Ivar the Boneless
Björn Ironside's brotherWikipedia
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Search complete. 21 mentions across 10 episodes found for "Ivar the Boneless".
Sep 14, 2026
OllieHOST
Later Norse tradition remembered him as a legendary son of Ragnar Lothbrok.
OllieHOST
and a brother to Ivar the Boneless, Abba, Bjorn Ironside, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
OllieHOST
Some accounts have also linked him to a ruler who shared dominion in Denmark, perhaps over the windswept lands of Jutland.
OllieHOST
In the year 865, the great heathen army descended upon England.
OllieHOST
Again and again, the Vikings descended upon Wessex, driving the last unconquered Anglo-Saxon kingdom toward the edge of destruction.
OllieHOST
After years of conquest, the great army divided.
OllieHOST
Ivar the Boneless went north, Guthrum led his followers south, while Halfdan returned beyond the Humber.
OllieHOST
He campaigned against the Picts and the Britons of Strathclyde, carrying his wars into the northern reaches of Britain, before returning at last to Northumbria, the kingdom he had helped shatter.
LynnaeHOST
The Icelandic tradition claims she was actually the mother of his famous children.
LynnaeHOST
Together, they spawned a dynasty of terrifying warlords: Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Hvitserk, and Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye.
LynnaeHOST
Other traditions throw Halfdan and Ubba into the mix.
LynnaeHOST
It's a thrilling family tree packed with competing wives, dragons, magic, and impossible victories, but there's a catch.
LynnaeHOST
If Ragnar Lothbrok is entirely woven from myth, his supposed sons were terrifyingly real The European chroniclers didn't view them as characters in a saga.
LynnaeHOST
They viewed them as natural disasters.
LynnaeHOST
[laughs] The sagas claim Ivar the Boneless was born with cartilage instead of bone, the result of a curse because Ragnar ignored Aslaug's warning on their wedding night.
LynnaeHOST
Stories describe him being carried into battle on a shield, wielding a bow with superhuman strength.
Juan NaulaNARRATOR
His elder brothers, Hallad, Einarr, and Hrollaug, were born out of wedlock to concubines and were already grown up by the time that the younger legitimate sons were born.
Juan NaulaNARRATOR
The younger sons were Ivar, Hrolfr, thought to be Rollo, and Thorir the Silent.
Juan NaulaNARRATOR
It is the Norse sagas that identify Hrolfr as Rollo, though these sagas are slightly problematic sources, as they were written well after Rollo's death and generally favored the sensational over the factual.
Juan NaulaNARRATOR
The Norse sagas often sought to draw connections between famous people and bolster dubious familial claims rather than note genuine family relations and histories.
speaker_3NARRATOR
Now let's talk about some of the most famous Vikings by name.
speaker_3NARRATOR
There was Ivar the Boneless, a legendary Viking warrior whose skeleton shows that he suffered from a bone disorder, possibly a form of arthritis, but who nevertheless became a fearsome fighter and strategist.
speaker_3NARRATOR
There was Ragnar Lothbrok, whose existence is debated by historians, but who appears in numerous sagas and legends as a great warrior and explorer.
speaker_3NARRATOR
There was Floki Vilgardsson, who is credited with discovering Iceland, something he accomplished by following the flight patterns of ravens.
Gary MannersHOST
A later artistic imagining of a Viking raid by Ferdinand Leake.
Gary MannersHOST
Public domain The earliest accounts call the slain leader a brother of Ivar the Boneless and Halfdan Ragnarsson, but do not name him Ub.
Gary MannersHOST
That identification appears in Geoffrey Gamer's 12th-century L'Estoire des Inglés, which places his death in Penwood.
Gary MannersHOST
Gamer also says the Danes raised a great mound called Ubola over him in Devonshire.