When I read in Snorri, I wondered how people could survive in the viking age. And the women? If they made themselves renowned, it was either for their beauty or for being nagging harridans, sometimes they were both. Take queen Gunnhild, for instance. She was described as a witch. She had a lot of sons, and nagged them into revenge, murder and war against everyone. Or Sigrid Storraade! A Swedish queen, who was so proud that she hated being proposed to, by minor kings. At last she invited all suitors to a party where she would choose one of them as her husband, and they came from far away to try their luck. She burned them all alive by locking them into the guesthouse and lit the fire. End of problems.
In the picture, you can see her being proposed to by Olav Tryggvesson, king of Norway. He wasn´t the most diplomatic fellow in the gallery of kings. He hit her with his glove and called her a "heathen dog" when she didn´t want to become a christian. That sealed Olav´s destiny. Sigrid became his mortal enemy and married the Swedish king instead, and then nagged the poor guy until he declared war against Olav Tryggvesson.
Continues ...
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