute
).
HAROLD I
He was born in
c.
1016/17, perhaps at Northampton. He was probably illegitimate, but contemporary doubts as to his paternity were probably mere political propaganda. In 1037, when King Harthacanute was still in Denmark, Harold usurped the throne of England and was recognised as King, being crowned that same year at Oxford.
Harold I married
(although no record exists of the date or the place):
Elgiva
Her origins are unknown, as are her dates.
Issue of marriage:
1  
Elfwine
He was born in London, but no dates are recorded for his life. Some sources infer he was illegitimate, but they are unreliable. He became a monk at Sainte-Foi Abbey, Conques, Aquitaine, his own foundation.
HAROLD I
He died on 17 March, 1040, at Oxford, and was buried, according to a faint tradition, in the old Abbey Church of St Peter at Westminster. It is less probable that he was buried in Winchester Cathedral, as is
sometimes stated. His body, after a dishonourable exhumation, was reburied, probably in St Clement Danes Church, Strand, London (less probably, in St Olave’s Church, Southwark, London). He was succeeded by his half-brother Harthacanute, whom he had once deposed (
previous chapter), who, in turn, was succeeded by Edward, son of Ethelred II.

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