Chapter 22: A Ruff But Magnus Wedding

''According to nearly all primary sources, the marriage between Ruffnut Thicknutsdoittor clan Thorston and King Magnus Olafsson of House Fairhair was a love-match, despite the political considerations that instigated both their betrothal and their atypically quick marriage. Both were staunch patrons of the arts, which apparently was the basis of their initial bond. For the duration of their marriage, there is no record of either of them straying into affairs, or of Magnus taking official concubines. This was an uncommon occurrence in medieval Scandinavia to say the least, where approximately a quarter of all monarchs between 700 and 1100 were of illegitimate issue by acknowledged concubines, including Magnus, and Magnus had himself sired an illegitimate daughter several years before his wedding. However, the number of children and love poems that the pair produced speaks volumes for their mutual devotion on its own…''

''In addition to their personal compatibility, Ruffnut and Magnus were known to have fought alongside each other on multiple occasions. One point that is dryly noted by both their biography-sagas and other primary sources is that the number of enemies slain by her hands was significantly higher than his, due to a combination of her own martial prowess and enemies underestimating her on the basis of her build or gender or both. The most significant portion of these kills apparently came from the Siege of Roskilde, where Ruffnut guarded the stairway that led to their children's nursery, and the skalds and other eyewitness accounts reported that the bodies formed a battlement…''

—House Fairhair And The Grand Thing, Oslo, Norway, 1667

Trivia

 * The chapter title is a pun on "A Rough But Magnificent Wedding".

Foreshadowing
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Epigraph Tie-In

 * The epigraph mentions how happy the marriage was between Magnus and Ruffnut. The chapter shows their wedding.

Links to the Chapter
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