Gisele (820-874)

Individual Events and Attributes

Marriage

Individual Note

Gisela (b. 821) was the youngest daughter of Louis the Pious and his second wife, Judith of Bavaria. She married the powerful and influential Evrard, Duke of Friuli, later canonized as Saint Evrard, with whom she had several children including King Berengar I of Italy, Margrave of Friuli, and Ingeltrude (whose grandson, Henry the Fowler, would start the famous Ottonian Dynasty of German kings). Gisela was renowned her piety and virtue, much like her namesake (Gisela), the beloved sister of Charlemagne, who had chosen the religious life from girlhood.

Her dowry consisted of many rich domains including the fisc of Cysoing; located at the center of the country of Pèvele, Cysoing was one of the most beautiful fiscs in the region and became one of her and Evrard's regular residences. They founded a monastery there, which was not completed until after their deaths.

The nunnery San Salvatore was given to her after Ermengarde, wife of Lothair I. For a time she served as both abbess and rectrix.

Also, she presented to the Church the mosaics which still exist in the cathedral at Aquileia. They contain (what is most remarkable for that time) a Crucifixion, the Virgin, St. George, the portrait of Gisela, and various allegorical figures.[1]

She dedicated herself to the education of her and Evrard's many children.

NOTES:

1 Handbook of Painting: The Italian Schools by Franz Kugler, Margaret Hutton, Charles Lock Eastlake.²

Sources