Ubbe Ragnarrsson (827-878) was the Marshal of Jorvik under his brother King Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik. He was one of the commanders of the "Great Heathen Army" which invaded England in 865, and he was killed at the Battle of Cynwit in 878 while attempting to invade Devon from Wales.
Biography[]
Ubbe Ragnarrsson was born in 827, and was the son of King Ragnarr Lodbrok and another wife. Ubbe was the half-brother of Halfdan Whiteshirt of Jorvik, Bjorn Ironside of Svibjod, Ivar the Boneless of Sudreyjar, and Sigurdr Snake-in-the-eye of Sjaelland. Ubbe Ragnarsson was known to only take orders from the Norse gods, making him unpredictable; he was also feared due to his great physical strength. When Ragnarr Lodbrok was executed in 865 by King Aella of Northumbria, Ragnarr's sons banded together and crossed the North Sea with 25,000 troops, the "Great Heathen Army", of which Ubbe was one of the main commanders.
Campaigns in Britannia[]
Ubba in 866
When the Vikings secured the city of York in 866, Halfdan proclaimed himself king of "Jorvik", a new Viking kingdom based in northern England. Ubbe served as the Marshal of Jorvik, commanding his brother's armed forces. Ubba helped to command the invasion of East Anglia, martyring King Eadmund of East Anglia in 869. In 875, he led a Viking fleet of 120 ships from Dyfed in Wales to the coast of Devon, intending on helping Guthrum cut off and destroy Alfred the Great's army. However, his fleet was destroyed in a storm, forcing its survivors to limp back to their base in Wales. In 878, he returned to Wessex to take part in the division of the kingdom, landing near the fortress of Arx Cynuit. However, he was met in battle by Ealdorman Odda of Devon, and Ubbe was killed by his sworn enemy Uhtred of Bebbanburg at the Battle of Cynwit.
