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Note    N3270         Index

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Sigrid the Haughty, also known as Sigríð Storråda, is a queen appearing in Norse sagas as wife, first of Eric the Victorious of Sweden, then Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark. Sigrid appears in many sagas composed generations after the events they describe, but there is no reliable evidence as to her existence as they describe her. The figure of Sigrid appears mainly in late Icelandic sagas, while more contemporary sources such as Thietmar of Merseburg and Adam of Bremen instead claim that Sweyn was married to a Polish princess, identified as Świętosława.[2] Snorri Sturlason gives conflicting information and in one place says that Sweyn was married to Sigrid and in another that he was married to a Gunhild of Wenden.
It is unclear if the figure of Sigrid was a real person, if the saga account of her is an amalgamation of the lives and deeds of several women, or if she is a completely fictional character. The latter view is held by some modern scholars such as Birgitta Fritz, who does not give much credibility to the Nordic sources, and thus considers Sigrid a mere myth.[3]

References
Snorri Sturluson 1991:200-1.
Paweł Jasienica, Ostatnia z rodu, Pruszyński i S-ka, Warszawa 2009, s. 113.
Birgitta Fritz (2004), "Sigrid Storråda" , Svenskt Biografiskt Lexikon 32

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Note    N3271         Index

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Gamla Uppsala ("Old Uppsala") is a parish and a village outside Uppsala in Sweden. It had 16,231 inhabitants in 1874.

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Note    N3272         Index

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Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: Eiríkr inn sigrsæli, Modern Swedish: Erik Segersäll) (945? - c. 995) was the first Swedish king (c. 970-995) about whom anything definite is known.[2] Whether he actually qualifies as King of Sweden has been debated, as his son Olof Skötkonung was the first ruler documented to have been accepted both by the Svear around Lake Mälaren and by the Götar around Lake Vättern.

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Note    N3273         Index

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Many details about Sweyn's life are contested. Scholars disagree about the various, too often contradictory, accounts of his life given in sources from this era of history, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Adam of Bremen's Deeds of the Bishops of Hamburg, and the Heimskringla, a 13th-century work by Icelandic author Snorri Sturluson.[3] Conflicting accounts of Sweyn's later life also appear in the Encomium Emmae Reginae, an 11th-century Latin encomium in honour of his son king Cnut's queen Emma of Normandy, along with Chronicon ex chronicis by Florence of Worcester, another 11th-century author.
The Dictionary of National Biography states that his mother's name is unknown,[2] but the Danish encyclopedia Den Store Danske identifies her as Tove from the Western Wendland. Den Store Danske identifies Sweyn's wife as Gunhild, widow of Erik, king of Sweden,[4] but the Dictionary of National Biography, while agreeing that she was Erik's widow, describes her as an unnamed sister of Boleslav, ruler of Poland.[2]

The Battle of Svolder. Painting by Otto Sinding (1842-1909).

The map shows the division of Norway after the Battle of Svolder according to Heimskringla. Eiríkr Hákonarson ruled the purple area as a fiefdom from Sweyn Forkbeard. The yellow area was under Sveinn Hákonarson, his half-brother, held as a fief of Olof Skötkonung, the Swedish king. The red area was under direct Danish control, with Sweyn's ruling it as a Danish extension.
Many negative accounts build on Adam of Bremen's writings; Adam is said to have watched Sweyn and Scandinavia in general with an "unsympathetic and intolerant eye", according to some scholars.[5] Adam accused Forkbeard of being a rebellious pagan who persecuted Christians, betrayed his father and expelled German bishops from Scania and Zealand. According to Adam, Sweyn was sent into exile by his father's German friends and deposed in favour of king Eric the Victorious of Sweden, whom Adam wrote ruled Denmark until his death in 994 or 995.
Historians generally have found problems with Adam's claims, such as that Sweyn was driven into exile in Scotland for a period as long as fourteen years. As many scholars point out, he built churches in Denmark throughout this period, such as Lund and Roskilde, while he led Danish raids against England.[6]

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Note    N3281         Index

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Elfgifu or Ælfgifu of Mercia Princess of Mercia

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Note    N3282         Index

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Elfgifu or Ælfgifu of Mercia Princess of Mercia

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Note    N3286         Index

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Bet. 997 AD-1015 in Wessex

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