(Jody Gray) The people of the (Dynasty) House of Munso existed in legends passed in oral-tradition among their tribes before they were included in the written histories of their adversaries (Anglo-Saxons) and before the sagas of their heroes (e.g. Ragnar Lodbrok aka Lothbrok) were written.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protohistory Protohistory: a period between prehistory and history, during which a culture or civilization has not yet developed writing but other cultures have already noted its existence in their own writing. For example, in Europe, the Celts and the Germanic tribes may be considered to have been protohistoric when they began appearing in Greek and Roman sources. Protohistoric may also refer to the transition period between the advent of literacy in a society and the writings of the first historians. The preservation of oral traditions may complicate matters as these can provide a secondary historical source for even earlier events. Colonial sites involving a literate group and a non-literate group are also studied as protohistoric situations. It can also refer to a period in which fragmentary or external historical documents, not necessarily including a developed writing system, have been found. For instance, the Proto-Three Kingdoms of Korea, the Yagoi and the Mississippian groups recorded by early European explorers are protohistoric. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture *also, interesting, Erie people (south shore of Lake Erie), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erie_people
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Sea North Sea, Territorial Waters, is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean located between Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, the Netherlands, and France. It connects to the ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north. Historically, the North Sea has featured prominently in geopolitical and military affairs, particularly in Northern Europe but also globally through the power northern Europeans projected worldwide during much of the Middles Ages and into the modern era. The North Sea was the centre of the Vikings’ rise.
The coast of the North Sea: in the north, deep fjords and sheer cliffs mark the Norwegian and Scottish coastlines, whereas in the south it consists primarily of sandy beaches and wide mudflats.
The Viking Age began in 793 with the attack on Lindisfarne and for the next quarter-millennium the Vikings ruled the North Sea. In the superior longships, they raided, traded, and established colonies and outposts on the sea’s coasts. From the Middle Ages through the 15th century, the northern European coastal ports exported domestic goods, dyes, linen, salt, metal goods and wine. The Scandinavian and Baltic areas shipped grain, fish naval necessities, and timber. In turn the North Sea countries imported high grade cloths, spices, and fruits from the Mediterranean region. Commerce during this era was mainly undertaken by maritime trade due to underdeveloped roadways.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Swedish_monarchs Swedish Monarchs. Lists of succession traditionally start in the 10th century with king Olof Skotkonung, and his father Eric the Victorious, who also were the first Swedish kings to be baptized. There are, however, lists of Swedish pagan monarchs with far older dates, but in many cases these kings appear in sources of disputed historical reliability. These records notably deal with the legendary House of Yngling, and based on the Danish chronicler Saxo Grammaticus, Eric the Victorious and Olof Skotkonung have often been classified as belonging to the Swedish house of Yngling, tracing them back to Sigurd Ring and Ragnar Lodbrok (whom Saxo considered to belong to the House of Yngling). However, according to Icelandic sources this line of kings was broken (see Ingjald and Ivar Vidfamne). As there is no evidence that Eric and Olof ever used the Yngling name themselves, modern historians instead refer to their family as the House of Munsö, the Old Dynasty or the House of Uppsala.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_Muns%C3%B6 House of Munso - Swedish Kings (names in parentheses are kings who are not mentioned in Hervarar saga, but mentioned in other sources): Sigurd Ring; Ragnar Lodbrok; Björn Ironside; Erik Björnsson (early 9th century); Erik Refilsson (early 9th century); Anund Uppsale (early 9th century); Björn at Hauge (c. 829 – c. 831); (Olof, mid-9th century); Erik Anundsson (Erik Emundsson or Erik Weatherhat?, mid-9th century); (Ring, c. 910 – c. 940); (Erik Ringsson, c. 940 – c. 950); (Emund Eriksson, mid-10th century); Björn (III) Eriksson (second half of the 10th century); Olof (II) Björnsson (second half of the 10th century); c 950–995 : Eric the Victorious (Erik Segersäll); 995–1022 : Olof III of Sweden (Olof Skötkonung); 1022–1050 : Anund Jacob (Anund Jakob); 1050–1060 : Emund the Old (Emund den gamle)...
Dynasty - House of Munso -Piper Family Lineage from Ragnar Lodbrok. 38th GGF Sigurd Hring (vitals, unknown *flourished ca. 750) a legendary Swedish king; notable for winning the Battle of the Battle of the Brávellir against Harald Wartooth and for being the father of Ragnar Lodbrok.
