General Notes

The celebrated and heroic warrior Ragnar, so called because he always wore in battle a pair of enchanted breeches, made of a bear skin with the hair outwards. King Reymer Lodbrok having invaded England in 794, was taken prisoner by Aella, King of Northumberland, who put him to death in a most cruel manner, he being thrown into a pit hole full of adders, which stung him to death. When news of his death reached Denmark his five valiant sons were furious. When being told that their father had said, "How the young cubs would rage when they learned of the old bear's fate," they vowed instant revenge. An expedition led by eight crowned heads invaded England. In a battle at York the Anglo-Saxons were entirely routed and King Aella was made prisoner and subjected to the most barbarous treatment. The sons of Lodbrok ordered an eagle to be cut on the fleshy part of his back, the ribs were severed from the spine and the heart and lungs extracted. After this victory Northumbria appears no longer as a Saxon kingdom. Ivor was made King of Northumbria and Danish merchants and people flocked to England. Bjorn, another brother, was made King of Sweden. Gotefrid became King of Jutland. Another son, Sigurd, called the Snake Eye, inherited the Danish crown.