36 III. Of all the sea-kings and vikingr who roamed the CHA P. ocean in the ninth century, the man whose life and death had the most disastrous effects on England was Ragnar Lodbrog, whose quida, or death-song, has been long venerated for its antiquity, and celebrated for its genius. The learned of the North have usually quoted it as his own composition 37, although one would ascribe it to his wife, who was also a famous scalld or poetess. 38 It is one of the most ancient pieces of northern literature; expresses exactly the manners of those times; and, compared with the other histories and traditions that have been preserved concerning him, will be found to contain the most simple, probable, and consistent incidents. As his death, the approach of which it ends with intimating, was the cause of that disastrous invasion which shook Alfred from his throne, it merits the consideration of the English reader, in those parts which concern the British islands. RAGNAR is not mentioned by name in the Saxon annalists; because, while they commemorate the invasions of the Northmen during his life, they seldom notice the commander. But the Frankish chronicles expressly mention him in that aggression in 845, in which he even penetrated as far up the Seine as Paris. He began by ravaging the isles of the sea; thence proceeded to Rouen, and finding no effective resistance, he left his ships, 36 The most complete edition for the use of the English reader of the Lodbrokar Quida is that edited by Johnstone in 1782. But as his English translation is not a literal one, a more exact version is attempted of the passages quoted in the text. 37 As Wormius, Bartholin, Stephanius, and others. It was not uncommon in the north for their kings to celebrate their own actions. 38 So Torfæus intimates. IV. BOOK and his warriors spread over the country. Invited onward by the general consternation, they advanced to Paris on Easter-Eve. The next day they entered the city, and found it deserted by its inhabitants. They destroyed the monastary of St. Germains, when a present from the king of seven thousand pounds induced them to desist from their ravages. 39 The attacks of his son Biorn, in 843, are also recorded. 40 His name of Lothbroc occurs in our chroniclers at his death; but they were ignorant of his true history, which is stated in none of our old documents, except in the ancient Anglo-Norman poem of Denis Pyramis. His death, as justly stated in the Icelandic remains, 41 39 Chron. Fontanel.; 7 Bouq. p. 41.; Chron. Vezel. p. 271.; Mirac, Racher. p. 361.; and Aimonius, p. 350. Pet. Olaus, 1 Langb. 109. See also Ann. Bertin. and Amm. Mirac, S. Germ. 40 Frag. Hist. Brit. 7 Bouq. p. 46. The chronicles which mention Biorn's expeditions are very numerous. See Pontop. Gest. Dan. 41 It is so extraordinary to find this in an Anglo-Norman rhimer's work, that I quote the passage in the original, as it has never been observed or printed before. He is here called Lothbroc, and his three sons, Yngar, Hulbe, and Berin, for Inguar, Ubba, and Beorn. Cil Lothebroc e ses treis fiz De ceo furent si enrichez, De gent; e mult grant assemble; III. happened in Northumbria. In opposition to his CHAP. wife Aslauga's counsel he built two ships of a size which the North had never beheld before; he filled them with soldiers, and sailed along the Scottish coast to England, which he selected to be the theatre of his exertions. 42 The triumphs of these royal pirates had been obtained by the celerity of their retreats, as well as the vigour of their attacks. It was not their competency to overcome the force which any country could embody against them, that made them so successful; but their ability in their light ships of attacking before it could be collected, or of eluding it when too formidable. These spacious ships tended to deprive Ragnar of this advantage and thereby produced his fate. Too large for the ignorant navigation of that period, these vessels were soon wrecked on the English shore. Thrown on the coast of enemies, without means of return, Ragnar had no choice but to dare his fortune, which his pride also counselled. He moved forward as soon as he got to the shore, to plunder and ravage, either disdaining to recollect that his small band would soon be confronted by superior strength, or hoping to deter any hostility by the boldness of his measures. ELLA, at that time, was king of Deira, and with the force of his kingdom marched up to the fearless Qu'il aveient en lur companye Ne seput d'els ja garder. Den. Pyr. MSS. Domit. xi. p. 12. 42 2 Langb. 227. Torfæus, Hist. Norv. BOOK vikingr; a fierce, though unequal conflict ensued. IV. Ragnar, clothed in the garments which he had re ceived from his beloved Aslauga, at their parting, four times pierced the ranks of Ella, but his friends fell one by one around him, and he at last was taken prisoner alive. ELLA obeyed the impulse of barbarian resentment, and doomed his illustrious prisoner to perish with lingering pain in a dungeon, stung by venomous snakes. 43 THE Quida celebrates the depredations of Ragnar on various countries, from the Baltic to England, and on Flanders. It presents to us a view of one of the dreadful states of society in which our species have lived. Every incident is triumphantly described with the imagery of death, and the revolting circumstances attending human slaughter are recollected with exultation. Such were the people for whom the author composed this death-song, that, not content with equalling the pleasures of war to social festivity, and with remembering, without remorse, its destruction of youthful happiness"; 43 2 Langb. 277. Saxo has been thought to place Ella in Ireland, but whoever reads the pages 176, 177, carefully, will see that he speaks of England. The Icelandic authors unanimously station him in Northumbria. This fact ascertains the time of Ragnar's death; for Ella usurped the Northumbrian crown in 862, and perished 867; therefore between these years Ragnar must have expired. The English chroniclers acknowledge that Lodbrog was killed in England; but so imperfectly was the Northumbrian history known to them, that for the true history of Ragnar's fate, they substitute two contradictory tales. See Matt. West. 314-316. and Bromton, 802. 44 66 Delightful was the work at Sky, as when the damsels bring the wine." St. 18. "Pleasant was it at Ila's Straits, as when the wine-bearing Nioruns hand the warm streams." III. he even extols it as rivalling one of the sweetest CHA P. hours of life; "Was it not like that hour when my bright bride I seated by me on the couch?" 45 What must have been the characters and the transactions of that nation, in which the conversation and sympathy of love, were felt to be but as charming as a battle! WE We may concede to the historical traditions of the North, and to the chroniclers of other nations, that Ragnar Lodbrog depredated with success on various parts of Europe, on the British islands, on Sweden, Norway, and the coasts round the Baltic. 46 We may admit that he was one of those men whose lives become models to their contemporaries; and that his activity and genius were fitted to give celebrity to bloodshed, and dignity to plunder. "Fifty and one times," as his Quida asserts, "his messenger, the spear, may have announced the distant enterprise." But it would be an extravagant aggrandisement of his fame, to attribute to him all the horrors, which Northern piracy poured upon Europe in the first part of the ninth century. It is indeed a coincidence with his life, that till he lived, few and rare were the aggressions of the sea-king "In the morning I saw struck down And him whose converse was so sweet to the widow." 45 Stanza 13, and see Stanza 24. St. 19. 46 We may refer to Saxo, l. ix. p. 169. 177. with Stephanius's notes; to the Icelandic fragment, in 2 Langb. 270. 280.; to the Ragnar Saga; and to Torfæus, in his Series Dan. and his Hist. Norveg. for the northern account of the particular transactions of Ragnar. Johannes Magnus, and Locçenius, |