Ragnar Lothbrok

Ragnar Lothbrok occupies the border between history and legend so completely that separating them may be impossible and is probably beside the point. The sagas describe a great Viking king and raider who terrorised both England and France across the ninth century; the historical record is equivocal, with no contemporary source naming him clearly. But his legend accumulated detail and force long before the sagas fixed it in writing.

The most vivid moment in his tradition is his death. Having raided Northumbria, he was captured by King Ælla and thrown into a pit of snakes at York. The sagas record that he sang as he died — a death-song called the Krákumál, in which he declared that he was laughing and would soon drink ale with the gods — and that his last words were a warning: 'The little pigs would grunt now if they knew what the old boar suffers.' His sons heard the news.

The response was the Great Heathen Army of 865, the most significant Scandinavian invasion of England: led by Ivar the Boneless, Halfdan, and Ubbe, it conquered Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia. Ælla was killed — according to the sagas, by the blood eagle. Ragnar's sons effectively remade the map of England. The pit of snakes at York, the death-song, and the revenge army have made him one of the most resonant figures in the Norse tradition's collision with Britain.