37th GGF Ragnar Lodbrok (vitals, unknown) *a legendary Viking leader
36th GGF Bjorn Ironside (vitals, unknown) Legendary King of Sweden, Norse Pagan… said to have been the 1st ruler of the Munso dynasty
35th GGF Erik Bjornsson (vitals, unknown) King of Sweden *Pagan
34th GGF Anund Uppsale (vitals, unknown) King of Sweden (Reign, not stated) *Pagan; called Uppsale because he stayed at Old Upsala, the era’s religious center…
33rd GGF Erik Anundsson d. 882 King of Sweden
32nd GGF Bjorn (III) Eriksson (vitals, unknown) King of Sweden (Reign, 882-932)
31st GGF Eric the Victorious c. 945 d. ca. 995, King of Sweden (Reign, c. 970-995)
30th GGF Olof Skotonung c. 980 d. 1022, King of Sweden (Reign, 995-1022)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar%C3%B6k Ragnarök. In Norse mythology, Ragnarök is a series of future events, including a great battle, foretold to ultimately result in the death of a number of major figures, the occurrence of various natural disasters, and the subsequent submersion of the world in water. Afterward, the world will resurface anew and fertile, the surviving and returning gods will meet, and the world will be repopulated by two human survivors. Ragnarök is an important event in Norse mythology, and has been the subject of scholarly discourse and theory throughout the history of Germanic studies… Brothers will fight and kill each other, sisters’ children will defile kinship. It is harsh in the world, whoredom rife -an axe age, a sword age -shields are riven -a wind age, a wolf age -before the world goes headlong. No man will have mercy on another… Gylfaginning chapters 52 and 53. Chapter 53 begins with Gangleri asking if any of the gods will survive, and if there will be anything left of the earth or the sky. High responds that the earth will appear once more from the sea, beautiful and green, where self-sown crops grow… High reveals that two humans, Líf and Lífþrasir, will have also survived the destruction by hiding in the wood… and from their descendants the world will be repopulated… See also, Ask and Embla, the two first humans in Norse mythology.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda Poetic Edda (The primary sources regarding Asgard come from the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Icelandic Snorri Stufluson) Authorship: like most early poetry, the Eddic poems were minstrel poems, passing orally from singer to singer and from poet to poet for centuries. None of the poems are attributed to a particular author, though many of them show strong individual characteristics and are likely to have been the work of individual poets... The dating of the poems has been a source of lively scholarly argument for a long time, and firm conclusions are hard to reach… Individual poems have individual clues to their age. For example, Atlamál hin groenlenzku is claimed by its title to have been composed in Greenland, and seems so by some internal evidence. If so, it can be no earlier than about 985, since there were no Scandinavians in Greenland until that time. Location. The problem of dating the poems is linked with the problem of finding out where they were composed. Iceland was not settled until about 870, so anything composed before that time would necessarily have been elsewhere, most likely in Scandinavia. Any young poems, on the other hand, are likely Icelandic in origin. Scholars have attempted to localize individual poems by studying the geography, flora, and fauna to which they refer… the apocalyptic descriptions of Völuspá have been taken as evidence that the poet who composed it had seen a volcanic eruption in Iceland - but this is hardly certain... More about Valhalla: Before the hall stands the golden tree Glasir, and the hall's ceiling is thatched with golden shields. Various creatures live around Valhalla, such as the stag Eikþyrnir and the goat Heiðrún, both described as standing atop Valhalla and consuming the foliage of the tree Læraðr…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A6ra%C3%B0r Læraðr. Etymology: A possible translation could therefore be “arranger of betrayal”, which would relate to Yggdrasill as the place of Odin’s self-sacrifice. Another reading is sometimes suggested… “shelter” and which could thus be rendered as “giver of protection”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil Yggdrasil, is an immense mythical tree that connects the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things [governing assembly]. The branches extend far into the heavens,and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations... Creatures live within... Warden trees, Irminsul, and sacred trees. Continuing as late as the 19th century, warden trees were venerated in areas of Germany and Scandinavia, considered to be guardians and bringers of luck, and offerings were sometimes made to them...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin Odin. In Germanic mythology, Odin is a widely revered god. In Norse mythology, from which stems most of the information about the god, Odin is associated with healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, battle, sorcery, poetry, frenzy, and the runic alphabet, is the husband of the goddess Frigg. In wider Germanic mythology and paganism, Odin was known in Old English as Woden… Odin is a prominently mentioned god throughout the recorded history of the Germanic peoples, from the Roman occupation of regions of Germania through the tribal expansions of the Migration Period and the Viking Age. In the modern period, Odin continued to be acknowledged in the rural folklore of Germanic Europe. References to Odin appear in place names throughout regions historically inhabited by the ancient Germanic peoples, and the day of the week Wednesday bears his name in many Germanic languages, including English.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yggdrasil Yggdrasil, is an immense mythical tree that connects the nine worlds of Norse cosmology. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to assemble at their things [governing assembly]. The branches extend far into the heavens,and the tree is supported by three roots that extend far away into other locations... Creatures live within... Warden trees, Irminsul, and sacred trees. Continuing as late as the 19th century, warden trees were venerated in areas of Germany and Scandinavia, considered to be guardians and bringers of luck, and offerings were sometimes made to them...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migration_Period Migration Period was a time of widespread migrations within or into Europe in the middle of the first millennium AD. Time, 21-700 AD. Place, Europe and Northern Africa. Event, Tribes invading the declining Roman Empire… The first migrations of peoples were made by Germanic tribes… Later invasions (such as the Viking, the Norman, the Hungarian, the Moorish, the Turkic, and the Mongol)... however, they are outside the scope of the Migration Period. Origins of Germanic tribes… The Barbarian Invasions may be divided into two phases. The first phase, occurring between A.D. 300 and 500, is partly documented by Greek and Latin historians but difficult to verify archaeologically. It puts Germanic peoples in control of most areas of what was then the Western Roman Empire… The Visigoths, a group derived either from the Tervingi or from a fusion of mainly Gothic groups, eventually invaded Italy and sacked Rome in 410, before settling in Gaul, and then, 50 years later, in Iberia, founding a kingdom that lasted for 250 years… In Gaul, the Franks (a fusion of western Germanic tribes whose leaders had been aligned with Rome since the 3rd century A.D.) entered Roman lands gradually during