Ivar The Boneless - Scandinavian Sources

Scandinavian Sources

According to the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, Ivar Boneless was the eldest son of Ragnar and Aslaug. It is said he was fair, big, strong, and one of the wisest men who has ever lived. He was consequently the advisor of his brothers Björn Ironside, Ubbe, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Hvitserk.

The story has it that when king Ælla of Northumbria had murdered their father, by throwing him into a snake-pit, Ivar's brothers tried to avenge their father, but were beaten. Ivar then went to king Ælla and said that he sought reconciliation. He only asked for as much land as he could cover with an ox's hide and swore never to wage war against Ælla. Then Ivar cut the ox's hide into so fine strands that he could envelope a large fortress (in an older saga it was York and according to a younger saga it was London) which he could take as his own. (Compare the similar legendary ploy of Dido.)

As Ivar was the most generous of men, he attracted a great many warriors, whom he subsequently kept from Ælla when this king was attacked by Ivar's brothers for the second time.

Ælla was captured and, when the brothers were to decide how to give Ælla his just punishment, Ivar suggested that they carve the "blood eagle" on his back. According to popular belief, this meant that Ælla's back was cut open, the ribs pulled from his spine, and his lungs pulled out to form 'wings'.

In Ragnar Lodbrok's saga, there is an interesting prequel to the Battle of Hastings: it is told that before Ivar died in England, he ordered that his body be buried in a mound on the English Shore, saying that so long as his bones guarded that section of the coast, no enemy could invade there successfully. This prophecy held true, says the saga, until "when Vilhjalm bastard (William the Conqueror) came ashore he went and broke Ivar's mound and saw that body had not decayed. Then had a large pyre made burned... Thereupon, the victory."