Editing Ragnar Lodbrok (section)

=== Poetic and epigraphic sources ===
While the narrative Norse sources date from the 12th and 13th centuries, there are also many older poems that mention him and his kin. The ''[[Ragnarsdrápa]]'', ostensibly composed by [[Bragi Boddason]] in the 9th century, praises a Ragnar, son of Sigurd, for a richly decorated shield that the poet has received. The shield depicts the assault on [[Ermanaric|Jörmunrek]], the [[Hjaðningavíg]] tale, the ploughing of [[Gefjon]], and [[Thor]]'s struggle with the [[Midgard Serpent]]. Recent scholarship has suggested that the poem is in fact from c. 1000 and celebrates the Norse reconquest of England. The four tales depicted on the shield would then symbolize four aspects of the Lodbrok saga (the initial defeat of the sons of Lodbrok in England due to recklessness, Ivar the Boneless's deceitful approach to King Ælla, Ivar's cunning snatching of land from Ælla, Ragnar's struggle against the giant serpent in order to win Thora).<ref>"Ragnarsdrápa", ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde'', Vol. 24, p. 115.</ref> The ''Knutsdrapa'' of [[Sigvat Thordarson]] (c. 1038) mentions the death of Ælla at the hands of Ivar in [[York]], who "carved the eagle on Ælla's back".<ref>Smyth (1977), p. 193–4.</ref> From this, the story of the atrocious revenge of Lodbrok's sons already seems to be present. The reference to a "[[blood eagle]]" punishment has, however, been much debated by modern scholars.<ref name="auto2">{{cite web|url=http://www.dur.ac.uk/medieval.www/sagaconf/mcturk.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080926171200/http://www.dur.ac.uk/medieval.www/sagaconf/mcturk.htm|archivedate=26 September 2008|title=Kings and kingship in Viking Northumbria|date=26 September 2008|access-date=28 February 2022}}</ref> Another lay, ''[[Krakumal]]'', put in the mouth of the dying Ragnar in the snake pit, recounts the exploits of Ragnar and mentions battles over a wide geographical area, several relating to the British Isles. The poem's name, "Kráka's lay", alludes to Ragnar's wife's [[Aslaug|Kráka]],<ref>"Krákumál", ''Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde'', Vol. 17 (2001), p. 299-300.</ref> though modern philologists commonly date it to the 12th century in its present form.<ref>Smyth (1977), p. 73-80.</ref>

The poem the ''Lay of Kraka'' or ''[[Krákumál|Krakumal]]''<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |last=Marius |date=24 July 2024 |title=Krákumál {{!}} The Lay of Kraka - A Tale of Slaughter |url=https://vikingr.org/old-norse-texts/krakumal?srsltid=AfmBOooEwf_gA_JIfOfzxDk1gxg4RuGGXVzlQntnwPQut3YeuIQz_DGt |access-date=12 December 2024 |website=Vikingr |language=en-US}}</ref> tells the last words of Ragnar Lothbrok during his execution by King Aellla of the Kingdom of Northumbria. In the poem Ragnar makes its usual mentions of different Norse divinities and magical elements such as Valhalla as in the end of the poem Ragnar says:

{{poem quote|We hewed with the brand!
Full gladly do I go! See the Valkyrjar fresh from Odin's halls!
High-seated among heroes shall I quaff the yellow-mead.
The Aesir welcome me. Laughing gladly do I die!}}

There is one runic inscription mentioning Lodbrok, carved on the prehistorical tumulus of [[Maeshowe]] on Orkney in the early 12th century. It reads: "This howe was built a long time before Lodbrok's. Her sons, they were bold; scarcely ever were there such tall men of their hands".<ref>Smyth (1977), p. 81.</ref> The expression "her sons" has given rise to the theory that Lodbrok was originally thought of as a woman,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Gustav Storm|date=1877|title=Ragnar Lodbrok og Lodbrokssønnerne; studie i dansk oldhistorie og nordisk sagnhistorie|journal=Historisk Tidskrift|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044105191639;view=1up;seq=419|access-date=25 October 2019|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027052454/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044105191639;view=1up;seq=419|url-status=live}}</ref> mother of the historically known sons.<ref name="auto2"/>