page_title: Ivar the Boneless
section_title: Chronology
hierarchical_section_title: Ivar the Boneless / Chronology
caption_attribution_description: English: Excerpt from folio 47v of Harley MS 2278. The scene depicts Hinguar and Hubba setting out to avenge their father, Lothbrok.
context_page_description: Ivar the Boneless, also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a Viking leader who invaded Anglo-Saxon England. According to Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, he was the youngest son of Ragnar Loðbrok and his wife Aslaug. His brothers included Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye and Ubba.
  The origin of the nickname is not certain. "Ívarr beinlausi" could be translated to "Ivar legless", but "beinlausi" could also be translated as "boneless", since "bone" and "leg" translates to the same word, "ben", in Danish. Several of the sagas describe him as lacking legs/bones, while a passage in Ragnarssona þáttr suggest it refers to male impotence with Ivar's "Bonelessness" being merely figurative.
  According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, Ivar's bonelessness was the result of a curse. His mother Aslaug was Ragnar's third wife. She was described as a völva, a type of seer or clairvoyant. She said that she and her husband must wait three nights before consummating their marriage after his return following a long separation. However, Ragnar was overcome with lust after such a long separation and did not heed her words. As a result, Ivar was born with weak bones.
context_section_description: 865 the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar, invades the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. The Heptarchy was the collective name for the seven kingdoms East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex. The invasion was organised by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok, to wreak revenge against Ælla of Northumbria who had supposedly executed Ragnar in 865 by throwing him in a snake pit, but the historicity of this explanation is unknown. According to the saga, Ivar did not overcome Ælla and sought reconciliation. He asked for only 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 such fine strands that he could envelop 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.)
  Late the next year, the army turned north and invaded Northumbria, eventually capturing Ælla at York in 867. According to legend, Ælla was executed by Ivar and his brothers using the blood eagle, a ritual method of execution of debated historicity whereby the ribcage is opened from behind and the lungs are pulled out, forming a wing-like shape. Later in the year, the Army moved south and invaded the kingdom of Mercia, capturing the town of Nottingham, where they spent the winter. King Burgred of Mercia responded by allying with the West Saxon king Æthelred of Wessex, and with a combined force they laid siege to the town. The Anglo-Saxons were unable to recapture the city, but a truce was agreed whereby the Danes would withdraw to York. The Great Heathen Army remained in York for over a year, gathering its strength for further assaults.
  Ivar and Ubba are identified as the commanders of the Danes when they returned to East Anglia in 869, and as the executioners of the East Anglian king, Edmund the Martyr, for refusing their demand that he renounce Christ. How true the accounts are of Edmund's death is unknown, but it has been suggested that his capture and execution is not an unlikely thing to have happened.
  Ivar disappears from the historical record sometime after 870. His ultimate fate is uncertain.
caption: A depiction of Ívarr and Ubba setting forth to avenge their father, Loðbrók, as it appears on folio 47v of British Library Harley 2278.
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