Saint Cunigunde of Luxembourg

Cunigunde of Luxembourg, OSB (German: Kunigunde) (c. 975 – 3 March 1040), also called Cunegundes, Cunegunda, and Cunegonda and, in Latin, Cunegundis or Kinigundis, was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Holy Roman Emperor Henry II. She ruled as interim regent after the death of her spouse in 1024. She is a saint and the patroness of Luxembourg; her feast day is 3 March. Cunigunde was one of eleven children born to Siegfried I of Luxembourg (922 – 15 August 998) and a woman called Hedwig. Numerous genealogists have tried to find out which Hedwig it is; there are different views. One of the most famous theses regarding her identity is from Joseph Depoin, who claims that Hedwig is the daughter of Duke Gilbert of Lorraine and his wife Gerberga of Saxony, the daughter of Henry I. If this is correct, then Cunigunde married her distant cousin, but Henry II was strongly against consanguineous marriage, so it can be assumed that this is not the case. It can also often be read that she is the daughter of Berthold of Schweinfurt from the House of Babenberg and Eilika of Walbeck, daughter of Count Lothar. Cunigunde's paternal grandmother, also called Cunigunde, was a Carolingian. So Cunigunde of Luxembourg was a seventh-generation descendant of Charlemagne. She married King Henry in 999. It is said that she had long wanted to be a nun, and that her marriage to Henry II was a spiritual one (also called a "white marriage"); that is, they married for companionship alone, and by mutual agreement did not consummate their relationship. It has been claimed that Cunigunde made a vow of virginity with Henry's consent prior to their marriage. The truth of this is debatable; while the couple were both certainly childless, it is supposed by some authors that later hagiographers mistakenly construed the fact to imply a virginal marriage. Others, however, accept that the marriage was purely platonic.