the 5th century… the Frankish kingdom became the nucleus of what would later become France and Germany. The initial Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain occurred during the 5th century, when Roman control of Britain had come to an end. The Burgundians settled in North Western Italy, Switzerland and Eastern France in the fifth century. Second phase took place between 500 and 700 and saw Slavic tribes settling in central and eastern Europe (notably in eastern Magna Germania), gradually making it predominantly Slavic… The Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin from around 895, and the Viking expansion from the late 8th century conventionally mark the last large movements of the period. Christianity gradually converted the non-Islamic newcomers and integrated them into the medieval Christian order. Barbarian identity and how it was created and expressed during the Barbarian Invasions… The “primordialistic” paradigm prevailed during the 19th century… Language, in particular, was seen as the most important expression of ethnicity. They argued that groups sharing the same (or similar) language possessed a common identity and ancestry. This was the Romantic ideal that there once had been a single German, Celtic or Slavic people who originated from a common homeland and spoke a common tongue, helping to provide a conceptual framework for political movements of the 18th and 19th centuries such as Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism… Modernists argue that the uniqueness perceived by specific groups was based on common political and economic interests rather than biological or racial distinctions. (they) propose the idea of “imagined communities”, the barbarian polities in late antiquity were social constructs rather than unchanging lines of blood kinship. The process of forming tribal units was called "ethnogenesis", a term coined by Soviet scholar Yulian Bromley… It argues that the stimulus for forming tribal polities was perpetuated by a small nucleus of people, known as the Traditionskern ("kernel of tradition"), who were a military or aristocratic elite. This core group formed a standard for larger units, gathering adherents by employing amalgamative metaphors such as kinship and aboriginal commonality and claiming that they perpetuated an ancient, divinely-sanctioned lineage…
Ethnicity. Based on the belief that particular types of artifacts, elements of personal adornment generally found in a funerary context, are thought to indicate the race and/or ethnicity of the person buried, the “Culture-History” school of archaeology assumed that archaeological cultures represent the (homeland) of tribal polities named in historical sources. As a consequence, the shifting extensions of material cultures were interpreted as the expansion of people. Influenced by constructionism, process-driven archaeologists rejected the Culture-Historical doctrine and marginalized the discussion of ethnicity altogether and focused on the intragroup dynamics that generated such material remains. Moreover, they argued that adoption of new cultures could occur through trade or internal political developments rather than only military takeovers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Heathen_Army Great Heathen Army. Legend has it that the force was led by three sons of Ragnar Lodbrok. The campaign of invasion and conquest lasted 14 years. Background. Viking raids began in England in the late 8th century, primarily on monasteries (popular target as they were wealthy and had valuable objects that were portable)… The raiding of England continued on and off until the 860s, when instead of raiding, the Vikings changed their tactics and sent a great army to invade England. This army was described by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as a “Great Heathen Army”... The Vikings had been defeated by the West Saxon King Ethelwulf in 851, so rather than land in Wessex they decided to go further north to East Anglia. Legend has it that the united army was led by three sons of Ragnar Lodbrok: Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless (Hingwar), and Ubba. Norse sagas consider the invasion by the three brothers as a response to the death of their father at the hands of Ella of Northumbria in 865, but the historicity of this claim in uncertain. Start of the invasion, 865. Landed in East Anglia and used it as a starting point for an invasion. East Anglians made peace by providing them with horses… setting out for Northumbria towards the end of 866, establishing themselves at York. 867, the Northumbrians paid them off, the Viking Army established a puppet leader in Northumbria before setting off for the Kingdom of Mercia, in 867 they captured Nottingham… 871, the Great Summer Army arrived from Scandinavia, led by Bagsecg -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagsecg -the reinforced Viking army turned its attention to Wessex, but the West Saxons, led by King Ethelred’s brother Alfred, defeated them 1/8/871 at the Battle of Ashdown, slaying Bagsecg in the process… 871-72, the Great Heathen Army wintered in London before returning to Northumbria… 874, drove the Mercian king into exile and finally conquered Mercia… According to Alfred the Great’s biographer Asser, the Vikings then split into two bands. Halfdan led one band north to Northumbria… 875 he ravaged further north to Scotland where he fought the Picts and Britons of Strathclyde. Returning south of the border in 876, he shared out Northumbrian land amongst his men, who “ploughed the land and supported themselves”; this land was part of what became known as the Danelaw. King Alfred’s victory. According to Asser, the second band was led by Guthrum -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guthrum -, Oscetel, and Anwend. (Guthrum became known by his baptismal name, Athelstan, reigned as king of East Anglia until his death in 890)... In 878, a third Viking army gathered on the Thames. The Frankish emperor, Charles the Bald, died in 877 and his son shortly after, precipitating a period of political instability of which the Vikings were quick to take advantage… Alfred built a navy, reorganized the army, and set up a system of fortified towns known as burhs (mainly using old Roman cities he was able to rebuild and reinforce their existing fortifications)... By 896, the remains of the Danish army that had not gone to East Anglia or Northumbria found it difficult to make any progress in Alred’s fortified kingdom… they found themselves ships and went south across the sea to the Seine. As for Anglo-Saxon England, it had been torn apart by the invading Great Heathen Army, and the Vikings were now in control of northern and eastern England, while Alfred and his successors remained in control of Wessex.