Ivar the Boneless (7 February 818-874), also known as Imar, was a Viking leader who was King of Sudreyjar from 855 to 874 (succeeding Gofraid mac Fergusa and preceding Ragnall ua Imair) and King of Dublin from 857 to 874, succeeding Amlaib Conung and preceding Barid mac Imair. He was one of the sons of Ragnarr Lodbrok and a major Viking sea king in Ireland and the Hebrides.
Biography[]
Ivar was the son of Ragnarr Lodbrok and Aslaug, and he was the brother of Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan Whiteshirt, Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye, and Ubbe Ragnarrsson. Ivar was born with weak bones, but he became a feared Viking warrior. During the late 850s and early 860s, he was involved in a protracted conflict with Mael Sechnaill mac Mael Ruanaid, the most powerful ruler in Ireland, and they fought for control of Munster and its resources until Mael Sechnaill died in 862, upon which his lands were divided. From 864 to 870, Ivar fought in England to assist the arrival of the Great Heathen Army, and, in 870, he and his ally Olaf the White captured the capital of Alt Clut, Dumbarton Rock, after a four-month siege. Ivar later returned to the main army to participate in the fall of Mercia alongside his brother and co-leader Ubbe, camping at Repton in the winter of 873-874 and taking part in the sacking of Tamworth, the capture of Leicester, and the capture and forced abdication of King Burghred of Mercia. During the final campaign in Mercia, he befriended the Norwegian Viking Eivor despite their early misconceptions about each other, as Eivor was occasionally bothered by Ivar's wanton cruelty and carelessness.
Death[]
Eivor kicking away Ivar's axe
Ivar later accompanied King Ceolwulf II of Mercia's son, Ceolbert, to Shropshire to aid him in becoming ealdorman while fighting off King Rhodri the Great's Britons. However, the bloodthirsty Ivar ruined the peace talks at Quatford by publicly killing Rhodri's brother Gwriad ap Merfyn, and he later killed Rhodri's guard captain Ynyr ap Cadfarch to avenge his earlier defeat at the beach at Mona in Wales. When the Britons agreed to make peace with the Mercians, Ivar treacherously sabotaged the peace by murdering Ceolbert with a Briton dagger and blaming his death on the Welsh. This led to the Mercians and Norse storming Caustow Castle, and Ivar captured King Rhodri and executed him in the gruesome "Blood Eagle" style. He then challenged Eivor to a holmgang at the Manstone Rock to see if he truly was the greatest vikingr who ever lived, and, while Eivor insisted that Ivar was "battle-drunk", Ivar provoked him into a fight by confessing to being Ceolbert's killer. In the ensuing duel, Eivor cut down Ivar, and he kicked away his axe to prevent him entry to Valhalla, saying that he would instead go to Helheim.
Other annals suggested that Ivar died peacefully on 6 January 873, or that he had been killed while fighting in Ireland. Olaf succeeded Ivar as King of Sudreyjar, while Amlaib succeeded him as King of Dublin.
