“He wanted to go home. He wanted it so much that he trembled at the thought. But if the price of that was selling good men to the night, if the price was filling those graves, if the price was not fighting with every trick he knew… Then it was too high.”
➽ Idris Elba old Vimes // John Boyega as young Vimes
So while doing some pirate research for the play I’m writing I stumbled upon one of the most amazing things I’ve ever read. In the 5th century A.D. there was a Scandinavian princess called Alwilda who’s father tried to set her up to marry Alf, the Prince of Denmark. Alwilda wasn’t cool with this so she and some female companions dressed as men, stole a ship, and sailed away. Eventually they met a company of pirates who were in need of a new captain and they were so captivated by her that they elected her as their new leader. Her crew became so infamous that Prince Alf was sent out to stop them. When their ships met he took Alwilda prisoner and she was so impressed by Alf’s skill that she agreed to marry him after all and eventually became the Queen of Denmark.
I stopped caring whether this was factually accurate about halfway through because it’s completely AWESOME.
Medievalist here for triumphant fact-checking: this story is, if not true, at least true according to the history of the Danes (Gesta Danorum) written in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus. You can read his account of Alwilda’s story in the original Latin here, or in English translation here. Highlights include:
She exchanged woman’s for man’s attire, and, no longer the most modest of maidens, began the life of a warlike rover. Enrolling in her service many maidens who were of the same mind, she happened to come to a spot where a band of rovers were lamenting the death of their captain, who had been lost in war; they made her their rover captain.
I love the implication that there were lots of Danish maidens just WAITING for the opportunity of a life of piracy…
Reblogging my old post for this A+ addition to it
friendly reminder that suspiciously large horses are not allowed here
shitpostgenerator would have won the Trojan War.
So uh…guess who didn’t register the most obvious domain name, so Chuck Tingle helpfully stepped up and did so for them, with a series of helpful links on the side along with the picture of a dude with no shirt?
omg there’s a dog in my yard this is the best day ever
hello fuzzy baby friendNOT A DOG
NOT A DOG
BEAR
ABORT ABORT ABORT
Rolling a 1 on a perception check
I’m at the pop up globe watching twelfth night and I kid u not the fool basically just went ‘anyway here’s wonderwall’ and is actually fucking playing it with all the audience singing along???? And all i can think is how happy shakespeare would be that his play is being upstaged by a fucking meme
Kimchi and Justice 