Gunhild of Wessex was the eldest daughter of Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson

Harold Godwinson was the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.It could be argued that Edgar the Atheling, who was proclaimed as king by the witan but never crowned, was really the last Anglo-Saxon king...

 and Edith the Fair.

Life

Her parents were married in common law. Even though their marriage was not recognized by the church, their children were treated as if they were legitimate. She remained in Britain after her father's death at the Battle of Hastings

Battle of Hastings

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II...

 in 1066 and received her education at Wilton Abbey

Wilton Abbey

Wilton Abbey was a Benedictine convent in Wiltshire, England, three miles from Salisbury on the site now occupied by Wilton House. A first foundation was made as a college of secular priests by Wulfstan, Ealdorman of Wiltshire, about 773, but after his death was changed into a convent for twelve...

. This was a centre of learning, which attracted many high-born women, both English and Norman. Matilda of Scotland was educated here, with her sister Mary. It was also the home of the poetess Muriel.

Since, according to Danelaw

Danelaw

The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...

, she was the heiress of her mother's claims to some counties, she attracted the attention of Alan the Red, who abducted and then married her. After his death in 1089, she married his brother Alan the Black.

In Fiction

In Judith Tarr

Judith Tarr

Judith Tarr is an American author, best known for her fantasy books. She received her B.A. in Latin and English from Mount Holyoke College in 1976, and has an M.A. in Classics from Cambridge University, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Medieval Studies from Yale University...

's novel King's Blood, she is set by Abbess Christina

Cristina, daughter of Edward the Exile

Cristina, daughter of Edward the Exile and Agatha, was the sister of Edgar Ætheling and Saint Margaret of Scotland, born in the 1040s.She came to the Kingdom of England with her family in 1057, from Hungary...

 to shape Princess Edith into a " proper Saxon", but secretly hates her life there and the Wilton Abbey. In the novel, she freely leaves the abbey with Edith and gives herself to Alan the Red, contrary to history, where she is abducted.