Sigrid and Gunnhild
Jared Olar
On Thu, 6 Jun 1996, Rafal Prinke wrote:
> In fact, it now seems to me that he [Adam] may have used the same
> imprecise tradition later used by Snorri who called Gunnhild daughter of
> a Buryslaw.
It would be more faithful to the evidence available to us (and
chronologically more accurate) to say that *Snorri* used the same tradition
*Adam of Bremen* mentions--that Svein married a daughter of Boleslav. The
progression would seem to be as follows (significant new details or
alterations in the testimony are hightlighted with asterisks):
Thietmar: Boleslav, son of Mieszko, gives Erik of Sweden his sister, a
daughter of Mieszko, in marriage. After Erik's death, this
Polish princess becomes the wife of Svein of Denmark, and the
mother of Svein's sons Harald and Knut, who bring her back to
Denmark from Poland after their father's death in 1014.
Adam: Boleslav gives Erik of Sweden his sister **or daughter** in
marriage. **Boleslav's sister becomes the mother of Erik's son
and heir Olaf.** After Erik's death his widow marries Svein of
Denmark, and their sons are Harald and Knut.
Snorri: Erik of Sweden marries **Sigrid, daughter of Skoglar-Tosti,** and
has a son and heir named Olaf. Erik dies. Svein marries
Gunnhild, a **daughter** of Burizlaf, King of Vindland. **Gunnhild
dies of a sickness.** Svein then marries Erik's widow **Sigrid**,
so that Olaf of Sweden is the half-brother of Svein's son Knut.
Here is what I make of these things:
For whatever reason, Adam was unsure whether Boleslav gave his sister or his
daughter to Erik.
However, he claims that this Polish wife of Erik was the mother of Erik's
son Olaf *and* of Svein's son Knut. This is only possible if Thietmar
and Adam were mistaken in reporting that Boleslav bestowed the wife on
Erik. Here is why:
Olaf was not an infant when his father died c.994, and if Boleslav
was the one who gave Erik his wife, then it could not have been
before 992, when Boleslav succeeded his father Mieszko. This would
seem to indicate that Adam is in error in claiming that Olaf was the
son of Erik by his Polish wife. **The only way Olaf could be a son
of the Polish wife is if Erik married her well before 992.** Thus,
to accept Adam's testimony concerning Olaf's maternity, we must
reject the testimony of Thietmar and Adam that it was Boleslav who
gave the wife to Erik.
Despite the fact that the sagamen know that Svein married a Polish
princess, they contradict both Thietmar and Adam concerning the
identity of the woman who was married both to Erik and to Svein.
Thietmar and Adam claim it was the Polish princess. The sagas claim it
was Sigrid.
**WHY?** What grounds do they have for killing off the Polish princess and
having Svein marry Sigrid? This is the question which goes unanswered if
we conclude that Olaf and Knut were both children of the Polish woman.
We know that Adam of Bremen claimed that the mother of Olaf was also the
mother of Svein's son Knut. The sagas agree with this statement of
Adam's even as they disagree with the identity of the mother.
Take especial note of the fact that the sagas do not merge Sigrid and
Gunnhild. The sagas are aware that Svein married a Polish princess, but
do not breathe of word of this woman having been previously married to
Erik. Instead we encounter the statement that the wife of Erik who was
mother of Olaf was Sigrid the Haughty.
Is this correct? Was Olaf's mother a Swedish woman, or a Polish
princess? Because this is the one tradition which we do not find in Adam
or Thietmar--the tradition that Olaf was the son of Sigrid.
If the sagamen knew that Olaf's mother was Sigrid **and not a Polish
princess**, yet also knew of Adam's statement (and we know that Adam's work
was well-known in Iceland) that Olaf's mother was identical to Knut's mother,
then we would have an explanation for the story of Gunnhild's death by
sickness and Svein's subsequent marriage to Sigrid. But if we accept
Adam's claim that Olaf's mother was the Polish woman, then we have no
explanation for the saga tradition that Olaf and Knut's mother was the
Swedish woman, nor for the tradition of the paternity of the Swedish
woman.
> In accepting 992 you rely on Adam only, and on the very sentence
> in which he himself admits he is not certain of facts (when he
> says "sister or daughter").
I still am not convinced that Thietmar's testimony is as unclear as you
say--but then I am only going by someone's word. We need to see the
whole passage quoted and translated. In any case, Adam's comments do not
seem blatantly to contradict Thietmar on this point, which in itself
might help us determine what Thietmar meant.
