The Real Ivar The Boneless // Vikings Documentary

this is Dumbarton rock not too far away from the industrial powerhouse of Glasgow once a giant of the shipping industry during the heyday of the British Empire huge vessels from the Titanic to world war ii destroy us once regularly came up these waters on the Western Isles of Scotland into the Firth of Clyde the deepest of Britain's coastal seas today since the decline of the shipping industry this is one of the most deprived areas in the UK though peripheral now it hasn't always been that way in pre-modern times Dumbarton has always been an especially sought-after strategic location an impressive fortress guarding the entrance to the river Levitt where the salt water of the western sea ways meets the crystal-clear runoff from Loch Lomond to the north it is a commanding position probably the best naturally occurring one in all of Britain for on the very edge of the coastal spit is an extinct volcano untold eons ago this peak then unfathomably taller than it is now spat its last dying breath entering a new life as a ready-made fortress for an early British Kingdom there's still a castle here today the oldest in all of Scotland [Music] to say this place is ancient would be an understatement its history stretches far back before the written word into the dark mists of the inh and before later it was the site of a Roman settlement perhaps a fortress of the long-lost province of Valencia on the very edge of the world but when Rome fell is when our history begins for then sometime in the murky fifth century as barbarian empires and mercenary Kings took hold of the continents this place emerges into the written record as a pirate fortress a stronghold for a warlike British Kingdom soon to be one of the greatest of all our first reference in the written record comes from st. Patrick the patron saint of Ireland in a letter chiding a certain king carracticus then engaged in enslaving recently Christian iced Irishmen for sale to pagan man in legend - this is a storied place said to have been visited by the likes of Merlin and King Arthur and spoken of by Gil das and Nennius archaeology tells us that this was an especially rich place the elites here enjoyed access to goods from all over the Mediterranean with material items originating all the way on the other side of Europe in Constantinople but the culture here was a uniquely British one speaking the breath onok language of their ancestors finally by the early 7th century when the Irish annals of Ulster record the death of King Guerette the king of Clyde Rock a much more literary period takes hold of Britain assuring in a lengthy 200 year period for the Citadel as one of the foremost powers of Britain as powerful as most other kingdoms in its day and arguably the wand with the most owner saleable fortress by the 9th century the area around old Clute as Dumbarton rock was then known was an especially varied place not just Britons lived on these coasts but Irishmen picked Scots and English to the sea was a highway in those days connecting Islands rivers people but it also brought death for in the 9th century a new group had arrived in the region in 870 Vikings came to Dumbarton Rock sailing up the Clyde on a huge fleet of dragon headed long ships the fortress was put to siege yet King art gal's people had weathered sieges before many times in facts pics or gallery items from the north had ridden down to try and put this place to the sword not to mention the old enemy of the Anglian from the south all had failed yet none of them had had the determination or the resources of these newcomers both the Irish and Welsh annals relates what happened next after four months and a valiant last stand the water supply on the top of the Citadel ran dry and the garrison having no other choice surrendered the siege of four months was unprecedented at this time and whilst Dumbarton Rock remained impregnable the Vikings simply had the resources to wait them out far from simple raiding this had been a determined political move boarding the 200 Dragon ships of the Norse fleet to enter a new life of slavery in the markets of Dublin the Britons of Dumbarton Rock could not deny it anymore a new power that arisen on the Irish Sea and it was now completely unstoppable this wasn't just plunder the Viking rulers of the attack had sought to destroy British power in the North taking it for themselves according to the Irish sources it wasn't just Britons either but a great prey of English and picked stew suggesting a long campaign art gal the king of old Clute may have been amongst the prisoners along with his family in the next year he died perhaps in captivity in Dublin his son rune survived setting up a new kingdom further inland at Govan away from Seabourn attack yet the region would never be the same again in time taking on Scandinavian aspects it's mighty stronghold ruined and smoldering on the horizon many of its people killed or enslaved a somewhat fanciful later account also talks of the death of another king suggesting that many people have been taking refuge of the fortress male gula an Irish king of Kaiser his back broken on a stone the perpetrator was a man who'd already killed two anointed kings in the previous two years known in the Irish sources as Eamon he is more widely known as Ivar the boneless called by Adam of Bremen the most gruesome of all the Danish kings who ravaged Frankia a man who killed Christians by torture wherever he went he'd already destroyed two ancient and revered kingdoms in Britain and now he's done a third [Music] ivar the boneless had more of an impact on British history than most individuals his life in the English sources alone would make this true but if indeed he is the same figure as