Gisela of France

Gisela (French: Gisèle; fl. 911, possibly also Gisla[1]) was a French princess who was married to Rollo, Duke of Normandy.[lower-alpha 1][2] It is uncertain whether Gisela existed.

14th-century depiction of the marriage of Rollo and Gisela

Family

According to limited early records, Gisela was a daughter of the king of West Francia, Charles the Simple. There is some debate about whether she existed, and if she did, and whether she was a legitimate or illegitimate daughter of Charles.[3][4]

Marriage

The first mention of her is when she was betrothed to Rollo after the Siege of Chartres in 911. When Rollo was defeated, he agreed to the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, in which he was created the first Duke of Normandy, swore fealty to Charles, agreed to convert to Christianity, and married Gisela.[2] The marriage of Gisela – and indeed, her existence – lack independent confirmation, suggesting she may be legendary.[3]

Norman chronicler William of Jumièges refers to Rollo having two relationships: a captive taken at Bayeux, Poppa, to whom he joined himself by marriage more danico ("according to Norse custom"). Poppa was mother of Rollo's son William Longsword. He describes that Rollo put Poppa aside to marry Gisela more Cristiano ("according to Christian custom") at the time of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, and that when Gisela died, he re-married Poppa, perhaps around 917.[5] However, the absence of any record of this royal princess or her marriage in Frankish sources suggests the marriage to Gisela may be apocryphal. It is reasonably certain that Gisela had no son.[5] If Gisela existed and bore Rollo children within a legal Christian marriage, it is unlikely that Poppa's son William would have been seen as legitimate by Christian Franks.[6]

A character named Gisla (presented as a daughter of Charles the Bald rather than his grandson Charles the Simple, and as the mother of Rollo's children) is portrayed in the TV series Vikings by Morgane Polanski.[1]

Notes
  1. Gisela has not been identified[2]

References
  1. Draycott, Jane (2022-06-06). Women in Historical and Archaeological Video Games. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. ISBN 978-3-11-072427-1.
  2. van Houts 2000, p. 33.
  3. Susan Abernathy (April 17, 2015). "The Siege of Paris of 885–886". The Freelance History Writer (blog). Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  4. Timothy Baker, The Normans New York: Macmillan, 1966.
  5. Vitalis, Ordericus (1856). The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy: Book 12, chapter 21-Book 13. The chronicle of St. Evroult. H.G. Bohn.
  6. Reynolds, Philip Lyndon (2001). Marriage in the Western Church: the Christianization of marriage during the Patristic and Early Medieval Periods. Brill. p. 110. doi:10.1163/9789004312913_005. ISBN 9780391041080.

Sources
  • Bauduin, Pierre (2005). "Chefs normands et élites franques, fin -Début siècle". In Pierre Bauduin (ed.). Les Fondations scandinaves en Occident et les débuts du duché de Normandie (in French). Caen: Publications du CRAHM. pp. 181–194. ISBN 2902685289.
  • van Houts, Elisabeth, ed. (2000). The Normans in Europe. Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719047510.
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