NorsePlay.

In Orkneyinga: The Saga of the Earls of Orkney there's total guff being spoken about Shetlanders (and pretty much everyone else who isn't Orcadian, really). A long time ago, the wee archipelago  of Shetland was colonized by Vikings, used as a launching point for their raids, and then was a longtime property of Norway.   So I've been watching my Tucson pals DJ on Twitch, and while seeking other content have pleasantly stumbled into the NorsePlay storytelling stream of Shetland comedienne Marjolein Robertson , who is relating the Eddic tales in her own earnest & winning way. [so I keep linking this other more appropriate photo, but its unlinked like six times, so dubble f' it, I'm posting this more inappropriate photo which is sooooo epic the internet is too scared of to even touch much less move.] Marjolein's pretty much a current cultural ambassador for her northern homeland. W e think her accent is to die for, and her expressive dialect makes listening to...

After completing the Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney , we couldn't help but notice that at Earl Rögnvald Kali Kolsson's stop in Narbonne how he composes court-like but still Heathen-like battle imagistic poetry to celebrate their Queen  Ermingerd's   beauty. In verse  Rögnvald   declares his adoration of her, and of the personal attention that she gives him as a guest in her realm. And even far after  Rögnvald  insists on leaving to complete his Mediterranean adventure, despite Ermingerd's courtiers strongly suggesting he marry her , he and the more poetically disposed of his men still continue to sing of her worth, hoping that she will hear these tales of their deeds as they head eastwards, and in their words she becomes a paragon of beauty that inspires their actions, an unforgettable ideal . Yet it's never explained why Earl Rognvald doesn't return to southern coastal France and reconnect with his favoured Queen (well, t...