Ragnar Lothbrok (Old Norse Ragnarr Loðbrók, also anglicised as Ragnar Lodbrok), whose epithet means 'Hairy-breeches' or 'Shaggy-breeches', was a legendary Viking king, with Old Norse sagas, poetry, and medieval Latin sources telling of his accomplishments in Scandinavia, Francia, and Anglo-Saxon England during the 9th century CE. Commonly occurring elements in these stories are his marriages to Thora and Aslaug, as well as his fathering of many famous sons including Ivar the Boneless, Bjorn Ironside, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, Hvitserk, and Ubba. A possible third wife, Lagertha, only appears in the 13th-century CE Gesta Danorum, a work on Danish history, as does a fourth, Swanloga.
More about: Ragnar LothbrokDefinition
Timeline
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c. 790 - c. 1100The Viking Age.
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845Viking Siege of Paris, in which a Viking force led by one Reginherus (sometimes equated with the legendary Ragnar Lothbrok) sacks Paris but withdraws after being paid off by the Frankish King Charles the Bald.
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845Viking chief Ragnar Lothbrok raids Paris.
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865The Great Viking Army invades the Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms of England.
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867King Ælla of Northumbria dies in battle with Viking forces at York (as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).
