Queen Sigríðr of Sweden
Queen Sigriðr of Sweden, also known as Sigriðr the Haughty, was a proud and noble Ásatrú woman who knew her worth and kept true to her loyalty to the Æsir.
She had the honor of marrying the powerful King Erik the Victorious of Sweden, earning her the title of Queen of Sweden. With this marriage, she became the most powerful woman in all of Sweden, even acting as regent after King Erik’s untimely death. She was described by Snorri Sturluson as “the wisest of women and prophetic about many things.”
Because of her great reputation and wealth as a dowager queen, she was highly sought after by many nobles throughout Scandinavia. One of these was her foster brother Harald, who decided to visit her on his way to raid in the Baltic Sea region. After they shared a feast, Harald became sullen and embarrassed when Queen Sigriðr mentioned that her power in Sweden was comparable to his in Norway. After ruminating on this for some time, Harald decided to officially propose marriage to Queen Sigriðr, as a marriage between the two would give him power over most of Scandinavia.
She rejected his offer, as he was already married to a woman named Asta. However, Harald insisted this did not matter as he believed Asta was not worthy of a man of his station. Queen Sigriðr stuck to her guns, riding away to her castle. Harald followed her home with a retinue of soldiers, and they arrived to find another suitor–Vissavaldr of Garðariki. Queen Sigriðr housed them in the same quarters, fed them large amounts of drink, and then ordered her men to burn down the quarters and kill any survivors. This was meant to send a message to all petty kings in the area who would seek to marry her for the wrong reasons.
Queen Sigriðr was later being wooed by Olaf Tryggvason of Norway, a familiar figure to many of our heroes and the same Olaf who had forcibly converted his own Folk in the name of Christ by means of threat, torture, and murder, but she eventually agreed to marry him. To celebrate this, Olaf sent her a “gold” ring that he had won in some conquest, but Queen Sigriðr’s goldsmiths discovered that it was only gold plated, making Queen Sigriðr distrust Olaf. When he later arrived in Sweden, he informed her that she must abandon the Æsir and convert to the foreign faith of Christianity in order for the marriage to be fulfilled. She immediately rejected this offer to betray our Gods, saying:
“I shall not abandon the faith that I have previously held, as have my kinsmen before
me. I shall also make no objection to your believing in whatever god you like.”
As expected, this enraged Olaf, and he first insulted her age and beauty then struck her across the face with a glove. Queen Sigriðr reacted as calmly as possible and told him that his actions “may very well cost him his life.” She already had reputation for being prophetic, and sure enough, Olaf the Christian was later killed by a united front of both Christian and Ásatrú Scandinavians at the Battle of Svold in September of the year 1000.
Queen Sigriðr is an example to all of our Folk for her unwavering loyalty to the Æsir, her Folk, and her noble ancestors. She is especially an example to the noble women of our Folk, as she remained steadfast and undaunted in her faith and personal convictions. She refused to marry any man who was not worthy of her station, as well as any man who would force her to abandon her longstanding troth with the Æsir!
May all of our people stand with our Gods, and may we all reclaim and retain our nobility no matter what lies ahead of us!
Hail Queen Sigriðr of Sweden!
Hail Syn!