Ragnar Lodbrok,[a] 

according to legends,[2] was a Viking hero and a Danish and Swedish king.[3] He

is known from Old Norse poetry of the Viking Age, Icelandic sagas, and near-contemporary
chronicles. According to the traditional literature, Ragnar distinguished himself by conducting many
raids against the British Isles and the Holy Roman Empire during the 9th century. He also appears
in Norse legends, and according to the legendary sagas Tale of Ragnar's Sons and a Saga about
Certain Ancient Kings, Ragnar Lodbrok's father has been given as the legendary king of
the Swedes, Sigurd Ring.[4][5] According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, Tale of Ragnar's
Sons, Heimskringla, Hervarar saga ok Heiðreks, Sögubrot af nokkrum fornkonungum, and many
other Icelandic sources, Ragnar was the son of the king of Sweden Sigurd Ring. Nearly all of the
sagas agree that the Danish king Randver was Sigurd's father, with the Hervarar saga citing his wife
as Åsa, the daughter of King Harald of the Red Moustache from Norway. The accounts further tell
that Randver was a grandson of the legendary Scandinavian king Ivar Vidfamne by his daughter Aud
(whom the Hervarar saga calls Alfhild).[7] After the death of king Ivar Vidfamne, Aud's eldest son by
the Danish king Hrœrekr Ringslinger, Harald, conquered all of his grandfather's territory and became
known as Harald Wartooth. Harald's nephew Sigurd Ring became the chief king of Sweden after
Randver's death (Denmark according to Hervarar saga), presumably as the subking of Harald.
Sigurd and Harald fought the Battle of the Brávellir (Bråvalla) on the plains of Östergötland, where
Harald and many of his men died. Sigurd then ruled Sweden and Denmark (being sometimes
identified with a Danish king Sigfred who ruled from about 770 until his death prior to 804). He sired
a son with the princess Alfhild of the petty kingdom of Álfheimr, Ragnar Lodbrok, who succeeded
him.[8] Eysteinn Beli, who according to the Hervarar Saga was Harald Wartooth's son, ruled Sweden
sometime after Sigurd until he was slain by the sons of Ragnar and Aslaug.[9]
In their accounts of his reign, the Sagas of Scandinavian Prehistory, known as fornaldarsǫgur,[10]
[11]
 tell more about Ragnar's marriages than about feats of warfare. According to the Sögubrot, "he
was the biggest and fairest of men that human eyes have seen, and he was like his mother in
appearance and took after her kin".[12] He first killed a giant snake that guarded the abode of
the Geatish jarl Herrauð's daughter Thora Borgarhjort, thereby winning her as his wife. The unusual
protective clothes that Ragnar wore, when attacking the serpent, earned him the nickname Lodbrok.
[a]
 His sons with Thora were Erik and Agnar. After Thora died, he discovered Kráka, a woman of
outstanding beauty and wisdom living with a poor peasant couple in Norway, and married her. This
marriage resulted in the sons Ivar the Boneless, Björn Ironside, Hvitserk, Ragnvald and Sigurd
Snake-in-the-Eye.[13] Kráka was later revealed to actually be Aslaug, a secret daughter of the
renowned hero Sigurd Fafnesbane. As the sons grew up to become renowned warriors, Ragnar, not
wishing to be outdone, resolved to conquer England with merely two ships. He was however
defeated by superior English forces and was thrown into a snake pit to die in agony.[14] The Saga of
Ragnar Lodbrok, Tale of Ragnar's Sons, and Heimskringla all tell of the Great Heathen Army that
invaded England at around 866, led by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok to wreak revenge against
King Ælla of Northumbria who is told to have captured and executed Ragnar.