Princess Sela (active 400–420 A.D.) was a Norwegian

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

and one of the first known female pirates. Sela was a princess of

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and the sister of the King Koller of Norway. The Danish historian

Saxo Grammaticus Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1150 – c. 1220), also known as Saxo cognomine Longus, was a Danish historian, theologian and author. He is thought to have been a clerk or secretary to Absalon, Archbishop of Lund, the main advisor to Valdemar I of Denmark. ...

described Sela as a "skilled warrior and experienced in rowing." Stories say that Sela and her brother hated each other and when Koller became King, Sela decided to become a pirate. She attacked many ships in the

North Atlantic ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

, amassing a reputation and a substantial amount of treasure. Princess Sela's brother King Koller, decided that his rival,

Horwendill Aurvandill (Old Norse) is a figure in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the god Thor tosses Aurvandill's toe – which had frozen while the thunder god was carrying him in a basket across the Élivágar rivers – into the sky to form a s ...

, the former King of

Jutland Jutland ( da, Jylland ; german: Jütland ; ang, Ēota land ), known anciently as the Cimbric or Cimbrian Peninsula ( la, Cimbricus Chersonesus; da, den Kimbriske Halvø, links=no or ; german: Kimbrische Halbinsel, links=no), is a peninsula of ...

who turned to piracy, was receiving too much glory and had to be killed. Koller led his fleet into battle with Horwendil. Horwendil then killed Koller, and then later had to kill Sela, to end the war. Princess Sela was active as a pirate from 400 A.D. to 420 A.D.

References

{{authority control Female sailors Norwegian pirates Norwegian princesses Norwegian female pirates Women in medieval European warfare

See also

References