> Eric died circa 995 and was immediately succeeded by Olaf who must have
> been mature by then. And Adam says quite confidently that Svein's wife
> was his mother - so the error would indeed be big.
If Adam is correct that Boleslav gave Erik his wife, then it must be
dated 992-995. If Adam is correct that this Polish princess is mother of
Olaf, then Adam's statement concerning Boleslav is incorrect. Which
error is bigger--confusing "mother" for "stepmother," or confusing the
name of the Polish ruler who made the treaty with Erik? Because that is
the real issue--WHEN DID ERIK MAKE THE TREATY, and who was ruling the
Poles when he made it? Adam says it was Boleslav, and Thietmar does not
contradict him--indeed, why would Thietmar mention Boleslav at all in
that context if he meant that Mieszko was the one who gave the wife to Erik?
> Balzer shows that the information from Snorri that Gunnhild died
> and then Svein married Sigrid is impossible because we know from
> two independent and reliable sources - Thietmar and "Cnutonis regis
> gesta..." - that Harald and Cnut went to Poland after Svein's death
> and brought their mother back to Denmark. Certainly, the daughter
> of Skoglar Tosti would not seek refuge at the Polish court.
All this supports my conclusions. We know that Harald and Knut were the
sons of the Polish princess. And we know that Sigrid, daughter of
Skoglar-Tosti, has no trace of Polishness about her in any source. So
what evidence is there that the Scandinavian name of the Polish mother of
Knut and Harald was "Sigrid"? **None at all.** It is more reasonable to
say that her Scandinavian name was "Gunnhild"--and to accept the saga
testimony that Olaf was the son of Sigrid. Less mistakes in
transmission of the facts need to be assumed if we accept these
conclusions.
> >Was this the Polish custom at the time? It was definitely not
> >the Scandinavian! Names were primarly given after grandparents, recall
> >my earlier mentioning of Knut's daughter Gunnhild.
This is an important piece of circumstantial evidence, and it supports my
conclusions, while the other hypothesis leaves it unexplained.
> Both Balzer and Jasinski stress it that Sigrid was certainly the name
> adopted by her (or given to her) after marriage.
What evidence do they have for this, other than the sort of testimony
with which we are dealing? It seems clear to me that the only reason
they believe her Scandinavian name to have been Sigrid is because Adam
and the sagas claim that Olaf and Knut had the same mother, and the sagas
claim that mother to be Sigrid. But that leaves the saga statements
concerning Gunnhild utterly unexplained. Why would the Polish princess
get split into two women--one Polish and the other Swedish?
The only thing I can come up with is that someone wanted a purely
Scandinavian ancestry for Olaf and Knut--but why? The sagas are replete with
real and legendary examples of Scandinavians marrying non-Scandinavians and
Slavs. If suppression of Slavic ancestry was the aim, wouldn't it have
been best to omit the reference to Gunnhild altogether, and just say that
Erik's widow Sigrid married Svein? Except the knowledge of Adam's
testimony would probably have made necessary *some* reference to Svein's
Slavic wife, in order to allow her replacement with the Swedish Sigrid.
But in this case Sigrid, daughter of Tosti, becomes an invention designed
to suppress the Polish wife. If she is an invention, what reason do we
have to accept the NAME Sigrid while rejecting the father Tosti? When we
already have a name in saga tradition for the Polish princess, if the
"suppression" hypothesis were true, we should expect only the name of her
father to be changed. But in this case we have the Polish wife still
there--under the wrong name (Gunnhild)--while her name (Sigrid) has been
retained--but with the wrong father (Tosti). How would that happen?
This "suppression" hypothesis isn't very likely, given that the sagas
show clear sign of a *development* of the Sigrid tradition--an increase
and alteration of facts related concerning her. That is, "Sigrid,
daughter of Tosti" seems to have been much more than mere invention for
the sake of replacing Gunnhild. Sigrid has become a person--Gunnhild is
just a sick woman's name, mentioned only once.
> Another interesting observation from Balzer: the sagas invert the
> situation about who was Christian at that time and who was not,
> making the "Buryslaw" a pagan etc. But it may be meaningful that
> after Eric's death both Olaf and Svein accepted Christianity.
> Balzer suggests it may have been the influence of their mother and
> wife Sigrid.
But the sagas also claim that Sigrid was a pagan.
Once I can peruse the entire relevant passage in Thietmar, in Latin and
English, I think I'll have this matter wrapped up. If someone would
kindly help me out, I'd appreciate it.
Jared Olar