Boedil Thurgotsdatter

Who was Boedil Thurgotsdatter?

Boedil Turgotsdotter was a medieval Danish queen, queen consort of King Eric I of Denmark.

Bodil was the daughter of the Danish Earl Thrugot Fagerskind and Thorgunna and the sister of Svend Thrugotsen. Her grandfather, called Galicieulf in the Knytlinga Saga, was famous as a pilgrimager to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Her family is believed to be connected to the viking families in Northumberland in England, and as a queen, she is listed as a benefactor to the bishopric of Durham. Both she and her spouse were descendants of king Sweyn I of Denmark.

She is believed to have been married to Eric before 1086, as she and her husband lived in exile in the Swedish court during the reign of King Olaf of Denmark. Contemporary chronicles praise her beauty and character. In Saxo, she was praised for her tolerance of her husband's constant adultery, and it was claimed that she even helped to do the hair for his mistresses.

In about the year of 1100 she accompanied her husband on his pilgrimage to Jerusalem. He travelled by horse, and she by carriage. He died in Cyprus on the way, but she continued on her own. She reached the Mount of Olives, where she died in 1103.