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization_of_Scandinavia Christianization of Scandinavia. Mission of Hamburg-Bremen. Recorded missionary efforts in Denmark started with Willibrord, Apostle to the Frisians… he went north from Frisia sometimes between 710 and 718 during the reign of King Ongendus. Willibrord had little success… In 831 the Archdiocese of Hamburg was founded and assigned responsibility for proselytizing Scandinavia… Both the accounts of Willibrord and of Harald are semi-mythical and legendary themes from the Nordic pagan tradition into their Christian stories. A syncretized variant of the Story of Harald, that has him battling Ragnar Lodbrok to establish Christianity in Denmark, appears in Book Nine of Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum. Ebbo is the name of a mythical Nordic figure, Ibor, also known as Egil or Orvandil, who is an archer, elf, and smith who turns against the Aesir gods and wages war upon them, and the story of Ebbo of Rheims integrates themes of the divine Ebbo’s story, including peasant (non-Aesir) birth and migration. Harald’s usurpation and his efforts at Christianization are related to several stories of “usurpation” and “changes in sacrifices”, including the usurpation of Mithothyn and the introduction of the worship of Frey at Uppsala, in that they utilize similar motifs and mythical figures. Denmark. The spread of Christianity in Denmark occurred intermittently. Danes encountered Christians when they participated in Viking raids from the 9th century to the 1060s. Danes were still tribal in the sense that local chiefs determined attitudes towards Christianity and Christians for their clan and kinsmen. Bringing Christian slaves or future wives back from a Viking raid brought large numbers of ordinary Danes into close contact with Christians for perhaps the first time. As the chiefs and kings of Denmark became involved in the politics of Normandy, England, Ireland, France, and Germany, they adopted a kinder attitude toward their Christian subjects. In some cases the conversion of the chief or king appears to be purely political to assure an alliance or prevent powerful Christian neighbors from attacking. There were instances when the conversion of a powerful chief (Danish: jarl) or one of the kings was followed by wholesale conversions among their followers. In a few instances conversion was brought about by trial by ordeal miracles wrought by saintly Christians in the presence of the king or other great men of the time… Even after becoming Christian, Danes blended the two belief systems together. Families who lived close to the earth did not want to offend the local spirits, so offerings were left just as they had been in pre-Christian days… Gorm and Queen Thyra’s son, King Harald Bluetooth, boasted on one of the stones at Jelling that he had “made the Danes Christian”... The first Danish king to convert to Christianity was Harald Klak, who had himself baptized during his exile in order to receive the support of Louis the Pious. Christianity only gained a stronghold in Denmark following the baptism of Harald Bluetooth. Initially, Harald had remained pagan, although he had allowed public preaching by Christian missionaries as early as 935. Around 960, Bluetooth converted to Christianity, reportedly when the Frisian monk Poppo held a fire-heated lump of iron in his hand without injury. Harald’s daughter, Gunhilde, and his son, Sweyn Forkbeard were baptized, too. There was also a political reason for conversion. German histories record Harald being baptized in the presence of Emperor Otto I, Sweyn Forkbeard’s godfather. One consequence of his conversion is that Danish kings abandoned the royal enclosure at Jelling and moved their residence to Roskilde on the island of Zealand… Sweyn Forkbeard tried to wrest control of the church in Denmark away from the Holy Roman Empire and as a result was slandered by German historians of his day. He has been accused of relapsing from his Christian beliefs and persecuting Christians in England… His army destroyed Christian churches in England as part of his invasion following the St. Brice’s Day massacre organized by Ethelred. But when Sweyn became King of England and of Denmark, politics required that he show a kinder face toward the church which had opposed him. Another Christianizing influence was the mass emigration of Danes to England and Normandy in the Viking years. Thousands of Danes settled in east central England and in northern France displacing or intermarrying with the locals who were Christian. Once a part of a Danish clan became Christian, it often meant that the rest of the family’s view toward Christianity softened. Sweden. The supporters of the cult at Uppsala drew a mutual agreement of toleration with Olof Skötkonung the first Christian king of Sweden who ascended to the throne in the 990s.
Other Sources: Depiction in media. Terry Jones' Barbarians, a 4-part TV documentary series first broadcast on BBC 2 in 2006.
Other Sources: (Guthrum appears in several works of fiction) Bernard Cornwell's first three novels of The Saxon Stories series The Last Kingdom, and The Pale Horseman, and Sword Song. On screen, he was played by Brian Blessed in King Alfred, episode 4 of Churchill's People, by Michael York in the 1969 film Alfred the Great and Thomas W. Gabrielsson in The Last Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ragnar_Lodbrok Ragnar Lodbrok; father of Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba. Ragnar "Shaggy-Breeches" was a legendary viking leader and hero of Old Norse poetry and sagas from the Viking age. According to this traditional literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by many raids against Francia and Anglo-Saxon England, during the 9th century. According to traditional sources, Ragnar was: son of the Swedish king Sigurd Hring and a relative of the Danish king Gudfred; married three times, to the shieldmaiden Lagertha, the noblewoman Thóra Borgarhjǫrtr and Aslaug (also known as Kráka, Kraba and Randalin), a Norse queen; the father of historical viking figures figures including Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba; captured by King Ella of Northumbria and died after Ella had him thrown into a pit of snakes, and; avenged by the Great Heathen Army that invaded and occupied Northumbria and adjoining Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. According to the antiquarian Hilda Ellis Davidson, writing in 1980, "certain scholars in recent years have come to accept that at least part of Ragnar's story as based on historical fact." Historian Katherine Holman, however, concluded in 2003 that "although his sons are historical figures, there is no evidence that Ragnar himself ever lived, and he seems to be an amalgam of several different historical figures and pure literary invention." As a figure of legend whose life only partially took place in times and places covered by written sources, the extent of Ragnar's historicity is not quite clear... the core tradition of a Viking hero named Ragnar (or similar) who wreaked havoc in mid-ninth-century Europe and who fathered many famous sons is remarkably persistent, and some aspects of it are covered by relatively reliable sources, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
Other Sources: History Channel's historical drama television series Vikings, in which the protagonist Ragnar (played by Travis Fimmel) is very broadly based on the character from the sagas. The Vikings: Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder. Osprey Publishing. 18 March 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aslaug Aslaug, Ragnar's wife and the mother of his sons, was the daughter of Sigurd, whose ancestor Sigi was a descendant of Odin (Sigurd Signundsson, not to be confused with Sigurd Ranvarsson, King at Lethra, Ragnar's father). Therefore, the entire house of Munso (and all their descendants) are descended from Odin. (the story of Aslaug aka Kraka ("Crow") and Ragnar) In order to hide her beauty -the accepted sign of her noble origins -they rubbed her in tar and dressed her in a long hood. However, once as she was bathing she was discovered by some of the men of the legendary king Ragnar Lodbrok... Ragnar proposed marriage to her, which she refused until he had accomplished his mission in Norway. She gave him four sons: Ivar the Boneless, Hvitserk, Ubba and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye... because Ragnar insists on bedding her immediately after the wedding, contrary to her advice, their first son Ivar was born weak, "boneless".
