Sigrid The Haughty, Courting The Queen of Sweden

A Viking woman was never to be trifled with, as her own story tells. If Sigrid the Haughty, a Queen of Sweden, put her mind to something, nothing could stand in her way

Sigrid the Haughty, believed by some to be an amalgamation of several women, has none the less a fierce reputation in history books.

Suitors were a dime a dozen for Sigrid, the Queen of Sweden. She enjoyed the company of raucous men, drinking and if tales are to be trusted, shamelessly flirting with them. Her greatest trial in life was deciding who was worthy of her hand in marriage.


At first she leaned towards a massive man named Harald the Greenlander. He coaxed, soothed and flattered her with his attentions, and she seemed to return his ardor. Of course he was married and this was a wrench in the works, but after a particularly amorous night he offered to leave his wife and marry Sigrid. After all, his wife’s pedigree was rather base and low-born, he mentioned to her, forgetting his own wasn’t particularly spectacular. That was when Sigrid decided she’d rather not accept his hand, and he went away dejected. Unluckily for him, he couldn’t stay away and returned to her one last time.

It just so happened that a Russian prince came courting Sigrid at the same time as Harald’s return. Tired of these petty Kings with shoddy pedigrees, Sigrid invited them into her beer-hall, then barred the door and burned it down. She gave her soldiers orders that if anyone crawled out of the fire, “Kill them!”


One such suitor that came Sigrid’s way was Olaf Trygvesson. Maybe not daring to pursue the Queen personally, he none the less sent a beautiful golden ring, to soften her up. That worked nicely until her goldsmiths discovered the ring was copper inside. He began to win her over anyway once she saw him for the first time. He was a handsome specimen with the excellent inducement of Norway as his wedding present. Negotiations began, and all things were smoothly ironed out until Olaf said he had one demand. She must convert to the true faith, and leave her Viking Gods behind. She refused, and Olaf reached up with his glove and slapped her across the face with it. Coldly she spoke to him “This may well be the death of you!” She was right.
Gathering her own armies and bringing on board Denmark and her King Svein Forkbeard, who was also enamored with Sigrid, Olaf Trygvesson was pursued and almost captured. He jumped into the ocean, preferring to drown, rather than taken captive. That was probably a good choice.

Svein Forkbeard returned to marry Sigrid the Haughty, who had at last found her equal.