Ivar the Boneless

Life

Is the often assumed for identification in the Irish and British sources true, then this Ivar was also the founder of the Scandinavian dynasty of Dublin ( Uí Imair ).

Legend

In the Saga of Ragnar lodbrokar saga is told as a background for the Knochenlosigkeit a curse that came upon him, because his father for three days abstinence did not comply after the wedding with Aslaug. In the same place is reported that Ivar ordered to bury his corpse on the English coast. As long as his bones protect this coast, it would no longer enemy succeed in the land from the sea to conquer. The story also reported that Ivar was carving the Northumbrian King Aelle in retaliation for the killing of his father, a Blutaar.

The epithet

Historians of the background to the nickname of the Boneless is controversial. To this end, there are the following theories:

• Rory McTurk has in connection with the epithet suggests that Ivar's epithet is associated wrong. " Boneless " is therefore in some Norwegian stories a name for wind, so therefore Ivars skills can be meant as a navigator.
• Published in 1949, the Dane Knud Stakemann Seedorff in his dissertation a study of osteogenesis imperfecta ( known colloquially as brittle bone disease known) in which he called Ivar the only historical figure with this disease. He points out that reported Ivar that his legs were so weak that he had to be carried on a shield. In a 2003 Channel 4 documentary incurred Nabil Shaban took up the theme again.

Reception

Bernard Cornwell has to submit the story to the Ragnarsöhne Halfdan, Ubba and Ivar and the Danish trial, England, in his book series "The Saxon Stories" ( German: The Uthred series) processed. Next Harry Harrison uses the story of the Ragnarsson brothers in his trilogy "Hammer and the Cross" ( original English title: "The Hammer and the Cross "). Nancy Farmers children's novel Dragon Sea (English: The Sea of ​​Trolls ) describes a king Ivar, referred only behind his back as Ivar the Boneless.

The furniture chain Ikea has one of its best-selling products, a shelf, named after the Danes.