Other Sources: History Channel's historical drama television series Vikings, in which the protagonist Ragnar (played by Travis Fimmel) is very broadly based on the character from the sagas. The Vikings: Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder. Osprey Publishing. 18 March 2008.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aslaug Aslaug, Ragnar's wife and the mother of his sons, was the daughter of Sigurd, whose ancestor Sigi was a descendant of Odin (Sigurd Signundsson, not to be confused with Sigurd Ranvarsson, King at Lethra, Ragnar's father). Therefore, the entire house of Munso (and all their descendants) are descended from Odin. (the story of Aslaug aka Kraka ("Crow") and Ragnar) In order to hide her beauty -the accepted sign of her noble origins -they rubbed her in tar and dressed her in a long hood. However, once as she was bathing she was discovered by some of the men of the legendary king Ragnar Lodbrok... Ragnar proposed marriage to her, which she refused until he had accomplished his mission in Norway. She gave him four sons: Ivar the Boneless, Hvitserk, Ubba and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye... because Ragnar insists on bedding her immediately after the wedding, contrary to her advice, their first son Ivar was born weak, "boneless".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Ironside Bjorn Ironside was a legendary king of Sweden who lived sometime in the 9th century; said to have been the first ruler of the Munso dynasty. In the early 18th century, a barrow on the island of Munso was claimed by antiquarians to be his grave. Legends. A powerful Viking chieftain and naval commander, Bjorn and his mentor and fathers close friend Hastein conducted many raids in France in a continuation of the tradition initiated by their legendary father Ragnar Lothbrok. In 860, Bjorn led a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean. After raiding down the Iberian coast and fighting their way through Gibraltar, Bjorn and Hastein pillaged the south of France, where his fleet over-wintered, before landing in Italy where they captured the coastal city of Pisa. They proceeded inland to the town of Luni, which they believed to be Rome at the time, but were unable to breach the town walls. To gain entry a tricky plan was devised: Hastein sent messengers to the bishop to say that, being deathly ill, he had a deathbed conversion and wished to receive Christian sacraments and/or to be buried on consecrated ground within their church. He was brought into the chapel with a small honor guard, then surprised the dismayed clerics by leaping from his stretcher. The Viking party then hacked its way to the town gates, which were promptly opened letting the rest of the army in. Flush with this victory and others around the Mediterranean (including Sicily and North Africa) Bjorn returned to the Straits of Gibraltar only to find the Saracen navy from Al-Andalus waiting for him. In the desperate fight that followed, Bjorn lost 40 ships... The remainder of his fleet managed to return to Scandinavia, where he lived out his life as a rich man. Tale of Ragnar's Sons. tells that he was the son of the Scandinavian king Ragnar Lodbrok and Aslaug, whom some call Randalin, and that he had the brothers, Hvitserk, Ivar the Boneless and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and the half-brothers Fridleif, Eric and Agnar. Bjorn and his brothers left Sweden to conquer Zealand, Reidgotaland, Gotland, Oland and all the minor islands. They then settled at Lejre in Zealand, Denmark with Ivar the Boneless as their leader. Ragnar was jealous of his sons' successes, and set Eysteinn Beli as the jarl of Sweden, telling him to protect Sweden from his sons. He then went east across the Baltic Sea to pillage and to show his own skills. Ragnar's sons Eric and Agnar then sailed into Lake Malaren and sent a message to King Eysteinn that they wanted him to submit to Ragnar's sons, and Eric said that he wanted Eysteinn's daughter Borghild as wife... he said no to the offer... a battle ensued... Agnar died and Eric as taken prisoner... Eric proclaimed that after such a defeat he wanted nothing but to choose the day of his own death; to be impaled on spears that raised him above the dead and his wish was granted... In Zealand, Bjorn, Aslaug and Hvitserk, sailed to Sweden with a large army... they killed Eysteinn... Ragnar decided to conquer England; King Ella of Northumbria defeated him and threw him into a snake pit where he died. Bjorn and his brothers attacked Ella but were beaten back. Asking for peace and wergild, Ivar the Boneless tricked Ella into giving him an area large enough to build the town of York. Ivar made himself popular in England and asked his brothers to attack again... Ella was taken captive and in revenge they carved the blood eagle on him -the victim (always a member of a royal family) was placed prone, the ribs severed from the vertebral column with a sharp implement and the lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings"... Later Bjorn and his brothers 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 Bjorn Ironside took Uppsala and Sweden... When Ragnar died Bjorn Ironside inherited Sweden. He had two sons, Refil and Erik Bjornsson, who became the next king of Sweden.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erik_Bj%C3%B6rnsson Erik Bjornsson was one of the sons of Bjorn Ironside and a semi-legendary king of Sweden of the House of Munso, who would have lived in the late 9th century. One of the few surviving Scandinavian sources that deal with Swedish kings from the time is Hervarar saga: The sons of Bjorn Ironside were Eric and Refil. The latter as a warrior-prince and sea-king. King Eric ruled the Swedish Realm after his father, and lived but a short time. Then Eric the son of Refil succeeded to the Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anund_Uppsale Anund Uppsale a son of Erik Bjornsson of the House of Munso, ruled Sweden together with his brother Bjorn at Haugi -he is called Uppsale because he stayed at Old Upsala, the era's religious center. Rimbert recounts that Anund was driven away from his country. Sometime in the 840s, he returns to Sweden with a large Danish host of 21 longships and 11 of his own (Anund promised them rich plunder in Birka); when they arrived Bjorn was far away. Anund demanded one hundred marks of silver, which was granted. The Danes wanted to make a surprise attack on Birka to burn and plunder it. Anund asked them to draw lots about whether it was the will of the Aesir that Birka should be destroyed. The outcome was that the destruction of Birka would bring bad luck to the Danes. They then asked where to go for plunder and the answer was to go to a Slavic town. The Danes left Birka but returned with rich booty. Anund stayed to seek reconciliation with his people and his son Erik succeeded him on the Swedish throne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Anundsson Erik Anundsson aka Eymundsson (died 882) was a Swedish king who ruled during the 9th century. Eric was the son of king Anund, and he succeeded his father at Uppsala. During his reign, Harald Fairhair came to power in Norway. Harald was the first of his kin to reign as a monarch in Norway... Since the preceding king is confirmed as Anund by other sources, Anundsson is probably the correct form of the patronym... According to Hervarar saga, he was preceded by his father Anund Uppsale and uncle Bjorn at Hauge and he was succeeded by Bjorn (the father of Eric the Victorious and Olof Bjornsson)... Eric and his son Bjorn ruled during the time of the Pope Adrain II and Pope John VIII, i.e. in the period of 867-883, the time of the first settlement of Iceland. Harald Fairhair's saga relates that Erik died when Harald Fairhair had been king of all Norway for ten years, i.e. 882... In the saga of Olaf Haraldsson: My grandfather Thorgny could well remember the Uppsala king Eirik Eymundson, and used to say of him that when he was in his best years he went out every summer on expeditions to different countries, and conquered for himself Finland, Kirjalaland, Courland, Estonia, and the eastern countries all around; and at the present day the earth-bulwarks, ramparts, and other great works which he made are to be seen... In Harald Fairhair's saga, Snorri Sturluson relates that Erik also wanted to extend Sweden westwards and to make a kingdom for himself as large as that of the Swedish king Sigurd Ring and his son Ragnar Lodbrok...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B6rn_Eriksson Bjorn (III) Eriksson, King of Sweden (Reign, 882-932) was the father of Olof (II) Bjornsson and Eric the Victorious; according to the Hervarar saga and Harald Fairhair's saga, he was the son of Erik who fought Harald Fairhair and who succeeded the brothers Bjorn at Hauge and Anund Uppsale: In his days Harold the Fair-haired made himself King of Norway. He was the first to unite the whole of that country under his sway. Eric at Uppsala had a son called Bjorn, who came to the throne after his father and ruled for a long time... In Bjorn's lifetime his kingdom stood in great power, and no kind of want was felt, and he was gay and sociable with his friends. When he died, Olof and Eric were elected to be co-rulers of Sweden... (Bjorn means bear in Swedish)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_the_Victorious Eric the Victorious, King of Sweden (Reign, 970-995). b. ca 945? d. 995, was the first Swedish king about whom anything definite is known. He acquired the name "victorious" because he defeated an invasion from the south in the Battle of Fýrisvellir located close to Uppsala in Sweden ca. 984.
