Sigrid the Haughty

Sigrid the Haughty (Old Norse:Sigríðr (hin) stórráða), also known as Sigrid Storråda (Swedish), is a Scandinavian queen appearing in Norse sagas. Sigrid is named in several late and sometimes contradictory Icelandic sagas composed generations after the events they describe, but there is no reliable historical evidence correlating to her story as they describe her. She is reported by Heimskringla to have been wife of Eric the Victorious of Sweden, sought as wife by Olaf Tryggvasson, then married to Sweyn Forkbeard of Denmark, but elsewhere author Snorri Sturluson says that Sweyn was married to a different woman. It is unclear if the figure of Sigrid was a real person. Some recent scholars identify her with a documented Polish wife of Eric and perhaps Sweyn mentioned by medieval chroniclers and referred to as 'Świętosława' by some modern historians, but the potential husbands attributed to Sigrid lived over a wide date range and other modern scholars believe Sigrid may be an amalgamation of several historical women. Early accounts Sigrid appears in the 12th-century saga, Yngvars saga víðförla, which when speaking of Swedish king Eric the Victorious says, "Hann átti Sigríði ina stórráðu ok skildi við hana sakir óhægenda skapsmuna hennar, því at hún var kvenna stríðlyndust um allt þat, er við bar. Hann gaf henni Gautland. Þeira sonr var Óláfr svenski." (He married Sigrid the Proud and separated from her because of her difficult moods, for she was the most quarrelsome woman there ever was. He gave her Gautland. Their son was Olaf the Swede.) She also receives brief mention in the genealogical appendix to Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, which likewise when discussing Eric states "Hann átti Sigríði ina stórráðu." (He married Sigrith the Ambitious.). This appendix is not found in the earliest surviving manuscripts of the saga, rendering its dating uncertain. Accounts given in the Heimskringla and Separate Saga Using earlier sagas as his sources, Snorri Sturluson gives a much more detailed account of Sigrid in several sagas within his 13th-century compilation, the Heimskringla. He first introduces her in Haralds saga gráfeldar, where he describes the upbringing of the Norwegian prince Harald Grenske, who fled to Sweden and there joined the raiding band of Skoglar Toste, described as the richest and most distinguished untitled man in the country, and staying with him the following winter.