Ragnarssona þáttr

and his sons.

ummary

Ragnar Lodbrok

When Sigurd Ring (called "Ring") died, Ragnar succeeded him as the king of Sweden and Denmark. Many foreign kings came to take parts of his kingdom as they thought Ragnar was too young to defend it.

Herrauðr, the earl of Götaland and one of Ragnar's vassals had a daughter Þora Town-Hart who was very beautiful. He had given her a lindworm, but after some time, it had encircled her bower and threatened anyone who approached it, except for her servants who fed it with an ox every day. At his bragarfull, Herrauðr promised his daughter to the man who could kill the serpent.

When Ragnar heard of this, he went to Västergötland and dressed himself in shaggy clothes that he had treated with tar and sand. He took a spear and approached the serpent which blew poison at him. Ragnar protected himself with his shield and his clothes and stuck the spear through its heart. He then cut off the serpent's head, and when the people found out what had happened, he married Thora.Then, he proceeded to liberate all of his kingdom. Ragnar and Thora had two sons, Eric and Agnar, but after only a few years Thora died of an illness. He then married Aslaug, also known as Randalin, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild. They had four sons, Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Hvitserk and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, who was so named because his iris had the image of a snake encircling the pupil.

The death of Eric and Agnar

Ragnar's sons grew up and in order to show themselves the equals of their father, they warred far and wide. They conquered Zealand, Reidgotaland (here Jutland), Gotland, Öland and all the small islands. Ivar, who was the most clever, was their leader and he installed himself at Lejre.

As Ragnar did not want his sons to overshadow him, he appointed Eysteinn Beli as the king of Sweden and told him to protect it from his sons. One summer, Ragnar was pillaging in the Baltic region, and his sons Eric and Agnar came into lake Mälaren. They sent a messenger to Uppsala asking Eysteinn to meet them. They then demanded that Eysteinn be their vassal and that he give his daughter Borghild as wife to Eric. Eysteinn consulted the Swedish chieftains and they decided to attack Eric and Agnar. After a long battle against overwhelming numbers, Eric was captured and Agnar slain.

Eysteinn wanted peace and offered his daughter to Eric and as much of Uppsala öd (the network of royal estates that financed the Swedish monarchy) as he wanted. Eric declared that after such a defeat he did not want to live and asked to raised on spearpoints above the slain so that he would be pierced and killed. His wish was granted.

When Aslaug and her sons heard the news in Zealand, they decided to avenge the dead brothers. Aslaug called herself Randalin and rode with 1500 warriors across land, while her sons went in ships. After a long battle Eysteinn died and they had avenged Eric and Agnar.

Ragnar was not happy that his sons had taken revenge without his help, and decided to conquer England with only two knarrs, in order to show himself a better warrior than his sons. The ships were made in Vestfold as his kingdom reached Dovre and Lindesnes, and they were enormous ships. Aslaug did not approve of the idea as the English coast was not fit for such ships, only for longships, but Ragnar did not listen to her advice.

However, Ragnar arrived safely with his army in England and began to ravage and burn.

The death of Ragnar and his sons' vengeance

When king Ella of Northumbria learnt of the pillaging army, he mustered an overwhelming force and defeated Ragnar's army. Ragnar was dressed in a silken jacket that Aslaug had made and nothing could pierce it. Finally, he was taken prisoner and thrown into a snake pit. However, as the snakes did not bite him, the Englishmen took off his clothes and then the snakes killed him.

Ragnar's sons attacked England but Ivar did not want to fight and the English army was too large and so they lost and had to go home again. Ivar, however, stayed in England and asked Ella for wergild, claiming that he could not go home without some compensation to show his brothers. Ivar only wanted as much land as he could cover with an ox's hide. He cut it into such a fine long string of hide that he could encircle an area large enough for a city. When this was done, he laid the foundations for a city and it became York. He allied himself with all of England and finally all the chieftains in the region became loyal to Ivar and his brothers.

Then, Ivar told his brothers to attack England. During the battle Ivar sided with his brothers and so did many of the English chieftains with their people, in loyalty to Ivar. Ella was taken captive and in revenge they carved blood eagle on him.

Ivar became king over north-eastern England that his forefathers had owned (i.e. Ivar Vidfamne and Sigurd Ring), and he had two sons named Yngvar and Husto. They obeyed their father Ivar and tortured king Edmund the Martyr and took his realm.

Ragnar's sons pillaged in England, Wales, France and Italy, until they came to the town Luna in Italy. When they came back to Scandinavia, they divided the kingdom so that Björn Ironside took Uppsala and Sweden, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye had Zealand, Scania, Halland, Viken, Agder, all the way to Lindesnes and most of Oppland. Hvitserk took Reidgotaland (Jutland) and Wendland.

Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye married king Ella's daughter Blaeja and they had the son Harthacanute, who succeeded his father as the king of Zealand, Scania and Halland, but Viken rebelled and broke loose. Harthacanute had a son named Gorm, who was big and strong but not as wise as his ancestors.

After this presentation of Ragnar and his sons, the tale continues by telling of English, Danish and Norwegian kings.

External links

* [http://www.northvegr.org/lore/oldheathen/055.php The Tale of Ragnar's sons in translation by Tunstall at Northvegr]
* [http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/rag-son.htm Þáttr af Ragnars sonum]