Ivar the Boneless

Ivar the Boneless (Old Norse: Ívarr hinn Beinlausi [ˈiːˌwɑrː ˈhinː ˈbɛinˌlɔuse]; born around 800 – c. 873), also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a semi-legendary Viking leader who raided England and Ireland. According to the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, he was the son of Ragnar Loðbrok and his wife Aslaug. His brothers included Björn Ironside, Halfdan Ragnarsson, Hvitserk, Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and Ubba. It is likely that Ivar is the same person as Ímar.

The origin of his nickname is unclear. "Ívarr beinlausi" could be translated as "Ivar the Boneless," but "beinlausi" could also be translated as "bone-less," as "bone" and "leg" were the same word in Old Norse.

In several sagas, he is described as being leg- or bone-less, while a passage in Ragnarssona þáttr (also known as the Saga of the Sons of Ragnar) suggests that it refers to male impotence.

According to the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok, Ivar's bonelessness was the result of a curse. His mother, Aslaug, was Ragnar's third wife and described as a völva, a type of seer or prophetess. She said that she and her husband must wait three nights before consummating their marriage upon his return from a long separation (during which he had been raiding in England). However, Ragnar, overcome by lust after such a long separation, did not heed her words. As a result, Ivar was born with weak bones.

Another hypothesis suggests that he was originally known as "the Hated" (which in Latin would be Exosus). A medieval scribe with limited Latin knowledge might have interpreted this as ex (without) os (bone), thus translating it as "the Boneless," although it is difficult to align this theory with the direct translation of his name in the Nordic sources.

While the sagas describe Ivar's physical disability, they also highlight his wisdom, cunning, and mastery of strategy and tactics in battle.

He is often equated with Ímar, the founder of the Uí Ímair dynasty, which ruled from the city of York over Northumbria and controlled the region around the Irish Sea, including the Kingdom of Dublin, from the mid-ninth to tenth century.

Chronology

In 865, the Great Heathen Army, led by Ivar, invaded the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy (the collective name for the seven kingdoms of East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, and Wessex). The invasion was organized by the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok to avenge Ælla of Northumbria, who allegedly executed Ragnar in 865 by throwing him into a pit of snakes. According to the saga, Ivar was unable to defeat Ælla and sought reconciliation. He demanded as much land as he could cover with an oxhide and swore not to wage war against Ælla. Ivar then cut the oxhide into such fine strips that he was able to encircle a large fortress (in one older saga, this was York; in a younger version, it was London), which he claimed as his own.

At the end of the following year, the army turned north and invaded Northumbria, where they eventually captured Ælla in York in 867. Legend has it that Ælla was executed by Ivar and his brothers using the blood eagle, a ritual execution method whose history is disputed, where the chest is opened from the back and the lungs are pulled out to form a wing-like shape. Later that year, the army moved south and invaded the Kingdom of Mercia, capturing the city of Nottingham and spending the winter there. King Burgred of Mercia then allied with King Æthelred of Wessex, and with a combined force, they besieged the city. The Saxons failed to recapture the city, but a truce was agreed, in which the Danes would retreat to York. The Great Heathen Army remained in York for over a year, gathering strength for further raids.

Ivar and Ubba were identified as the commanders of the Danes when they returned to East Anglia in 869 and were the executioners of the East Anglian King Edmund the Martyr for resisting their demand to renounce Christ. The exact circumstances of Edmund’s death are unknown, but it is believed that he was captured and executed by Ragnar's sons.

Death of Ivar the Boneless

The Anglo-Saxon chronicler Æthelweard dates Ivar's death to the year 870.

The Annals of Ulster describe Ivar's death in 873. His death is also recorded in the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland under the year 873.

The identification of the King of Laithlind as Gothfraid (Ímar’s father) was added by a scribe in the 17th century. The original 11th-century manuscript simply referred to the subject of the entry as righ Lochlann ("the King of Lochlann"), which likely referred to Ímar, whose death is not otherwise noted in the Fragmentary Annals. The cause of death—an abrupt and dreadful illness—is not mentioned in other sources, but it raises the possibility that the true origin of Ivar’s Old Norse nickname may lie in the debilitating effects of an unidentified illness that struck him at the end of his life.

In 1686, a farm worker named Thomas Walker discovered a Scandinavian burial mound near Repton in Derbyshire, at the site of the battle where the Great Heathen Army overthrew King Burgred of Mercia. The number of partial skeletons surrounding the body—over 250—suggested that the man buried there held very high status. It is speculated that this burial mound could be the final resting place of Ivar.

According to legend, Ivar ordered that he be buried at a location exposed to attacks and prophesied that enemies who came to the land would not succeed. This prophecy is said to have come true until "Vilhjalm Bastard" (William I of England) landed, went to the burial site, broke open Ivar’s burial mound, and saw that Ivar’s body had not decayed. Vilhjalm then had a large pyre built, on which Ivar’s body was burned. Afterward, Vilhjalm continued his invasion and was victorious.

Fictional Representations

• Ivar the Boneless is a supporting character in the 1969 film Alfred the Great, portrayed as an acrobatic and agile warrior.
• In the 2013 film Hammer of the Gods, Ivar is depicted as a reclusive, homosexual Viking (played by Ivan Kaye, who later portrayed King Aelle in the TV series Vikings).
• In the 2013 Vikings TV series by the History Channel, Ivar is portrayed as the son of Ragnar and Aslaug and the younger half-brother of Björn Ironside. He first appears as a baby in season 2 and is later played by James Quinn Markey and Alex Høgh Andersen.
• Ivar’s invasion of East Anglia and the murder of Edmund the Martyr are depicted in the music video for Barbarian by The Darkness.
• Ivar, alongside his brother Ubba, is a significant figure in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Stories series, including the first book The Last Kingdom (2004). However, in the subsequent TV adaptation, Ivar remains an unseen character.
• Ivar the Boneless and his brothers Ubba and Halfdan appear as allies of the main protagonist Eivor in the video game Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. He is portrayed as highly aggressive and indifferent, causing friction with other characters. Ivar is voiced by Canadian actor Eric Johnson.