Gisela of Hungary

Template:Short description Template:Infobox royalty Gisela of Hungary (or Gisele, Gizella and of Bavaria; Template:C. 985 – 7 May 1065) was the first queen consort of Hungary by marriage to Stephen I of Hungary, and the sister of Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor. She has been beatified by the Catholic Church.

Biography

Gisela was a daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and Gisela of Burgundy. Gisela was raised very devout, most likely with bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg as her mentor and governor. She married King Stephen I of Hungary in 996<ref name=zenty>Template:Cite web</ref> as a part of Hungary's policy of opening up to the West. The couple had a son, Saint Emeric, who died on 2 September 1031, while hunting boar.<ref name=ott>Ott, Michael. "St. Stephen." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 April 2013</ref> The wedding of Stephen and Gisela marked a turning point in Hungary's history.

Queen Gisela played a fundamental role in spreading the Christian faith and Western culture in Hungary.<ref name=zenty/>

When Edmund Ironside of England died, he was succeeded by Cnut. Edmund's infant sons were sent abroad and ended up under the protection of King Stephen of Hungary. One of the twins died young, but the other, Edward Atheling, was brought up as a protégé of Queen Gisela, and regarded in that foreign court as the heir to the Anglo-Saxon throne.<ref name=selden>"St. Margaret Queen of Scotland", St.Margaret of Scotland Church, Selden, New York Template:Webarchive</ref>

King Stephen died in 1038. In 1046 Gisela, her attendants, and a number of many Bavarian settlers left Hungary to return to Bavaria, where she joined Niedernburg convent in Passau and became the abbess.<ref name=zenty/>

She lived in the nunnery of Niedernburg in Passau, where she died.

Veneration

File:Kruis van Gisela van Bourgondië (ca. 1006) Residenz Museum München 25-01-2017.JPG

The Giselakreuz (ca. 1006) in the Schatzkammer of the Munich Residenz

Gisela's canonisation was attempted in the 18th century but failed. She was beatified in 1975. Her memorial days are 7 May and 1 February.

Gisela and her husband were not buried together. On 4 May 1996, the preserved remains of King Stephen's right hand were brought back together with a bone taken from the arm of Gisela for a special mass celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of their wedding at St. Michael's Cathedral in the western Hungarian town of Veszprém, where Gisela once lived.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His hand is normally displayed at St. Stephen's Basilica in Budapest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Her grave is well known, and regarded as a holy place. A jewelled cross was commissioned by Queen Gisela for the tomb of her mother, who died in 1006 and was buried in the Niedermünster in Regensburg.

Blessed Gisela is depicted on a white limestone panel by Hungarian artist Sandor Kiss on the wall of the Chapel of Our Lady – Queen of Hungary in St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She is also venerated by many Eastern Orthodox Christians.

Sources

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

Template:S-start Template:S-hou Template:S-roy Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-non |- Template:S-new Template:S-ttl Template:S-vac Template:S-end Template:Hungarian consorts