Imam it makes him all the more extraordinary he was probably the most successful Viking in history his descendants major players for centuries famous in saga and now on television let's find out the real history behind the myth this episode of history time is sponsored by curiosity stream a subscription-based streaming service that offers thousands of documentaries and nonfiction titles from some of the world's best filmmakers including exclusive originals who can't find anywhere else the world's first streaming service dedicated entirely to learning with categories including history science nature technology society and lifestyle just like other streaming services you can watch curiosity stream on all of your devices and best of all you can get access to all of it for just $2.99 that I've honestly been spoiled for choice recently I've been watching storm over Europe a four-part series charting the history of the Germanic peoples who inherited Europe from the Roman Empire as well as loads of other great history documentaries on Rome ancient history and more head on over to curiosity Stream comm forward slash history time for unlimited access to the world's top documentaries and nonfiction titles and get 30 days free there are links to everything in the description below now back to Vikings [Music] the tale of Ragnar lothbrok and his sons is one of the great stories of the Viking Age for more than a thousand years it has captivated audiences from medieval mead halls to Victorian high society to 21st century TV drama every few decades it seems to gain new life by being told and retold again like Beowulf solidifying its place in the great tales of early medieval literature of course like any great tale Ragnar saga grew in the telling probably like the slightly earlier our Thorian legends and Homer's Odyssey two thousand years before absorbing other stories into itself as it was told and retold down the ages Ragnar's death in ælis Snakepit for example is clearly modeled on an earlier legend of granado's death in King at least Snakepit and likewise his descent from the legendary King Sigurd could easily have been bolted on much like later Kings claimed their own descent from Ragnar it may well be that since Ragnar story was so giant over Vikings such as Bjorn Ironside simply ended up being pulled into orbit by its gravity much like the great Greek heroes of old ended up being pulled into the Odyssey and the Iliad but at the heart of it is there any truth to the tale the telling of stories has always been an important part of life for the Germanic peoples of northern Europe Ragnar is but one story in a long tradition of skaldic poetry dating well back into the murky past of the migration period and earlier stories we only have brief hints off such as the Finn's burg fragment and Beowulf perhaps hundreds of years in the telling before being written down originally part of an oral tradition for Scandinavians these stories only began to be written down in the late 12th and early 13th centuries in Iceland by writers such as Snorri Sturluson this is where we find the saga of Ragnar and the stories of his sons yet we also find an earlier source to a ninth century scowled quoted by Snorri his name was Braga the old and according to Snorri he told an early version of Ragnar story there are other hints to scattered around the historical record there was a genuine legend arias spoken of in Frankish sources at the same time Ragnar was supposed to have lived and writing 200 years later 11th century writer Adam of Bremen for example calls Ivar the boneless a son of LOD Brock though nevertheless little is known of aivars early life besides what the semi historical sagas tell us his epithet the boneless for example has caused much speculation over the years Ragnar saga tells us that Ivar was unable to walk and had to be carried everywhere but this is a later source and it isn't the only place that we find information on Ivar the name may simply stamp from a botched version of XO toss the Latin for the hated boneless may originally have been some sort of a term for a skilled Seafarer for that he undoubtedly was and from a long line of them if the tails are to be believed as Ivar becomes a man however what we lack in accuracy in the saga tradition hundreds of years after the events described has made up for with contemporary accounts of which we have many for Ivar is definitively known to have been a real person slipping out of legend and onto the pages of history in the year 793 strangers from across the sea arrived at the Northumbrian monastery of Lindisfarne one of the holiest sites in all of Christendom initially assuming them - betrayed us a number of the monks present went down to meet these newcomers on the shore out in the surf they were met there with sword and anger many irreplaceable relics and holy books lost forever in the next year they were back hitting nearby djaro and nearly every year to come similar reports would be heard the anglo-saxon kingdoms having no fortified cities ports or navies to speak of were completely unprepared for this style of attack England's Viking Age had well and truly begun at around the same time as this in 799 the Frankish sources record a group of Scandinavian pirates being executed on an aquitanian Shore in truth it would be here on the continent that some of the worst attacks would be weathered in the coming decades especially from the eight 40's onwards when several competing companies perhaps including that of Ragnar lothbrok infested their river systems heading back over the channel unfortunately we have very little surviving information on the kingdoms of East Anglia and Northumbria during this time which were probably some of the worst areas hit due to their