Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The Great Heathen Army was much larger and aimed to conquer and occupy the four kingdoms of East Anglia, Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex. The name Great Heathen Army is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. The force was led by three of the five sons of the semi-legendary Ragnar Lodbrok, including Halfdan Ragnarsson, Ivar the Boneless and Ubba.
In 865 the Great Heathen Army landed in East Anglia and started the invasion that would lead to the creation of the Danelaw. [5] Led by Ubba and Ivar (who may be the same historical figure as Ímar) the Vikings first took York on 1 November 866. [3] [6] Ivar's apparent motive was to avenge the death of his father, Ragnar Lodbrok. [7]
Ragnar Lodbrok ("Ragnar ... a passage that gives a semi-legendary background to the capture of York by the ... was the leader of the Great Heathen Army from 865 ...
Like Sigurd, he kills a great serpent, and like Gunnar he perishes in a snake pit. The Great Heathen Army is a war of vengeance in reaction to his death by his sons. The legends reached such fame that Ragnar was conflated with the historical king Reginfrid (d. 814) and the feats of this kings and his descendants were attributed to Ragnar.
The Battle of Strangford Lough was fought in 877 between two groups of rival Vikings described by the Irish Annals as the "fair heathens" and the "dark heathens". [nb 1] The Annals of Ulster describe "Albann", a figure usually identified with Halfdan Ragnarsson, a leader of the Great Heathen Army, as king of the "dark heathens", and Cogad Gáedel re Gallaib identifies Bárid mac Ímair, King ...
Halfdan was one of the leaders of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of East Anglia in 865. [2] [3] According to the Norse sagas this invasion was organised by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok (Halfdan being one of them), to wreak revenge against Ælla of Northumbria. Ælla had supposedly had Ragnar executed in 865 by ...
The Great Heathen Army remained in York for over a year, gathering its strength for further assaults. [11] 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. [12]
Alfred the Great had spent the winter preceding the Battle of Edington in the Somerset marsh of Athelney, protected somewhat by the natural defences of the country. [10] In the spring of 878, he summoned his West Saxon forces and marched to Edington, where he met the Danes, led by Guthrum, in battle.