July 2, 2019 ▸ History, People

Episode 399: Ivar the Boneless: The Bane of England!

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On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we go back to Viking days and look at the life of one of their most important conquerors, Ivar the Boneless. Ivar was made popular by his fictional portrayal in the TV show Vikings, but he was a real guy back in the 9th century. His claim to fame? Conquering all of England with a Great Heathen Army. Oh, and spoiler alert: even though we don’t talk about the TV show directly very much (though Brad throws out a major spoiler about a death in the show), the history we discuss will ruin things about the show. So, be warned.

Ivar the Boneless is an interesting figure from history, not just because he conquered all of England, but because finding the facts through the fiction is difficult. Much of what we know about him today came from Sagas, Viking epic poems whose job was entertainment more than accuracy. Sifting through the tall tales for the truth can prove difficult.

Even the truth behind his name is a mystery. Some legends say he was deformed and had gristle for bones. Others say it was a curse as predicted by his mother the witch, Aslaug. Some even think he suffered from gigantism or earned the name because he had no sexual appetite. Regardless of why he’s called that, what we know for sure is that he was a tactical genius. His small band of Vikings fought in battle after battle, and they won against all odds in foreign territory.

His father, Ragnar Lothbrook was killed by a king in England, and many thing that Ivar’s entire war in England was simply a revenge battle. Others think he was too tempered and tactical for such a purely emotional response, but either way, the way he killed the king who supposedly murdered Ragnar was especially brutal.

So, how close is the TV show to the supposed reality? What are the differences between the sagas and the facts we know? How did he a kill another British king in such an awful way that the man became a religious martyr? How long did it take Ivar the Boneless to conquer all of England, and why did he want land when all other Vikings before him only wanted loot? What happened when he finally conquered everything all the way to Scotland? How did he finally die, and why do archaeologists think he was disemboweled in spite of the historical accounts? Listen, laugh, learn.