Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar Lodbrok was a Viking raider who lived in the early 800s AD. Norse sagas state that Lodbrok was briefly declared king of much of Denmark and Sweden, and claimed to be descended from Odin himself. Ragnar made himself well known and feared in civil wars in Denmark, and by raiding France. Lodbrok first raided France in the 845 with a fleet of 120 ships and an army of 5000 men. Lodbrok took advantage of the shallow draft of the Viking longship, using rivers as transport corridors and avoiding conflict with Frankish heavy cavalry. Ragnar's Vikings attacked a number of cities in northwestern France, including Rouen and Carolivenna. Ragnar then raided the Abbey of St. Denis, driving the soldiers guarding the Abbey to flee their posts by executing prisoners in front of them. Ragnar then sailed up the Seine to Paris, where he held the city for ransom, and received 7000 pounds of silver in exchange for sparing the city. Ragnar died soon after, however, when he was shipwrecked on the coast of England and taken captive by King Aelle of Northumbria. Aelle ordered Ragnar executed, according to legend by being thrown into a pit filled with venomous snakes. Aelle, however, would pay dearly for the execution of Ragnar. Ragnar's sons, Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson, and Ubbe Ragnarson, led an invasion of England known as the Great Heathen Army. The Great Heathen Army took the city of York, and captured Aelle, executing him a particularly brutal manner known as the "Blood Eagle", which consisted of cutting open the victim's chest and tearing out his lungs, positioning them in a manner that resembled the wings of an eagle. Ragnar's raids in France also left the legacy of a number of Vikings who settled in the area, becoming known as the Normans, whose greatest claim to fame would come 200 years later with the conquest of England by William the Conqueror in 1066.