close proximity to the North Sea our surviving records almost exclusively coming from Wessex if these kingdoms had kept their own records which it is likely that they did they have been lost since perhaps in the fires of Viking invasion we have brief hints of political events going on such as a Northumbria new surfer named red wolf being killed in 8:44 by vikings perhaps these were mercenaries fighting for one side in a civil war likewise during this era east anglia wants more emerged as a military power able to hold its own against the other kingdoms following a century of outside domination and the neutering of its armed forces by mercian perhaps they too utilized mercenaries from across the sea to fight their battles for them [Music] unfortunately due to the scarcity of sources we simply can't ever know for sure but by 851 the situation has changed in that year a force of 350 ships is recorded as coming across the channel to overwinter in England for the first time they tried their luck against London several times ultimately failing but using sheppy as a staging ground against Frankia a refuge for hardened veterans fighting mostly in the breakup of the Carolingian Empire on the continent yet this is all just a preview soon enough they turned their full attention to Britain but it isn't here where aivars career begins for that we have to turn to a very different set of sources and a very different land in 794 whether it was the same band that attacked Lindisfarne we can't be sure but Vikings attacked the monastery of Iona most holy site in Gaelic Christianity and consequently one of the richest carrying goth goods and treasures and the promise of more back to their kinsfolk at home in the coming decades they and people like them would be back to stay in windy inlets and stormy seas in the islands and archipelagos of north and britain they found there a diverse plethora of peoples there was the Gaelic kingdom of dál Riata the Pictish people of the highlands the Isle of Man and angle C - with their unique cultures of course the breadth onic kingdom of old Klute and the Irish kingdoms to the south since the fall of Rome Ireland had been Christianity's Wild West acquiring Roman religion and to a certain extent way of life in the years after the collapse without any of the towns or institutions though a few larger coalition's formed from time to time politics in Ireland was an incredibly complex affair with hundreds of petty kings rolling at any one time thus it would be much more difficult for Vikings to capture a kingdom here wholesale instead they founded fortified long forts out of their ships along the coasts and rivers in truth Ireland's Viking Age was mostly over by the time of the great heathen army Scandinavians having lived there and integrated into the wars and conflicts fought by Irish kings for a generation or more in the early 840 s following a terrible defeat inflicted on the pics in 839 a group of Norwegians under a sea king named Thor ggest founded the city of Dublin on Ireland's eastern coast it would soon grow into one of the most important cities in the Viking world of the Scandinavians set themselves up in other areas of the north such as the Sea King kettle flat nosed and the Western Isles but none were more successful than the Dublin Norse in establishing a viable economic hub the August soon found himself killed by local Irish Kings thrown into a lock and by the early 8:50 s a new group arrives in the city known in the Irish sources as the dub Gale or dark foreigners taken by some historians to mean Danes as opposed to the original Norwegians a civil war ensued and when it finally came to an end an alliance between two groups had been formed led by two men ho laughs the white sown of the king of laugh land though we don't know where that is and EEMA interestingly a late medieval chronicle the announcer NZ's mostly based on the Danish chronicler Saxo gramatica s-- but also using another now lost text records Ragnar's death in Ireland in 854 perhaps another hint to a long-lost story in 857 Dimas career begins launching into a determined process of a lying with one Irish King against another in order to pursue his own political aunts always supported by his ally and possible brother Olaf another long-term ally was the Irish King of Austria Kerbal MacDonald Ange who used Scandinavian support to hold his own against his over Kings the northern area nil ranging far and wide as a Viking Raider in the process [Music] by 863 after a relatively successful career EEMA disappears from the Irish annals going elsewhere [Music] Ola is recorded attacking picked land in 865 but Mr had another destination in his mind only reappearing back in the Irish sources five years later to destroy Dumbarton rock out of the blue in the year 865 the anglo-saxon Chronicle writing with the benefit of hindsight describes a great army of heathens arriving on the marshy island of Thanet of southwestern britain haven for pirates for generations though few would be aware at the time this army the culmination of two generations of Viking raids would eventually grow into the most fearsome invasion force seen in Britain since the anglo-saxons first arrived over 400 years before likely a multinational force of semi-autonomous ravaging bands led by warlords and military strongman many of whom had originated within Britain and Ireland the overall leadership of the expedition is generally attributed to two men Ivar the boneless and healthTap supposedly brothers and sons of the legendary Ragnar lothbrok a third brother is added by the later writer a boa flurry potentially originating in freesia saying that he and Ivor were united by the devil a hoard of silver discovered around this time gives further hint of where