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Queen consort of Denmark
Boedil Thurgotsdatter
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Tenure
| 1095?1103
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Died
| 1103
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Burial
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Spouse
| Eric I of Denmark
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Issue
| Canute Lavard
(1096?1131), prince and Catholic saint
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Father
| Thurgot Fagerskind
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Mother
| Thorgunna
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Boedil (Bodil) Thurgotsdatter
(died 1103) was a
Danish
queen,
queen consort
of King
Eric I of Denmark
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Boedil was the daughter of the Danish Earl Thurgot Fagerskind and Thorgunna and the sister of Svend Thrugotsen. Her grandfather, called
Galicieulv
in the
Knytlinga Saga
, was famous as a
pilgrim
to
Santiago de Compostela
in
Spain
. Her family is believed to be connected to the
viking
families in
Northumberland
in
England
, and as a queen, she is listed as a benefactor to the
bishopric
of
Durham
. Both she and her spouse were descendants of king
Sweyn I of Denmark
.
She is believed to have been married to Eric before 1086, as she and her husband lived in exile in the Swedish court during the reign of
King Olaf of Denmark
(1086?1095). Contemporary chronicles praise her beauty and character.
Saxo
praised her for her tolerance of her husband's constant adultery, and it was claimed that she even helped to do the hair for his mistresses.
In about the year of 1100 she accompanied her husband on his pilgrimage to
Jerusalem
. He travelled by horse, and she by carriage. Eric became sick and died of fever in
Paphos
in 1103, but Bodil continued on the pilgrimage and managed to reach Jerusalem later that year.
[1]
She died there, and was buried on the
Mount of Olives
,
[1]
or at its foot in the
Valley of Josaphat
.
Later status
[
edit
]
In 1170, king
Valdemar
introduced Christian succession to the kingdom of Denmark, and Boedil was declared the only "true wife" of her spouse and the mother of the ruling house of Denmark, and she was given a saintly appearance as such. According to the law of the church, however, her marriage would still have been illegal, as she and her spouse were related, which was therefore long ignored in history, and she was long portrayed as a half sister to the
German Roman emperor
Henry,
[
which?
]
and as such was to have been taken as a war prize by Eric.
[
clarification needed
]
This history revision can be seen as a sign of the new law which separated the status of children born in and out of wedlock.
[
citation needed
]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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- † also Queen of Norway
- ‡ also Queen of Sweden
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