Ragnar Lothbrok is the most famous Viking who may never have existed. Medieval sagas make him a 9th-century Danish king and sea-raider; the best-known version, the Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok, was written in the 13th century, roughly 400 years after the events it describes, partly to give Scandinavian royal families a glorious ancestor. Historians still argue whether he was one real man, a blend of several (a raider named Reginherus attacked Paris in 845), or pure invention. That mix of history and legend made perfect raw material for the History Channel series “Vikings,” which brought Ragnar and his sons to a new generation of fans.
His nickname, Lothbrok, means ‘hairy breeches’. The story behind the pants comes first, and then how the legend says he died.
Ragnar Lothbrok’s Hairy Breeches
“Lothbrok” (also spelled Lodbrok; Old Norse loðbrók) means ‘shaggy breeches’ or ‘hairy pants.’ According to the saga, young Ragnar made them to fight a giant serpent guarding the beautiful Thora: fur pants and cloak boiled in pitch and rolled in sand, so the serpent’s venom couldn’t bite through. (Norse serpents and dragons are a story of their own; see Vikings and Dragons.) Real Norse weavers could make a shaggy cloth by knotting extra tufts of wool into the weave (the Old Norse word is rögg), so furry-looking pants weren’t pure fantasy. Still, it helps to be a king, and a serpent-slayer, if you plan to wear them in public.
Ragnar Lothbrok Meets His End
The Saga of Ragnar Lothbrok says Ragnar vowed to conquer England with only two ships, a bold plan even by Viking standards. King Ælla of Northumbria, who ruled from about 862 to 867, captured him and had him thrown into a pit of snakes. His sons took their revenge: in 867 a great Viking army took York, and Ælla was killed. That army, and the raids that began at Lindisfarne some seventy years earlier, sit on our Viking Timeline.
Who Was Ragnar Lothbrok?
The sagas give Ragnar two or three wives and a clutch of famous sons, including Ivar the Boneless and Bjorn Ironside. Perhaps he was one man; perhaps several were rolled into one legend. As with many Viking mysteries, we may never know, but we can enjoy the story all the same. (How Vikings earned nicknames like Lothbrok and Ironside is the subject of How Did Vikings Get Their Names?)
Keep reading: How Do We Know? Vikings in Writing · Did Viking Berserkers Exist?
Sources
- Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings by Neil Price (2020).
- World History Encyclopedia, Ragnar Lothbrok
- Encyclopedia Britannica, Ragnar Lothbrok
- Jackson Crawford on YouTube, Who was Ragnar Lothbrok?
