Ivar the Boneless, or Ivar Ragnarsson, was the formidable Viking warlord of the Great Heathen Army in the late ninth century. The Norse sagas celebrated his conquests in Anglo Saxon England long after his death. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle recounted Ivar the Boneless and his brothers, Halfdan Ragnarsson and Ubba, led…

The drakkar of the Norse chieftains were the scourge of Christian communities across Britain, Ireland and Europe between 800 and 1100. A sighting of the dragon-shaped figure on the prow of the longship signalled the beginning of a murderous Viking raid. The Vikings regarded the dragonships of Ivar Ragnarsson, or…

Thorstein the Red, or Thorstein Olafsson, was a renowned Viking warlord in Scotland in the late ninth century. He was of noble birth as the only son of Olaf the White, King of Dublin, and Aud the Deep-minded, a Norse princess of the Hebrides. The exploits of Thorstein the Red…

The Hiberno-Scandinavian king, Ímar ua Ímair, and his Norse subjects fled Dublin in 902 following an attack by the Gaelic kings of Leinster and Brega. …

Sitric Cáech reigned as King of Dublin between 917 and 921. He restored the authority of the Vikings within a few years of his triumphant return to the town. The campaigns waged by Sitric Cáech and his brothers, Ragnall and Godfraid, secured the dominance of the Hiberno-Scandinavian Ui Imair dynasty…

Ragnar Lothbrok or Ragnar Lodbrok was a famous Viking sea-king whose daring raids were immortalised in the Norse sagas. He was the terrifying menace of Anglo-Saxon England and the Carolingian rulers in France in the ninth century. The skalds celebrated the fearlessness of Ragnar Lothbrok. Their poems tinged his military…

Bárid mac Ímair and Oistín mac Amlaíb were the co-rulers of Dublin in the late ninth century. They were embroiled in a dynastic feud with their uncle, Halfdan Ragnarsson, for the leadership of the Viking town. Bárid mac Ímair and his brothers, Sichfrith and Sitriuc, were the sons of Ivar…

Ravens were the familiar sacred birds of the Norse god, Odin, during the Viking Age. The raven invoked the power of Odin as a god of war, death, prophecy, wisdom and magic. Odin owned a pair of pet ravens called Hugin and Munin. …

Aud the Deep-minded was the queen of Olaf the White and the mother of the warlord Thorstein the Red. She sailed to the Norse colonies in Iceland after the death of her husband and son. …