Genoveffa 's history may be compared to the Scandinavian ballads of
Ravengaard og Memering, which exist in many recensions. These deal with the history of Gunild, the wife of Henry
Duke of Brunswick and
Schleswig. When Duke Henry went to the war he left his wife in charge of Ravengaard, who accused her of infidelity. Gunild is cleared by the victory of her
champion Memering, the smallest of Christian men. The Scottish ballad of
Sir Aldingar is a version of the same story. The heroine
Gunhilda is said to have been the daughter of
Canute the Great and
Emma. In 1036 she married
King Henry, afterwards the
emperor Henry III, and there was nothing in her domestic history to warrant the legend, which is given as authentic history by
William of Malmesbury (
De gestis regum Anglorum, lib.ii.~i88). She was called Cunigund after her marriage, and perhaps was confused with
St Cunigund, the wife of the Emperor
Henry II. In the
Karlamagnus-saga the innocent wife is Oliva, sister of
Charlemagne and wife of King Hugo, and in the French
Carolingian cycle the emperor's wife Sibille (
La Reine Sibille) or Blanchefleur (
Macaire). Other forms of the legend are to be found in the story of Doolin's mother in
Doon de Mayence, the English romance of
Sir Triamour, in the story of
the mother of
Octavian in
Octavian the Emperor, in the German folk book
Historie von der geduldigen Königin Crescentia, based on
a 12th-century poem to be found in the
Kaiserchronik, and the English
Erl of Toulouse (c. 1400). In the last-named romance it has been suggested that the story gives the relations between Bernard I,
Count of Toulouse, son of the
Guillaume d'Orange of the
Carolingian romances, and the empress
Judith, second wife of
Louis the Pious—who were indeed charged with adultery and purged themselves by an oath and an offer for trial by combat, although the historical situation has been embellished with romantic incident. ==Adaptations==