The Blog of Awesome Women/ Lathgertha

Lathgertha was also a ruler immortalized in Halfdanar
Saga, which tells her story under the name Hladgerd.
She rallied to hero Halfdanar’s cause, leading twenty
ships in battle to save the day. She is also commemorated
in a Saxo Grammaticus tale where he supplied more
background about what inspired Lathgertha to take up
the battle girdle—she and a group of noblewomen were
taken for slaves by invading Norwegians who locked them
into a prison brothel. The noblewomen refused to suffer
this indignation and turned the tables on their captors,
taking their weapons and going into battle. Grammaticus
describes her as endowed with “a man’s temper in a
woman’s body. With locks flowing loose under her helm,
she fought in the forefront of the battle, the most valiant
of warriors. Everyone marveled at her matchless feats.”