I have been reading and researching English/British history since the 4th grade. Kind of a long time for a specific obsession in my case, yet one that for me has direct and precise parameters. In my world English history was not worth studying until the Norman Conquest of 1066. I have spent hundreds of hours organizing and reorganizing and coveting and obtaining books on all the monarchs of England/Britain since the Conquest. (I still need 2, Henry I, and James II) My single minded obsession was changed earlier this year thanks to this guy. Ragnar Lothbrok or Lodbrok; depending on your source. This is obviously the actor Travis Fimmel in an idealized vision of the possibly historical warrior on the History Channel's series ''The Vikings"
"The namesake and subject of “Ragnar’s Saga”, and one of the most popular Viking heroes among the Norse themselves, Ragnar was a great Viking commander and the scourge of France and England. A perennial seeker after the Danish throne, he was briefly ‘king’ of both Denmark and a large part of Sweden. A colorful figure, he claimed to be descended from Odin, was linked to two famous shieldmaidens,Lathgertha in the Gesta Danorum, and Queen Aslaug according to the Völsungasaga.
He told people he always sought greater adventures for fear that his (possibly adoptive) sons who included such notable Vikings as Björn Ironside and Ivar the Boneless would eclipse him in fame and honor. Ragnar raided France many times, sing the rivers as highways for his fleets of longships. By remaining on the move, he cleverly avoided battles with large concentrations of heavy Frankish cavalry, while maximizing his advantages of mobility and the general climate of fear of Viking unpredictability.
His most notable raid was probably the raid upon Paris in 845 AD, which was spared from burning only by the payment of 7,000 lbs of silver as danegeld by Charles the Bald. To court his second wife, the Swedish princess Thora, Ragnar traveled to Sweden and quelled an infestation of venomous snakes, famously wearing the hairy breeches whereby he gained his nickname. He continued the series of successful raids against France throughout the mid 9th century, and fought numerous civil wars in Denmark, until his luck ran out at last in Britain. After being shipwrecked on the English coast during a freak storm, he was captured by Anglian king Ælla of Northumbria and put to death in an infamous manner by being thrown into a pit of vipers."
While trying to research some non-fiction works on the Danish Invasion and the event leading to the Conquest I was recommended by some kind folks on my Facebook History Pages to check out Bernard Cornwell's, The Saxon Series. I read the first book The Last Kingdom and was very impressed. The story is essentially that of a young English nobleman captured and later feted by the Danes for his valor. He then has to choose between his life with the Danes, who he has come to love and admire and his old life among the English. The book has as minor characters the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok, and chronicles the rise of a young King Alfred the Great.
Ragnar was a badass. Did he exist? Maybe, Maybe not. Most sources state that he was an amalgamation of several Norse raiders and warriors. What is interesting to me is that Ragnar has been mentioned in several sagas and medieval source material including the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. An abstract from Princeton University states the following about his life:
He told people he always sought greater adventures for fear that his (possibly adoptive) sons who included such notable Vikings as Björn Ironside and Ivar the Boneless would eclipse him in fame and honor. Ragnar raided France many times, sing the rivers as highways for his fleets of longships. By remaining on the move, he cleverly avoided battles with large concentrations of heavy Frankish cavalry, while maximizing his advantages of mobility and the general climate of fear of Viking unpredictability.
His most notable raid was probably the raid upon Paris in 845 AD, which was spared from burning only by the payment of 7,000 lbs of silver as danegeld by Charles the Bald. To court his second wife, the Swedish princess Thora, Ragnar traveled to Sweden and quelled an infestation of venomous snakes, famously wearing the hairy breeches whereby he gained his nickname. He continued the series of successful raids against France throughout the mid 9th century, and fought numerous civil wars in Denmark, until his luck ran out at last in Britain. After being shipwrecked on the English coast during a freak storm, he was captured by Anglian king Ælla of Northumbria and put to death in an infamous manner by being thrown into a pit of vipers."
What is not in dispute is the invasion of the Danes in 865 CE, by the presumed sons of Ragnar; Ivar the Boneless, Ubbe Ragnarsson, and Halfdan Ragnarsson who led an invasion against the East Anglians around the modern City of York and were successful at putting the area under the rule of the Danelaw for several decades.
The Danes carried with them the Raven Banner and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the following for the year 878;
"And in the winter of this same year the brother of Ivar and Halfdan landed in Wessex, in Devonshire, with 23 ships, and there was he slain, and 800 men with him, and 40 of his army. There also was taken the war-flag (guðfani), which they called "Raven".
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| A depiction of the Raven Banner on the famed Bayeux Tapestry |
I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series, as well as expanding my book collection to include more pre-Conquest history.
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