these men had been a number of Frankish coins can be found from the reigns of Louis the pious and to Charles the bold [Music] along with a multitude of English pennies melted down silver from previous raids but also Islamic theorems the force soon moved on to the kingdom of East Anglia apparently not yet ready for a fight or simply willing to extort wherever they could the army accepted food horses and shelter from King Edmund he probably knew Scandinavians well after all he'd been dealing with them his entire life in fact political alliances with Vikings were not uncommon at this time far from the end of the world as often portrayed there were many who saw opportunity and personal gain in the coming of the Norseman utilizing their services as swords for hire for their own ends in 864 for example Pepin the nephew of King Charles the bald of Frankia had gone Viking himself leading the annals of Sam Burton to speak in horror of his living like a heathen amongst the Danes innumerable Irish kings had done the same and in the coming years many Anglo Saxon rulers would do it yet if Edmond had willingly let the Norseman into his kingdom he'd sorely underestimated them for this time was different in the Viking Age reputation was all and throughout the winter of 865 as word spread of the great mustering in Britain more and more war bands came to join them in the spring of 1866 Charles the bald paid a large dangled to get a war band to leave his kingdom others were driven away by disease in time they drifted across the channel to Britain finally by the summer of 866 the army was ready to move on to its first target and what a target it was by the middle of the 9th century the once mighty kingdom of Northumbria had fallen on hard times the homeland of England's first historian beat and Charlemagne's mentor Alcuin along with all manner of other individuals vital for the Golden Age assured in in the 7th and 8th centuries this had once been the homeland of intellectual heavyweights archeology tells us that this was an especially prosperous place to since the 1980s excavations on Visser gate and copper gate revealed exotic larvae stone querns originating from Germany Frankish fishing vessels with combs and other handcrafted items traded by Frisian merchants the great middleman of the Carolingian trade network who actually lived inside the city as well as a thriving local jewelry industry producing exotic items laced with garnets and emeralds the city of alpha which had once been a major node on the Roman Road network which was still used at this time it also had an impressive Roman wall built in the third century and repaired ever since in short it was a great place to capture a foothold on the island easier than London which had been attempted several times already on a Goodyear Northumbria should have been an impossible target but now it was RIF 'end by civil war and on an awful situation known as the long winter felt near persistently since the eighth century in 858 Osbert the rightful king had been ousted by a l'heure probably a scion of another noble family and one according to the anglo-saxon Chronicle with no hereditary claim the history of Sant Cuthbert's says both men robbed lands from the church to support their claims and war raged on could this be the conflict Ragnar lothbrok became involved in perhaps as a mercenary we can't be sure but we do know that by 866 Northumbria wants the mightiest of kingdoms had never been weaker riding up from the south on horses as well as taking their fleet up the coast IVA chose All Saints Day November the 1st to attack the city a similar trick to the one supposedly used by Ragnar at Paris on Easter day and later by gothram who attacked Alfred during the Christmas celebrations swiftly taking control of the city the fall sent shockwaves throughout the land the two northumbrian Kings soon set aside their differences coming together for a fight back perhaps to throw the Vikings off by playing them at their own game they chose Palm Sunday the 23rd of April is their counter-attack some Dame's were caught outside the city walls and killed in high spirits the Northumbrian rushed into the city but it was a trap they're in tight city streets with their superior numbers couldn't be utilized effectively they were massacred sliced down one by one by veterans who'd been waiting for them we don't know exact numbers but the important dead are noted 8 Alderman along with both Kings Northumbria bringer of Christianity to Britain and font of the Carolingian Renaissance was dead according to the tale of the sons of Ragnar however the story doesn't end there as revenge for his father's death Ayla was not only captured by IVA but suffered the terrible indignity of the blood eagle a grisly execution where in the back is sliced open and lungs pulled out to resemble wings yet as we have already seen this account was written down hundreds of years after the fact did it really happened the early 11th century skaldak poet sig phat praising his Lord Knut is the first to mention it saying that Ivor carved the eagle on Ahlers back but it isn't exactly certain what exactly the Eagle is at this point sig VAT may have simply wished to use poetic language to convey that Eagles now feasted on ALS back like carrion Birds on a battlefield it isn't until the 13th century the big ory details are first mentioned [Music] nevertheless if this story had circulated at the time it was probably exactly what the brothers wanted a calculated strategy of fear in order to scare potential rivals away without lifting a finger psychological warfare 9th century style and as we shall see it worked all things considered Northumbria had been easy riven by civil war as it was puppet king now in place the army moved