Editing Ragnar Lodbrok (section)

=== Icelandic sagas ===
[[File:Bronsplåt 4 fr Torslunda sn, Öland (Stjerna, Hjälmar och svärd i Beovulf (1903) sid 103).jpg|thumb|200px|A warrior with shaggy breeches, killing a beast, on one of the [[Torslunda plates]]. The man has been identified with Ragnar Lodbrok in an early Swedish version of the legend ([[Henrik Schück|Schück]]). More recently, it has been interpreted as showing a Germanic initiation ritual in which shaggy trousers played a role and which may subsequently have contributed to the legend of Ragnar Lodbrok.<ref>McTurk (1991) ''Studies in 'Ragnar's Saga Lodbrokar' and Its Major Scandinavian Analogues''. Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages Lit. p. 10, 15, 36, 37</ref>]]
According to the ''[[Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok]]'', ''[[Tale of Ragnar's Sons]]'', ''[[Heimskringla]]'', ''[[Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks]]'', ''[[Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum]]'', and many other Icelandic sources, Ragnar was the son of the king of Sweden [[Sigurd Ring]]. Nearly all of the [[Sagas of Icelanders|sagas]] agree that the Danish king [[Randver]] was Sigurd's father, with the ''Hervarar saga'' citing his wife as Åsa, the daughter of King [[Harald Granraude|Harald of the Red Moustache]] from Norway. The accounts further tell that Randver was a grandson of the legendary Scandinavian king [[Ivar Vidfamne]] by his daughter Aud (whom the ''[[Hervarar saga]]'' calls Alfhild).<ref>{{cite journal|editor1=Tolkien, Christopher|editor2=Turville-Petre, G.|date=1956|title=Hervarar Saga ok Heidreks|location=London|journal=Viking Society for Northern Research|pages=68–9|url=http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Hervarar%20saga%20ok%20heidreks.pdf|access-date=20 October 2019|archive-date=1 August 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190801054322/http://www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk/Text%20Series/Hervarar%20saga%20ok%20heidreks.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> After the death of King Ivar Vidfamne, Aud's eldest son by the Danish king [[Hrœrekr Ringslinger]], Harald, conquered all of his grandfather's territory and became known as [[Harald Wartooth]]. Harald's nephew Sigurd Ring became the chief king of Sweden after Randver's death (Denmark according to the ''Hervarar saga''), presumably as the subking of Harald. Sigurd and Harald fought the [[Battle of the Brávellir]] ([[Bråvalla]]) on the plains of [[Östergötland]], where Harald and many of his men died. Sigurd then ruled Sweden and Denmark (being sometimes identified with a Danish king [[Sigfred]] who ruled from about 770 until his death prior to 804). He sired a son with the princess Alfhild of the petty kingdom of [[Álfheimr (region)|Álfheimr]], Ragnar Lodbrok, who succeeded him.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Fragment.htm| title = ''Sögubrot'', Chapter 10| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100908081803/http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Fragment.htm| archive-date = 8 September 2010}}</ref> [[Eysteinn Beli]], who according to the ''Hervarar Saga'' was Harald Wartooth's son, ruled Sweden sometime after Sigurd until he was slain by the sons of Ragnar and [[Aslaug]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.germanicmythology.com/FORNALDARSAGAS/ThattrRagnarsSonar.html| title = ''The Tale of Ragnar's Sons'', Chapter 2| website = Germanicmythology.com| access-date = 20 October 2019| archive-date = 22 September 2013| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130922060849/http://www.germanicmythology.com/FORNALDARSAGAS/ThattrRagnarsSonar.html| url-status = live}}</ref>

In their accounts of his reign, the ''[[fornaldarsǫgur]]'' (Legendary sagas, or sagas of Scandinavian prehistory),<ref>{{cite web|url=https://fasnl.ku.dk/|title=Stories for all time: The Icelandic fornaldarsögur|website=Fasnl.ku.dk|access-date=28 February 2022|archive-date=23 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223230833/https://fasnl.ku.dk/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312033326| title = ''fornaldarsögur'', chapter 25|website=Researchgate.net}}</ref> tell more about Ragnar's marriages than about feats of warfare. In the [https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/lmu/detail.action?docID=4939445 Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok],<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Crawford |first=Jackson |title=The Saga of the Volsungs: With the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok |date=2017 |publisher=Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated |isbn=978-1-62466-635-3 |location=Cambridge}}</ref> Ragnar is introduced by introducing his alleged father who was Sigurd Ring that according to the Saga, ruled over Denmark. In the Saga, Ragnar is Introduced as a big man, handsome and well-provided with wisdom. He was good to his men and cruel to his enemies. Ragnar's first account in the saga was to assemble an army, a fleet of ships, becoming a great warrior and slaying a dragon in the Norse lands of Götaland.

According to the ''Sögubrot'', "he was the biggest and fairest of men that human eyes have seen, and he was like his mother in appearance and took after her kin".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Fragment.htm| title = '' Sögubrot'', Chapter 10| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100908081803/http://www.oe.eclipse.co.uk/nom/Fragment.htm| archive-date = 8 September 2010}}</ref> He first killed a giant snake that guarded the abode of the [[Geats|Geatish]] jarl [[Herrauðr|Herrauð]]'s daughter [[Thora Borgarhjort]], thereby winning her as his wife. The unusual protective clothes that Ragnar wore when attacking the serpent earned him the nickname Lodbrok.{{efn|name=epithet}} His sons with Thora were [[Erik Weatherhat|Erik]] and Agnar. After Thora died, he discovered [[Aslaug|Kráka]], a woman of outstanding beauty and wisdom living with a poor peasant couple in Norway, and married her. This marriage resulted in the sons [[Ivar the Boneless]], [[Björn Ironside]], [[Hvitserk]], [[Ragnvald Heidumhære|Ragnvald]], and [[Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye]].<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/ragnar.htm| title = ''Ragnars Saga Lodbrokar'', Chapters 4 and 7| access-date = 25 October 2019| archive-date = 25 October 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191025164341/https://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/ragnar.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> Kráka was later revealed to actually be Aslaug, a secret daughter of the renowned hero [[Sigurd|Sigurd Fafnesbane]]. As the sons grew up to become renowned warriors, Ragnar, not wishing to be outdone, resolved to conquer England with merely two ships. He was, however, defeated by superior [[Northumbria]]n forces and was thrown into a [[snake pit]] to die.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Frank | first=Roberta | title=Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle | journal=The English Historical Review | volume=XCIX | issue=CCCXCI | date=1 April 1984 | issn=0013-8266 | doi=10.1093/ehr/XCIX.CCCXCI.332 | pages=332–343 | url=https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/XCIX/CCCXCI/332/389819 | access-date=16 September 2019| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/ragnar.htm| title = ''Ragnars Saga Lodbrokar'', Chapter 15| access-date = 25 October 2019| archive-date = 25 October 2019| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191025164341/https://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/ragnar.htm| url-status = live}}</ref> The ''Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok'', ''Tale of Ragnar's Sons'', and ''Heimskringla'' all tell of the [[Great Heathen Army]] that invaded England at around 866, led by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok to wreak revenge against King [[Ælla of Northumbria]] who is told to have captured and executed Ragnar.