Earl Ragnar "the Fearless" (died 871) was a Danish Viking chieftain who took part in the Great Heathen Army's invasion of Britannia in 866. He was originally thought to have been killed in an Anglo-Saxon uprising in Leeds, but he was, in actuality, killed in a conflict with a rival Viking leader, Kjartan.
Biography[]
Invasion of England[]
Ragnar on his longship
Ragnar was born in Denmark, the son of Ravn, and he fathered Ragnar Ragnarsson and Thyra Ragnarsdottir. As Denmark was too sandy to grow crops, and the mountainous lands of southern Sweden only had small patches of meadow which were difficult to farm, Ragnar and several other Danes took to becoming Vikings and invading England alongside the Great Heathen Army in 866. Ragnar and his force landed near Bebbanburg and killed the Anglo-Saxon nobleman Uhtred when he taunted the invaders; Ragnar proceeded too give his head to his father, Ealdorman Uhtred of Bebbanburg, as a warning. The Vikings then rendezvoused with the main army under Ubbe Ragnarrsson at York, where they destroyed three Northumbrian armies and executed King Aella of Northumbria. Uhtred was killed in battle, and his second son, renamed Uhtred after his brother's death, was taken captive by Ravn. Ragnar chose to spare Uhtred, seeing him as a warrior, and Uhtred became a servant for the family.
Settling in England[]
Uhtred with Earl Ragnar
After Uhtred rescued Thyra from a rape attempt by Sven Kjartansson, Uhtred earned Ragnar's favor, while Ragnar banished both Sven and his father Kjartan from his lands. Rather than let Uhtred be ransomed by his murderous uncle Alferic, Ragnar decided to buy Uhtred from Ravn, and he took him in as his own son, raising him to be a Dane and a pagan, and giving him the new name "Uhtred Ragnarsson". Ragnar and his family settled in the village of Leeds, where the Vikings established an agricultural community and built a Great Hall at the site of a slain Saxon thegn's former estate. Ragnar settled his former crew members in the valleys around York, and he also founded a new settlement near York by burning down a hazel patch; he named the settlement "Syningthwaite", meaning "place cleared by burning." In 871, he advised a grown-up Uhtred to marry his fellow Anglo-Saxon captive Brida, and reassured Uhtred that he did not need to marry a Dane to be a true Dane, as Ragnar loved him as much as he loved his other son Ragnar.
Death[]
Ragnar's death
Unfortunately, as Uhtred spent time with Brida in the forest at Ragnar's suggestion, Kjartan, Sven, and a warband of Danes (accompanied by Alferic's henchman Scallion) arrived in Leeds and set fire to the Great Hall during the wedding party of Ragnar's daughter Thyra. Most of the doors were blocked off, and the warband slaughtered most of those who attempted to flee through the only open door. Ravn was mortally wounded by an arrow, while Ragnar's wife had Ragnar stab her in the back as she embraced him. Ragnar then dressed in battle armor and, while on fire, attacked the warband, ultimately burning to death. Uhtred and Brida set out to avenge Ragnar's death, and Uhtred assassinated Scallion in the village the next morning. Kjartan, discovering that Uhtred had survived, framed him for Ragnar's death, claiming that he had led an Anglo-Saxon uprising against the Danes, which led to the Danes retaliating by burning down an Anglo-Saxon village.