on south to Murcia and the next King on the agenda King burger it of Mercia would ultimately survive that confrontation at Nottingham backed up by his ally King Ethelred of Wessex yet I've are probably returned back to a offer which with a hefty plunder and the next year the army was on the move again this time to East Anglia where they had unfinished business with King Edmund there may have been a battle left unrecorded in the West Saxon records or Edmund may have simply been taken by surprise all we know for certain is that by 869 East Anglia possibly the oldest of the anglo-saxon kingdoms and its King Edmund were dead two kingdoms down in four years and another soon to follow for admin stains and household warriors it must have been like gazing at their own past as those Raiders came charging towards the now Christian inhabitants of Bo Derek's worth at modern-day very sand Edmunds that ear the earliest sources talk of Edmund dying in battle but of course we also have a slightly later source that had a life all of its own in the mid-1980s a Benedictine monk a beau of flurry wrote an account of the King's death that were very quickly immortalize him converting him into one of the most popular Saints in English history a beau said that the church reformer Dunstan had witnessed to this tale being told by King Edmonds sword bearer to King Athelstan when he was a youth back in the nine 30s at the time Dunstan had been very young and the sword bearer very old and though fairly fantastical at times some elements of the story may be true on hearing news that IVA is returning to his country offering him joint kingship in return for survival Edmund refuses to deal with him arguing that he will only do so if IVA converts to Christianity perhaps this is a half-remembered recollection of a deal gone wrong an offer to be a puppet king like Egbert or chill wolf of course Ivar not only refuses to convert but along with his brother Ober proceeds to torture Edmund in a variety of ways before finally tying him to a post and filling him with arrows in a ritualized execution with IVA allegedly seeking to test the power of his God by seeing if he would intervene to save the king whether the grisly details of the tale are true the power grab certainly worked Edwin's brother now next in line for the throne fled the kingdom to become a hermit there would be no fight back in East Anglia by the thirteenth century another writer Roger of when Dover's account further made Edmond into a legendary figure and for a time the de facto patron saint of the land IVA of course remained a great villain of English history [Music] according to the historian Ethel weird writing a century later IVA died not long after the martyrdom of Edmund divine justice finally catching up with the killer of kings yet there is another possibility after an absence of some seven years Emaar reappears in the Irish sources ravaging the Western Isles with his ally Olaf the White perhaps using his newfound wealth and unrivaled reputation to once and for all bring the north of Britain under the control of the Dublin Norse creating a kingdom that spanned Ireland Scotland and England in this context they fell on Dumbarton rock which never really stood a chance the next couple of years are a bit of a mystery as health Dan tried and failed to conquer Wessex turning on Murcia instead we hear nothing of Emaar until 873 when the Irish sources talk of his death from disease naming him at the time of his death king of the north men of all britain and ireland almost as soon as this happens health Dan heads north perhaps seeing an opportunity to take up aivars position concerning himself exclusively with northern Affairs from then art whilst the newly arrived gothram took up the war in the south the last place that all of these men may have found themselves together his mercy er where the kingdom was carved up its King burger it finally forced into exile by 874 here at Repton the ancient burial place of mercy and Kings archaeology since the 1970s has revealed what is very likely to be the remains of one of their camps right on top of the mercy and cult Center a statement of intent on the landscape there is a final twist in this tale in 1686 a local digger names Thomas Walker decided to look inside one of the mounds dotting the landscape in search for stones for construction finding inside the remains of hundreds of skeletons and in the center one he described as a giant nine feet tall the skeleton was later lost but by the time proper investigations began in the 1970s and it turned out that the remains may have been the war dead of the great army most of them suffering serious battle wounds it was of course cautiously suggested that the huge man might have been known over than Ivar the boneless laid to rest in the very center of the island he did so much to transform [Music] hello and thank you for watching history time is a one-man team run by me Pete Kelly if you want to see me visiting ancient cities medieval Citadel's megalithic monuments Iron Age hill forts and so much more than subscribe to my other channel by that same name I'll also be making book reviews video essays and anything else that doesn't quite fit in to history tone thanks for watching and I'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: History Time

Views: 1,098,612

Rating: 4.8386016 out of 5

Keywords: vikings, ivar the boneless, Ragnar lothbrok, ragnar, lothbrok, vikings tv show, vikings documentary, documentary, anglo-saxons, saxons, history, history documentary

Id: w3lRf6FT_pM

Length: 42min 51sec (2571 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 14 2019

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[u/scottkelly]

The Titanic never went anywhere near Glasgow