Ragnar Lodbrok (Ragnar 'Hairy-Breeks', Old Norse: Ragnarr Loðbrók) was a Danish king, ruled the early kingdoms of Denmark and Sweden some time in the 8th or 9th century.
Background
According to the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, the pagan Ragnar didn't belong in the Swedish Yngling Dynasty, because his father was Danish, but tricked his way in by claiming to be a direct descendant of the god Odin.[citation needed] Both Saxon and Icelandic sources describe him as the son of Sigurd Ring, a Danish king of Gotland who conquered Zealand, Ragnar mainly resided in Danish Skaneland and Zealand.
The historic Ragnar Lodbrok was an Earl at the court of the Danish king Hårek who participated in the Viking plunderings of Paris in 845. The warriors belonging to the army of Charles the Bald, were placed to guard the monastery in St. Denis, but fled when the Danish Vikings executed their prisoners ferociously in front of their eyes. After the "danegeld" which contained 7000 pounds of silver, Ragnar went back to Denmark. By mysterious circumstances, many men in Ragnar´s army died during the journey and Ragnar died soon after his arrival in Denmark. In later traditions, Ragnar is the king of Denmark and he meets with fabulous adventures all around the world. Among others, he met the wonderful Kraka in Norway, who became Ragnar´s wife and the mother of his four sons.
Although he is something of a hero in his native Scandinavia, reliable accounts of his life are very sketchy and heavily based on ancient Viking sagas. Even the dating of his reign is not certain; there are sources that date it from 750–794, and others from 860–865. Neither really matches with what is known of him, though he may perhaps have held power as a warlord from approximately 835 to his death in 865, perhaps only being recognized as king in the last five years of his life.
Raids
Ragnar apparently spent most of his life as a pirate and raider, invading one country after another. One of his favorite strategies was to attack Christian cities on holy feast days, knowing that many soldiers would be in church. He would generally accept a huge payment to leave his victims alone, only to come back later and demand more riches in exchange for leaving. But as the extent of his supposed realm shows, he was also a gifted military leader. By 845, he was a powerful man and most likely a contemporary of the first ruler of Russia, the Viking Rurik. It is said he was always seeking new adventures because he was worried that his freebooting sons would do things that outshone his own achievements.
France
It was in 845 that he is said to have sailed southward, looking for new worlds to conquer. With 120 ships and 5,000 Viking warriors, he landed in modern France, probably at the Seine estuary, and ravaged West Francia, as the westernmost part of the Frankish empire was then known. Paris was also captured in this year and held ransom by a Viking raider, whom the sagas say was Ragnar Lodbrok. The traditional date for this is March 28, which is today referred to as Ragnar Lodbrok Day by certain followers of the Asatru religion. The King of West Francia, Charlemagne's grandson Charles the Bald, paid him a fantastic amount of money not to destroy the city. Ragnar Lodbrok, according to Viking sources, was satisfied with no less than 7,000 pounds of silver in exchange for sparing the city. However, that did not stop Ragnar from attacking other parts of France, and it took a long time for the Franks to drive him out. Later Ragnar's sons were to return for more booty. Among their feats was destroying the city of Rouen several times. Ultimately, many of them settled there permanently, in a land that became known as Normandy (for "Northmen", as the Franks called the Scandinavians).
England
After he was done with France, he turned his attention to England. In 865, he landed in Northumbria on the north-east coast of England. It is claimed that here he was defeated in battle for the only time, by King Aelle II of Northumbria. Aelle's men captured Ragnar, and the King ordered him thrown into a pit filled with poisonous snakes. As he was slowly being bitten to death, he is alleged to have exclaimed "How the little pigs would grunt if they knew the situation of the old boar!", referring to the vengeance he hoped his sons would wreak when they heard of his death. Alternative versions of the story say that he landed by accident in East Anglia and there befriended King Edmund before being killed by a jealous courtier. The murderer escaped to Denmark and blamed Edmund for Lodbrok's demise.
Legacy
One Viking saga states that when his four sons heard the manner of his death, they all reacted in great sorrow. Hvitserk, who was playing tafl, gripped the piece so hard that he bled from his fingernails. Björn Ironside grabbed a spear so tightly that he left an impression in it, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, who was trimming his nails, cut straight through to the bone.
Although these stories may not be accurate, like virtually all tales concerning Ragnar Lodbrok, his death had serious consequences. His other sons, Ivar the Boneless (alias Hingwar) and Ubbe soon learned the details of their father's death and swore that they would avenge his killing, in time-honoured Viking tradition. In 866, Ivar and Ubbe crossed the North Sea with a large army (The Great Heathen Army), sacked York, met King Aelle in battle, and captured him. He sentenced him to die according to the custom of Rista Blodörn, an exceedingly painful death. They then moved south to East Anglia, on the way attacking the monasteries of Bardney, Croyland and Medeshampstede where, according to tradition, their army slew 80 monks. Eventually they captured King Edmund and had him shot by archers and beheaded. These wars were a prelude to the long struggle of the Saxons of Alfred the Great against the Danes a generation later.
Mythology
Bragi Boddason is said to have composed the Ragnarsdrápa for the Swedish king Björn at Hauge. However, this does not correspond to what we know about the historical Ragnar. It is consequently said that in the Norse sagas, he was identified with a Swedish king Ragnar (770-785), the son of Sigurd Ring. According to legend, he married Aslaug and became the son-in-law of Sigurd the Völsung.
In Literature
Harry Harrison's Hammer and Cross series includes the death of Ragnar and the subsequent responses of his sons.
See also
References
- Forte, Angelo, Richard Oram, and Frederik Pedersen. Viking Empires. Cambridge University Press, 2005.
- Shlauch, Margaret, trans. The Saga of the Volsungs: the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok together with the Lay of Kraka. New York: American Scandinavian Fndn., 1964.
External links
- Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda and Ragnars saga loðbrókar in Old Norse from «Kulturformidlingen norrøne tekster og kvad» Norway.