Talk:Sigtrygg Silkbeard

Re-enactment of Oedipus?
The second paragraph of the section entitled "Second Leinster revolt against Brian Boru" says: "Despite Sigurd's initial hesitance and against the advice of his men, he eventually agreed to arrive in Dublin by Palm Sunday with all his host, on the condition that if Brian was slain, Sigtrygg would marry Gormflaith and become King of Ireland." (Sigtrygg later made the same promise to Bróðir.)

I can see how Bróðir would accept the promise of marriage to Gormflaith, but I have doubts about Sigtrygg being promised marriage to Gormflaith. Gormflaith was Sigtryggs mother! I accept that Sigurd offered Sigtrygg the kingship, but I doubt he intended to marry his own mother. That sort of behaviour went out with the Greeks, didn't it? I would check the fact in the sources cited, but I don't have access to them. Was it a mistake? Or was Sigtrygg really contemplating a re-enactment of Oedipus?

Ninanta (talk) 18:32, 28 June 2015 (UTC)


 * This has got to be a mistake. I'm not an expert on this, but the genealogical records from this era often have a lot of the same, or similar, names being used in each generation. When you combine that with the variant spellings used for the same person, and people often recording the names without knowing proper birth years or spelling variations, you can get weird mistakes like that when someone isn't paying attention. I don't recall anything about any of these people marrying their mother. That would be a rather notable thing to record. I'll try to look into the sources later if no one else gets to it first. I'd advise doing something to fix it now, though. - Co rb ie V  ☊☼ 21:32, 28 June 2015 (UTC)
 * O.K., I think Sigtrygg offered his mother's hand in marriage to Sigurd. Double check it, but that makes more sense. - Co rb ie V  ☊☼ 21:39, 28 June 2015 (UTC)

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