Ragnarr Lodbrok (766-860) was King of Svibjod from 800 to 860, succeeding Sigurdr Ring of Svibjod and preceding Bjorn Ironside of Svibjod. He was a legendary Viking hero who led numerous raids against the Franks and Anglo-Saxons, going so far as to sail up the Seine and successfully lay siege to Paris. However, he was captured during one of his many invasions of England and was executed by King Aella of Northumbria by being thrown into a snake pit. His death led his sons assembling the "Great Heathen Army" to avenge him, leading to the destruction of three of the four Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, the rise of the Danelaw, and a new era of warfare on the British Isles.
Biography[]
Rise to power[]
Ragnarr in 793
Ragnarr was born in 766, the son of the Swedish king Sigurdr Ring of Svibjod and the brother of Rollo Sigurdsson. As a boy, he wore heavy, shaggy breeches while practicing his combat skills, so Sigurdr Ring's kinsmen and friends began to call him "Lodbrok", meaning "Hairy-breeches". One day, to prove his love to the shieldmaiden Lagertha, he killed two wild beasts guarding her home; he slew a bear with a spear and strangled a hound to death, earning her hand in marriage. In 781, she gave birth to Bjorn, Ragnarr's first son. Ragnarr and his brother Rollo took part in several raids on the Baltics on the orders of Earl Haraldson, but Ragnarr hungered for opportunities in the west, and he and Rollo launched an unauthorized expedition to England in 793, culminating in the Sack of Lindisfarne. Haraldsson was incensed by Ragnarr's lack of obeisance, and he became his rival, eventually dying in single combat with Ragnarr, who succeeded him as King of Kattegat.
Legendary king[]
Ragnarr in 837
Ragnarr led several raids against Wessex, Northumbria, and Mercia in England, becoming an enemy of King Egbert of Wessex and King Aella of Northumbria. In 835, Ragnarr became a vassal of King Horik I of Denmark in exchange for support for his raiding ventures, as he had been tempted to attack other western lands such as West Francia. However, his alliance with Horik led to him becoming rivals with Jarl Borg of Gotaland, Horik's Swedish rival. In 845, Ragnarr led a large fleet of 120 Viking ships and 5,000 men up the Seine to attack Paris, and he hanged 111 Frankish prisoners as a sacrifice to Odin. He then sacked the city before King Charles the Bald bribed him and his army to retreat; on the voyage home, Ragnarr sacked Hamburg.
Death[]
Lodbrok's death
In 860, hoping to outdo his sons - who were prophesied to one day become more famous than him - Ragnarr launched another invasion of England, this time with only two ships. He was defeated and captured by Aella of Northumbria and cast into a pit of snakes to die a cruel death. Ragnarr's last words were, "How the little piglets would grunt if they knew how the old boar suffered." These words proved prophetic, as his sons Halfdan Whiteshirt, Bjorn Ironside, Sigurdr Snake-in-the-eye, Ivar the Boneless, and Ubbe Ragnarrsson led the "Great Heathen Army" in an invasion of England five years later to avenge his death, ultimately creating several Viking kingdoms and nearly destroying Anglo-Saxon England.
Gallery[]