(Illustration) Sjorup Runestone near Ystad, Sweden commemorating a dead son "who did not flee at Uppsala" which has been linked with the Battle of Fyrisvellir a battle for the throne of Sweden between King Eric the Victorious and his nephew Styrbjörn the Strong. Styrbjorn had made himself the ruler of the Jomsvikings but wanted to amass an even greater force in order to take the crown of Sweden, which the Swedish Thing had denied him on his father's death, a death of poisoning of which he suspected his uncle Eric. Styrbjorn's method was to pillage far and wide in the newly created kingdom of Denmark until its king Harald Bluetooth asked for a settlement. Harald gave Styrbjorn his daughter Tyra as his wife and he went away, but then he returned to Denmark with 1000 longships. He forced the Danes to give him 200 ships and whoever among them he saw fit to take with him, including the king himself. He then set sail for Sweden with his armada of longships. When Eric the Victorious learned that the navy had entered Mälaren, he sent the fiery cross (used to rally clan members to arms) in all directions and amassed the leidang at Uppsala. Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker, a friend of Eric, advised him to put stakes in the waterway which led to Uppsala... In order to encourage his men to fight to the death, Styrbjorn set the ships on fire. King Harald Bluetooth, left with the Danish navy... The third day, Eric obeyed Odin's command and a hail of arrows fell over the Jomsvikings... After the victory, King Eric became known as "the Victorious". Runestones are counted as historic documents about the events of the Viking Age in Scandinavia…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olof_Sk%C3%B6tkonung Olof Skotkonung, King of Sweden (Reign, 995-1022). b. 980 d. 1022 son of Eric the Victorious and, according to Icelandic sources, Sigrid the Haughty. In a Viking expedition to Wendland, he had captured Edla, the daughter of a Wendish chieftain, and she gave him the son Emund (who was to become king of Sweden), and the daughter Astrid - later wife of Olaf II of Norway. He later married Estrid of the Obotrites, and she bore him the son Anund Jacob and the daughter Ingegerd Olofsdotter. In 1000, he allied with Sweyn Forkbeard, who was married to his mother, and with the Norwegian Jarls Eric and Sven, against the Norwegian King Olaf Tryggvason. Olaf Tryggvason died in the Battle of Svolder and Olof gained a part of Trøndelag as well as modern Bohuslän. Olof married his daughter Ingergerd-Irene to Yaroslav I the Wise. Olof was baptised in Husaby, probably by the missionary Sigfrid ca. 1008. He was the first Swedish king to remain a Christian until his death. His death is said to have taken place in the winter of 1021-1022. According to a legend he was martyred at Stockholm after refusing to sacrifice to pagan gods. The place of his burial is unverified.
Sons of Ragnar Lodbrok
(Jody Gray) It is stated that the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok are historical figures; they are specifically mentioned by historians as participants in historic events. Bjorn has a separate and earlier history: in 860 Bjorn led a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean. Sons Ivar and Halfdan are both mentioned by name as leaders of the Great Heathen Army.
