" These Danes have always been a very froward people. Do you know, Jack, what they did at Clonmacnois? They burnt it, the thieves, and their queen sat on the high altar mother-naked, uttering oracles in a heathen frenzy. Ota was the strumpet’s name. It is all of a piece: look at Hamlet’s mother. I only wonder her behaviour caused any comment. "

― Patrick O'Brian , The Surgeon's Mate (Aubrey & Maturin #7)