Sigrid the Haughty was a Norse queen described in the Viking sagas as one of the most powerful women in Scandinavia. When two minor kings arrived to propose marriage she invited them to a feast, locked the doors and burned the hall to the ground. She reportedly said she would teach petty kings not to court her. King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway then proposed and she accepted on condition he convert to Christianity. He refused and struck her across the face. She rejected him, allied with his enemies and is credited in the sagas with engineering his defeat and death at the Battle of Svolder in 1000AD.
INTERESTING FACT Historians debate whether Sigrid actually existed or was a composite figure from multiple sagas. The burning of the hall is recorded in two separate sources. The death of Olaf Tryggvason at Svolder is confirmed historical fact. Whether she arranged it remains unproven. The sagas give her the credit.