Chronology. In the autumn of 865, the Great Heathen Army led by Ivar the Boneless invaded the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy (the seven kingdoms East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex). The invasion was organized by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, to wreak revenge against Ella of Northumbria who had supposedly executed Ragnar in 865 by throwing him in a snake pit, but the historicity of this explanation is unknown. They landed in East Anglia, where they remained over the winter and secured horses. The following year the army headed north and invaded Northumbria, which was in the midst of a civil war between Ella and Osberht, opposing claimants for the Northumbrian throne. Ella was not defeated in the first battle; Ivar negotiated for some land and promised never to wage war against Ella. Late in 866 the army conquered the rich Northumbrian settlement of York. The following year (867) Ella and Osberht joined forces to retake the town but were defeated. Ivar devised a strategy in which the Great Heathen Army occupied and sacked York, to provoke Ella into engaging on the Vikings' terms. Under Ivar's plan, the Vikings feigned retreat, leading Ella to underestimate them and become encircled. According to legend, Ella was executed by Ivar and his brothers using the blood eagle, a method of execution whereby the rib-cage is opened from behind and the lungs are pulled out, forming a wing-like shape. With no obvious leader, the Danes installed a puppet-king, Ecgberht, to rule in their name and collect taxes for their army. Later in the year the Army moved south and invaded the kingdom of Mercia, capturing the town of Nottingham, where they spent the winter. King Burgred of Mercia responded by allying with the West Saxon king Ethelred of Wessex, and with a combined force they laid siege to the town. The Anglo-Saxons were unable to recapture the city, but a truce was agreed whereby the Danes would withdraw to York. The Great Heathen Army remained in York for over a year, gathering its strength for further assaults. Ivar and Ubba are identified as the commanders of the Danes when they returned to East Anglia in 869, and as the executioners of the East Anglian king, Edmund the Martyr, for refusing their demand that he renounce Christ. How true the accounts of Edmund's death is unknown... Ivar disappears from the historical record sometime after 870. His ultimate fate is uncertain. A great number of Viking warriors arrived from Scandinavia, led by Bagsecg, bolstering the ranks of Halfdan’s Army and in 870 he led it in an invasion of Wessex. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Danes battled the West Saxons nine times, including the Battle of Ashdown on 1/8/871. However, the West Saxons could not be defeated, and Halfdan accepted a truce from Alfred, newly crowned king of Wessex. The Army retreated to the captured town of London and stayed there over the winter of 871/872. Coins minted in London during this period bear the name Halfdan, identifying him as the leader of the army. In autumn of 872 the Army returned to Northumbria to quell a revolt against Ecgberht, their puppet-king. However, this explanation for the army's move north has been challenged, and it has been suggested the relocation was a result of a war with Mercia. In any case, the Army overwintered at Torksey, and then at Repton a year later. The Army finally conquered Mercia in 874, and their king. Burghred, was deposed and replaced by a puppet, Ceolwulf. Following this victory the Army split in two -one half under Guthrum heading south to continue fighting against Wessex, and one half under Halfdan heading north to fight against the Picts and Britons of Strathclyde. According to the Annals of Ulster, Eystein Olafsson, King of Dublin was "deceitfully" killed in 875 by "Albann", a figure generally agreed to be Halfdan. His brother Ivar had ruled the city prior to his death in 873 and it appears to regain his brother's lost kingdom. Regardless, Halfdan did not remain in Ireland: in 876 he and his forces returned to Northumbria, and settled an area largely coextensive with the old kingdom of Deira, with the northern part of Northumbria remaining under Anglo-Saxon rule. It seems that Halfdan's rule of Dublin was not secure, and he was deposed while away in York. Halfdan returned to Ireland in 877 to try to recapture the city, but he was met with an army of "Fair Heathens" -a contentious term usually considered to mean the Viking population who had been in Ireland the longest, as opposed to the newly arrived "Dark Heathens", of whom Halfdan was one. The forces met at the Battle of Strangford Lough and Halfdan was slain. Those of Halfdan's men who survived the battle returned to Northumbria via Scotland, fighting a battle along the way in which Constantine I, King of the Picts was killed. It seems the Vikings of Northumbria were content to remain kingless until 883, when Guthfrith was made king.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_the_Boneless Ivar the Boneless was a Viking leader and a commander who invaded what is now England. According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, he was the son of Ragnar Lodbrok and Aslaug. The sagas describe him as lacking bones. A genetic condition, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, is known to cause the body to seem 'as if lacking bones' because the body and limbs can bend off beyond the usual joint limitations, and produce other ill effects and degrading functions. It was known by the Ancient Greeks and Romans and reported as common in the British Isles... According to the Tale, Ivar's bonelessness was the result of a curse. His mother was Ragnar's third wife and had powers of sorcery. She said that her husband must wait three nights before consummating their marriage, but he ignored this warning, and the result was that Ivar was born without bones. While the sagas describe Ivar's physical disability, they also emphasize his wisdom, cunning, and mastery of strategy and tactics in battle. Ivar disappears from the historical record sometime after 870. His ultimate fate is uncertain. (refer to Norse Gaels and House of Ivar, at the end of this document)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halfdan_Ragnarsson Halfdan Ragnarsson, King of Northumbria (Reign, 876-877); King of Dublin (disputed) (Reign, 875-877). b. ? d. 877. was a Viking leader and commander of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, starting in 865. According to the tradition recorded in the Norse sagas he was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok (mother, possibly Aslaug). He was slain at the Battle of Strangford in 877.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvitserk Hvitserk "White-Shirt" was one of the sons of the legendary 9th-century Norsemen Ragnar Lodbrok and his wife Aslaugh. He is attested to by the Tale of Ragnar's Sons. After having avenged his father together with his brothers, he went to Gardarike. Hvitserk also pillaged with the Rus. He was, however, opposed by such a large foe that he could not win. When asked about how he wished to die, he decided to be burnt alive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigurd_Snake-in-the-Eye Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye was a Viking warrior in the middle of the 9th Century. He was one of the sons of the legendary Viking, Ragnar Lothbrok. "Snake-in-the-eye" as part of Sigurd's name denoted a physical characteristic. He was born with a mark of the Ouroboros (a snake biting its own tail). The snake mark had been prophesied by his mother Aslaug, the daughter of the Valkyrie Brynhildr. In modern times, it has been suggested that the mark in Sigurd's eye was a result of a congenital mutation of the PAX6 gene. As a boy, Sigurd was close to his father and accompanied Ragnar on a hazardous expedition through Russia to the Hellepont. Later on in life he is said to have sojourned for a time in Scotland and the Scottish Islands. When his father died, Sigurd inherited Zealand, Scania, Halland, the Danish islands, and Viken. He married Blaeja, the daughter of king Ælla of Northumbria and they had four children: Álof Sigurdsdatter, Thora "Tora" Sigurdsdatter, Aslaug Sigurdsdatter, Helgi Sigurdsdatter..
