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Sep 9, 2024 · Ragnar Lothbrok (flourished 9th century) was a Viking whose life passed into legend in medieval European literature. Ragnar is said to have been the father of three sons— Halfdan, Inwaer (Ivar the Boneless), and Hubba (Ubbe)—who, according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and other medieval sources, led a Viking invasion of East Anglia in 865 ...
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
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- Siegfried
Siegfried plays a major part in the Nibelungenlied, where...
- Gesta Danorum
In Ragnar Lothbrok. In the Gesta Danorum (c. 1185) of the...
- Saxo Grammaticus
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- Ivar The Boneless
Ivar the Boneless (died 873, Dublin [Ireland]) was a Viking...
- Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
Ragnar Lodbrok ("Ragnar hairy-breeches") (Old Norse: Ragnarr loðbrók), [a] according to legends, [2] was a Viking hero and a Swedish and Danish king. [3] He is known from Old Norse poetry of the Viking Age, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary chronicles.
- There Is Debate Around His Existence…
- …Though There Is Some Evidence That He Did Exist
- He Had at Least 3 Wives
- His Nickname Was ‘Hairy Breeches’ Or ‘Shaggy Breeches’
- He Tended to Favour ‘Blitzkrieg’-Style Tactics
- He Is Said to Have Laid Seige to Paris
- He Was Used as A Form of Propaganda
- There Are Debates Over The Manner of His Death
- His ‘Sons’ Left A Lasting Impact on Britain
Legends claim Lothbrok was the son of a SwedishKing (Sigurd Hring) and a Norwegian princess. However, the Vikings didn’t keep a written record of their history at the time. Many of the Icelandic sagas were written several centuries after Ragnar Lothbrok’s time – causing debate and doubt amongst historians over his true existence. Some argue that st...
Whilst the evidence is scarce, with only a few references of Ragnar Lothbrok that exist in literature from the time, crucially it does exist. The main source telling of Lothbrok’s life and heroic deeds in the Icelandic sagas is the 13th-century Icelandic ‘The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok’. (Other sagas mentioning him include Heimskringla, Sögubrot, Tale...
It is generally agreed Lothbrok married at least three women. His first wife, Lagertha, was a Nordic shield maiden who fought with Lothbrok as warriors in Norwaywhen he was avenging the death of his grandfather, Fro. Despite once allegedly attacking him with a hound and bear that guarded her home, she eventually became Lothbrok’s wife. Viking legen...
This derives from Lothbrok allegedly boiling his cow-hide trousers in tar which he claimed protected him from the snake (or dragon, according to some sources) whilst winning his second wife Thora’s hand in marriage.
Like other Vikings, several sources note how Lothbrok used blitzkrieg-like tactics. These terrorised, demoralised and overwhelmed his opponents before they could gather a strong-enough force to oppose him. He also only fought when the odds were in his favour.
A Danish Viking leader, Reginheri, is one figure that Lothbrok might be based on. Reginheri is said to have raided the coasts of France, culminating in an attack and seige of Parisin 845. ‘Charles the Bald’ had assembled his army into 2 parts on either side of the River Seine. Lothbrok therefore simply attacked the smaller army, wiping it out in fu...
Some literature of the time was written as political propaganda – by exaggerating the threat Lothbrok posed, it made any victory against him seem more impressive. Later, the sagas stated that the mere mention of Ragnar Lothbrok’s name could spread fear among his enemies. Once dead and his abilities no longer a threat, tales of Lothbrok’s mighty fig...
According to Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum, after several raids in the north-west of England, Ragnar was eventually captured by Anglo-Saxon King Ælla of Northumbria and thrown into a snake pit to die. During his death, Lothbrok is quoted as saying “How the little piglets would grunt if they knew how the old boar suffers” – forete...
Lothbrok’s death became an incentive to rouse many of his sons to align and establish a unified front with other Norse warriors against England. This ‘Great Heathen Army’ (of approximately 4,000 men – at a time when armies usually numbered mere hundreds) landed in England in 865 where they killed Edmund the Martyr and later King Ælla, marking the s...
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- Emma Groeneveld
- The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok. The best-known and main source telling of Ragnar's life and heroic deeds is the 13th-century Icelandic The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok (Old Norse: Ragnars saga loðbrókar).
- The Tale of Ragnar's Sons. Following directly upon the above story, sometime between the late 13th and early 14th century CE, again in Iceland, The Tale of Ragnar's Sons (Ragnarssona þáttr) was written.
- Ragnarsdrápa. Amongst these 13th-century CE or later works concerning Ragnar, the Old Norse skaldic – or courtly – poem Ragnarsdrápa ("the poem about Ragnar") catches the eye with its attribution to the 9th-century CE Norwegian court poet Bragi Boddason.
- Krákumál. The 12th-century CE Old Norse skaldic poem Krákumál (meaning "words of the crow", better known in English as The Death-Song of Ragnar Lothbrok) zooms in on a specific part of the Ragnar-legend: his death.
Dec 6, 2019 · Ragnar’s adventures read like they’ve been plucked from a Hollywood blockbuster. The son of a king of Denmark and Sweden, he fought giant snakes, led armies into battle, conquered vast swathes of Scandinavia, and terrorised the unsuspecting people of the British Isles.
Ragnar Lodbrok was a legendary Viking warrior who led the “Great Heathen Army” into battle, most memorably in raids on England’s coast. Lodbrok is also known for the women he married, including Lagertha, a Viking legend in her own right, and for the sons he fathered, including Bjorn Ironside.
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Jun 1, 2023 · One of the Vikings’ best-known kings is the legendary Ragnar Lodbrok. He was known as a fearless and cunning warrior who conquered every land he set his eyes upon. In the Christian world, Ragnar was known as a bold warrior, devastating and plundering the northwest of France.
