Hi folks!
Today I am writing more about history than folklore, sometimes the lines are a bit blurred. I am not a Historian yet I do research it. So if You think I am wrong well don’t shoot the messenger. This is my understanding of it.
I really enjoyed viewing Vikings TV series created by Michael Hirst. The characters were colorful and the battle scenes were exhilarating to say the least. Season 6 is the last season and I found it a bit confusing especially the battle with Scandinavian Vikings defending their lands against King Oleg with his Viking Rus. I could not find this battle most likely it never happened.
It also pitted Christians against Pagans which leads me to wonder was there another agenda a foot? I felt the show did not respectfully or historically reflect the Scandinavian peoples’ history after all it was shown on the History Chanel so one would think it would be fairly accurate. It also misrepresented the women from Lagertha who was an amazon large and tall woman not a pint size warrior as portrayed on the series. Her daughters were not even mentioned she had 3 with Ragnar Lothbrok and a son Fridleif written in the Tales of Ragnar’s Sons.
1. This battle is questionable at best as King Oleg with his Rus Vikings were busy fighting in Constantinople. King Oleg of Novogorod ruled from 879 CE – 912 CE.
2. The genealogy is fictitious of Ragnar Lodbrok/Lothbrok, wives and sons. Ragnar allegedly sat as ruler over Sweden after King Sigurd Hring’s death according to the House of Munsö. Sources, recorded in Lejrekroniken, Gesta Danorum, and the Saga of Orvar-Odd.
Bjorn Ironside 855-858 CE took over the Swedish throne after his father’s death via House of Munsö.
3. Pitting son against son theme has been done to death. Remember Cain & Abel?
Season 6 episode 10 Vikings
Bjorn: “I will defeat you, I will win. The Gods are with me.”
Ivar: “You are wrong. The Gods abandoned you a long time ago, my brother. There’s no way you can win.”
Next Ivar the boneless stabs Bjorn Ironside in the gut with his sword. Bjorn drops to the ground dead. Fictional at best, disappointing to say the least. The Christians against Pagans theme is an insult to the Scandinavian Peoples’origins which was never rooted in Christianity.
Christianity was forced upon Pagans who had their own identity, deities and rituals.
Many Christians still worshipped their pagan deities after Christianity nearly wiped them all out. “Turn or Burn,” mentality always fails.
I find this speech of Ivar’s should have been said from Bjorn to Ivar as today’s Christianity has died off in Europe and other nations worldwide. Iceland has raised their own pagan temples to their old gods. Scandinavians and Europeans are rekindling their old deities and traditions.
Ragnar’s Wives and Sons
First up is Lagertha 840-865 CE. who some historians claim was a fictional character mirrored in tales about Þorgerðr Hölgabrúð. Lagertha is written in the 9th book of the Gesta Danorum, a 12th century work of Danish history by Saxo Grammaticus.
Lagertha, Illustration by Morris Meredith Williams in 1913 (Wikipedia)
Personally I think she was real due to the amount of information collected and written about her. She birthed a son named Fridleif Ragnarssen not Björn Ironside whose mother was Ragnar’s third wife Aslaug. Lagertha also birthed three daughters with Ragnar. The marriage turned sour at some point. Ragnar then divorced Lagertha to marry Thora Borgarhjort who bore two sons with Ragnar named Eric and Agnar who were later slain by the Swedes for their battle to dethrone Eysteinn Beli the king of Sweden.
After Thora’s death he married Aslaug/ Aslög, also known as Kráka meaning Crow. She is mentioned in the Völsunga saga. She was the daughter of Sigurd the acclaimed dragon-slayer and Valkyrie Brynhildr recorded in The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok.
Ragnar and Aslaug bore four sons, the oldest was Ivar the Boneless, second son was Björn Ironside, next Hvitserk, and lastly Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, who was dubbed this title due to his iris sported an image of a snake encircling his pupil. Notice Ivar was the eldest son not Björn?
Later Ivar becomes King over Northeastern England according to The Tale of Ragnar’s sons or (Old Norse: Ragnarssona þáttr). Ivar died in Dublin Ireland 873 CE. (Encyclopedia Britannica online.)
Björn ironside rules over Uppsala and Sweden, date of his death unknown maybe he died in old age?
Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye rules over Zealand or Denmark, Scania, Halland Northwest Sweden region, Viken or Norway.
Hvitserk receives Reidgotaland (Jutland) and Wendland, He never killed Lagertha that was all fiction.
It would be great if one day in TV land, the real history of Scandinavian and Rus Vikings will be accurately portrayed.
Till then let’s just keep reading our History and Folklore books.
All Nifty Buckles Folklore Fun posts Copyright 2017-2020 All Rights Reserved
Source & Reference:
Featured image: 1857 painting by August Malmström depicts King Ælla’s messenger before Ragnar Lodbrok’s sons. Wikipedia in Public Domain
The Tales of Ragnar’s Sons English translation by Peter Tunstall http://www.germanicmythology.com/FORNALDARSAGAS/ThattrRagnarsSonar.html
þáttr af Ragnars Sonum https://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/rag-son.htm
Ancient History Enclyclopedia online https://www.ancient.eu/Bjorn_Ironside/
Waggoner, Ben (2009). The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok. New Haven, CT: Troth Publications. ISBN 978-0578021386.
Saxo’s Gesta, includes the tale of Lagertha
TVFanatic.com https://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/you-are-wrong-the-gods-abandoned-you-a-long-time-ago-my-brother/
Val is a writer of enchanted tales, folklore and magic. Once chased by Vampire Pumpkins! 