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ubba Ubba was a mid-9th-century Viking chieftain and one of the commanders of the Great Army, a coalition of Norse warriors that in AD 865 invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia and Wessex. (Jody Gray): I'm not including Ubba as one of the sons of Ragnar Lothbrok -Association with Ragnar Lothbrok. Although Ubba and Ivar were associated with each other by Abbo of Fleury and the 11th-century churchman Elfric of Eynsham, they do not record that Ubba and Ivar were related in any way... The only Scandinavian source for Ragnar that refers to Ubba is the Latin Gesta Danorum, composed by Saxo Grammaticus. In this source, Ubba's parents are "Regnerus" and an unnamed daughter of "Hesbernus"...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagertha Lagertha, a Viking shieldmaiden and ruler from what is now Norway, and the onetime wife of the famous Viking Ragnar Lodbrok… Saxo recounts: 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-marvelled at er matchless deeds, for her locks flying down her back betrayed that she was a woman… Ragnar had a son with her, Fridleif, as well as two daughters, whose names are not recorded… After returning to Denmark to fight a civil war, Ragnar divorced Lagertha in order to marry Thora Borgarhjort, daughter of King Herraud of Sweden… 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, according to Saxo… Lagertha saved the day for Ragnar with a counter-attack… Upon returning to Norway, she quarrelled with her 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.” In portraying the several warrior women in these tales, Saxo drew on the legend of the Amazons from classical antiquity, but also on a variety of Old Norse (particularly Icelandic) sources… Like most churchmen of the time, Saxo thought of women only as sexual beings. To him, the Viking shieldmaidens who refused this role were an example of the disorder in old heathen Denmark that was later cured by the Church and a stable monarchy.-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazons Amazons, were a race of women warriors. Scythian women were the real-world basis for the myth.
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| Regions of Scotland, Ireland and Man settled by the Norse (end of the 11th century) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse%E2%80%93Gaels Norse Gaels (“foreigner Gaels”) were a people of mixed Gaelic (originated in Ireland) and Norse ancestry and culture. They emerged in the Viking Age, when Vikings who settled in Ireland and in Scotland adopted Gaelic culture and intermarried with Gaels. The Norse-Gaels dominated much of the Irish Sea and Scottish Sea regions from the 9th and 12th centuries. They founded the Kingdom of the Isles (which included the Hebrides and the Isle of Man), the Kingdom of Dublin, the Lordship of Galloway (which is named after them), and ruled the Kingdom of York for a time. The most powerful Norse-Gaelic dynasty were the Uí Ímair or House of Ivar. Ireland. The Norse are first recorded in Ireland in 795 when they sacked Lambay Island. Sporadic raids then continued until 832, after which they began to build fortified settlements throughout the country. Norse raids continued throughout the 10th century, but resistance to them increased. The Norse established independent kingdoms in Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick. These kingdoms did not survive the subsequent Norman invasions, but the towns continued to grow and prosper.
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| Skuldelev II, a Viking warship built in Dublin (c. 1042). https://en.wikipedia. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U%C3%AD_%C3%8Dmair House of Ivar. The name Uí Ímair in Old Irish means "grandchildren" or descendants of Ivar, but the dynasty includes its progenitor and his sons. The Irish annals describe Ivar as the brother of Amlaíb Conung and of Auisle, and the Annals of Ulster record his obituary under the year 873, reading: Imhar, rex Nordmannorum totius Hibernie & Brittanie, uitam finiuit["Ivar, king of all the Norse of Ireland and Britain, ended his life"]. Probably the senior leader of the Great Heathen Army, Ivar may thus have become the inspiration for the legendary Ivar the Boneless (fl. 865-860), son of Ragnar Lodbrok. In any event, Uí Ímair dynasts may also have exercised power as overkings of East Anglia during their career in Britain.
*Royal Families of Medieval Scandinavia, Flanders, and Kiev by Rupert Alen and Anna Marie Dahlquist [Kings River Publications, Kingsburg, California, 1997]. (doesn’t begin very early in the chronology, thus avoids issues with the legendary kings)
*The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens by Mike Ashley [Carroll & Graf Publishers, Inc., New York, 1998, 1999]. (gives a bare genealogy (table for the Kings of Dublin) that goes from Halfdan to Helgi… skps over information such as that Yrsa was both the daughter and the wife of Halgi, conceiving him with the hero Hrolf Kraki, who is not listed in the genealogy at all)
*Kings & Queens of Europe (genealogical chart), compiled by Anne Tauté [University of North Carolina Press, 1989].
*Kingdoms of Europe, by Gene Gurney [Crown Publishers, New York, 1982].
Notes from the researcher and author of this website: These sources are not consistent, and choices and compromises have been made (for example), neither of the two sets of dates for Ragnar Lodbrok (750-794 or 860-865), King of Denmark and Sweden, works if he is the Viking chief who sacked Paris in 845… there are many versions of the story, and of the names, from different, and of course much later, sources. The dates are entirely conjectural and inconsistent between the sources… we are very far from a real historical picture of these people....
The descent of the earliest kings is reckoned all the way back to Odin (Wotan, Woden). This may be a dimly remembered historical person, but the fact that other Germans, like the Saxons who invaded Britain, also reckoned their descent from Odin may indicate that this is a mythic device and that Odin indeed is understood as the Odin, the king of the gods... These early, mythic kings are the Ynglings, which end in Sweden with Ingjald Illrade. Ingjald is succeeded either by Ivar Vidfamne or Olaf Tretelgia (or Tretelia), who is also said to have fled Sweden and founded the royal line of Norway. Ivar is also reckoned as a king of Denmark, but the coordination between the two lines is not always clear. Much the same can be said for subsequent kings down to Ragnar Lodbrok. Fortunately, the sons of Ragnar are supposed to have divided his inheritance, and this begins to get us on more secure historical ground (which means that the 9th century rather than the 8th century dates for Ragnar are probably more like it). Especially noteworthy is the line of descent that involves rulers of York, the Isle of Man, and Dublin - note that the genealogy shown here is a bit different from that presented in the separate treatment of Dublin. Thus we are well into the period when Viking raiders are spread all over Western Europe, and Eastern as well (Randver Radbartsson is supposed to have been fathered by a Russian, i.e. a Norseman in Russia, a Varangian). This diagram continues with the Swedish kings, who, however, as described by Alen and Dahlquist, do not necessarily continue the same line of descent. This is a little more organized than we get with Denmark, but it may well indicate that kings are ruling simultaneously and that the legendary genealogy is in fact a mythic construction…
Blog Post: Timeline, earliest Dynasties in Europe (687-ca. 987) end of Carolingian Dynasty.
https://gray-piperfamily.blogspot.com/2017/02/timeline-earliest-dynasties-in-europe.html *Quick Links to all Related Blog Posts
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