Gunhilda of Denmark

Gunhilda of Denmark
13th century portrait
Queen consort of Germany
Reign	1036-1038
Predecessor	Gisela of Swabia
Successor	Agnes of Poitou
Born	c. 1020
Died	18 July 1038 (aged 17–18)
Burial	Limburg Abbey
Spouse	Henry III, Holy Roman Emperor
Issue	Beatrice I, Abbess of Quedlinburg
House	House of Knýtlinga (by birth) Salian Dynasty (by marriage)
Father	Cnut the Great
Mother	Emma of Normandy

Gunhilda of Denmark (c. 1020 – 18 July 1038), a member of the House of Knýtlinga, was Queen consort of Germany by her marriage with King Henry III of the Salian dynasty from 1036 until her death.

Gunhilda was a daughter of King Cnut the Great (985/95 – 1035), ruler over the Anglo-Scandinavian North Sea Empire, and his second wife Emma of Normandy (c. 985 – 1052). Her maternal grandparents were Duke Richard I of Normandy and his second wife Gunnora. Her paternal grandparents were King Sweyn Forkbeard and his second wife Sigrid the Haughty (Świętosława; her first husband was Eric the Victorious).

She was a sister of King Harthacnut. She was a paternal half-sister of King Svein of Norway and King Harold I of England. She was also a maternal half-sister of Alfred Aetheling and Edward the Confessor.

About 1025, Gunhilda came to Germany as a child. Her engagement with Henry III, the son and heir of Emperor Conrad II and his consort Gisela of Swabia, was part of a pact of her father Cnut over peaceful borders of the Danish Duchy of Schleswig with Imperial Holstein in the area of Kiel. The agreement had occurred prior to the death of Canute in 1035.