Important Figures

Recently I have started watching Vikings on History which is based on true people and events. The main characters were real people who made an impact on the world and I would like to share that with you.

Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar was a Danish Viking warlord and a renowned hero of Norse history who lived in 9th century. He was the son of the son of Danish King Sigurd Ring.

According to stories he fought against a serpent that breathed poison. He did this while “hairy breeches” which in Old Norse was  “Lothbrok”.

Ragnar was the father of many renowned sons, including Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and Ubba by two different women; to the shield maiden Lagertha, and to Princess Aslaug, the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild.
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He was a Danish king whose campaigns included a battle with the Holy Roman emperor Charlemagne. Ragnar with and his sons raided France and England ruthlessly.

Ragnar Lothbrok became famous as a warlord and made his fortune by raiding the lands and kingdoms in the west. He allegedly attacked people when they were in the church.

He was a witty leader and ran the well-organized and disciplined forces of France with his furious army sometimes using blitzkrieg tactics to surprise the enemy.  He captured Paris and made King Charles pay 7000 pounds as ransom on one occasion.

There are two versions of the how Ragnar died. The first one suggests that he died of a deadly disease similar to diarrhea right after he ravaged Paris, while the second  is a more believable one since it is told in the same way in most of the historical accounts, particularly, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and its far more fascinating.

On his way home after he was forced out of  Paris, Ragnar’s ship washed ashore on the coast of the Kingdom of Northumbria where King Aella captured and threw him into a pit of snakes, leaving him to a painful and gruesome death.

Legend has it that, right before he died, Ragnar sang a Norse hymn and warned King Aella that his sons would come for vengeance. The Great Heathen Army (the Great Viking Army, a combined army of Vikings from Denmark and Sweden) led by Ragnar Lothbrok’s sons invaded England and killed King Aella in 866.

Ragnar’s legacy continued and his descendants made an impact on the structure of the region even long after he was dead. Around two centuries after Ragnar’s passing, some of the Vikings, who descended from his sons, settled in the west coast of France turning this area into “the land of Northmen”, which is known as Normandy.

Lagertha 

Lagertha was a Viking shieldmaiden and was the first wife of Ragnar Lodbrok.

Shield-maidens were women who chose to fight as warriors alongside the men in the pagan Scandinavia. They took part in warfare, and they played vital strategic roles in the battlefield, where the shield-maidens were either part of the front-lines in their shield-wall formation, or were the ones who helped close the gaps in their defence by picking up the shields of the fallen and holding them up themselves.

Lagertha's career as a warrior began when Freyr, king of Sweden, invaded Norway and killed the Norwegian king Siward. Freyr put the women of the dead king's family into a brothel for public humiliation. Hearing of this, Ragnar Lodbrok came with an army to avenge his grandfather Siward.

Many of the women Freyr had ordered to be abused dressed themselves in men's clothing and fought on Ragnar's side. Chief among them, and key to Ragnar's victory, was Lagertha.

Ladgerda, a skilled Amazon, who, though a maiden, had the courage of a man, and fought in front among the bravest with her hair loose over her shoulders. All-marveled at her matchless deeds, for her locks flying down her back betrayed that she was a woman.
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Impressed with her courage, Ragnar courted her from afar. Lagertha feigned interest and Ragnar arrived to seek her hand, bidding his companions wait in the Gauller Valley. He was set upon by a bear and a great hound which Lagertha had guarding her home, but killed the bear with his spear and choked the hound to death, thus he won the hand of Lagertha in marriage. Ragnar had a son with her, Fridleif, as well as two daughters.

After returning to Denmark, Ragnar divorced Lagertha in order to marry Þóra Borgarhjortr, daughter of King Herrauðr of Sweden. He won the hand of his new love after numerous adventures, but upon returning to Denmark was again faced with a civil war. Ragnar sent to Norway for support, and Lagertha, who still loved him, came to his aid with 120 ships. When at the height of the battle, Ragnar's son Siward was wounded, Lagertha saved the day for Ragnar with a counterattack.

Ladgerda, who had a matchless spirit though a delicate frame, covered by her splendid bravery the inclination of the soldiers to waver. For she made a sally about, and flew round to the rear of the enemy, taking them unawares, and thus turned the panic of her friends into the camp of the enemy.

Upon returning to Norway, she quarreled with her new husband, and slew him with a spearhead she concealed in her gown. Saxo concludes that she then "usurped the whole of his name and sovereignty; for this most presumptuous dame thought it pleasanter to rule without her husband than to share the throne with him".

Rollo 

Rollo was a 7th Century was a Norse Viking who was baptised Robert. He was founder and first ruler of Normandy. His descendants were the Dukes of Normandy, and following the Norman conquest of England in 1066, kings of England through his great-great-great grandson William the Conqueror.

In 885, Rollo was one of the lesser leaders of the Viking fleet which besieged Paris under Sigfred. Legend has it that an emissary was sent by the king to find the chieftain and negotiate terms. When he asked for this information, the Vikings replied that they were all chieftains in their own right and in 886, when Sigfred retreated in return for tribute, Rollo stayed behind and was eventually bought off and sent to harry Burgundy.

Later, he returned to the Seine with his followers (known as Danes, or Norsemen). He invaded the area known as Normandy. In 911 the Vikings under Rollo again launched an attack on Paris before laying siege to Chartres. The Bishop of Chartres, Joseaume, made an appeal for help which was answered by Robert, Marquis of Neustria, Richard, Duke of Burgundy and Manasses, Count of Dijon. On 20th July 911, at the Battle of Chartres, Frankish forces defeated Rollo despite the absence of many French barons and also the absence of the French King Charles the Simple.

Rollo had two spouses; Poppa, daughter of Count Berenger who was captured during a raid at Bayeux and Gisela of France (d. 919), the daughter of Charles III of France. With Poppa, he had a son and two daughters; William Longsword, Gerloc, and Kadlin.

Around 927, Rollo passed the fief in Normandy to his son and may have lived for a few years after that, but certainly died before 933. Even though Rollo had converted to Christianity, some of his prior religious roots surfaced at the end.

I must make it clear that even though he Rollo and Ragnar are brothers in the Vikings they weren't actual brothers in real life as the lived 200 years apart..