Perhaps the epitome of the archetypal bloodthirsty Viking, Erik the Red violently murdered his way through life. Born in Norway, Erik gained his nickname most likely due to the colour of his hair and beard but it could also reflect upon his violent nature.
Ivar the Boneless
Indeed, Ivar the Boneless was known to be a Berserker, champion Norse warriors who fought in a trance-like fury. He is best known for invading several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms with his two brothers.
Erik the Red
His reputation is probably one of the most bloodthirsty among all of the Vikings. The son of Thorvald, Erik the Red is chiefly remembered for being the Viking who founded the first settlement in Greenland.
They indicate that the Vikings were not the worst invaders to land on English shores at that time. That title goes to the Anglo-Saxons, 400 years earlier!
Lagertha. Thanks to Saxo Grammaticus' Gesta Danorum, we know of a legendary female Viking known as either Lagertha or Ladgerda. This incredible woman was part of a larger group of female warriors who volunteered to help renowned hero Ragnar Lothbrok avenge his grandfather's death.
Orm Stórolfsson, also known as Orm Stórolfsson the Strong ( fl. 1000 CE), was an Icelandic strongman who gained considerable attention during his lifetime for extraordinary feats of strength.
The name most associated with the Viking attacks and raids on the British Isles is that of Ragnar Lothbrok (sometimes also written as 'Lodbrok'), who has gone down in history as a fearless leader and unstoppable warrior.
The title of berserker is thought sometimes to have been inherited from father to son, and there are known examples of entire families of berserkers. One such family known from the sagas is Egil Skallagrimson. Egil's father, Skallagrim ('ugly skull'), and his grandfather Kveldulv ('nightwolf') were also berserkers.
Vikings worked long hours, carrying, and using heavy equipment which contributed to the formation of muscles, even from an early age. Another reason for the significant strength of the Vikings was their diet. Vikings were mostly hunters, not gatherers, due to their cold, harsh environment.
Ragnar Lodbrok is considered to be the most famous Viking by many historians and the wider public. This is largely because of his lead role in the History Channel show, Vikings. However, he also had a prominent role in many Viking sagas that detailed his raids on what is now France and England.
- King of Norway 1046-1066
Harald Hardrada (Harald III Sigurdsson) is often known as "the last real Viking," and maybe he was what many understood by a real Viking king.
With the show's highest kill count, Rollo takes the crown as Vikings' deadliest warrior, possessed of an unmatched fierceness and ferocity. Bjorn was a beast in battle, but Rollo was something else entirely. Throughout his life, Rollo struck fear into the heart of an enemy shield wall.
At the Battle of Edington, an army of the kingdom of Wessex under Alfred the Great defeated the Great Heathen Army led by the Dane Guthrum on a date between 6 and 12 May 878, resulting in the Treaty of Wedmore later the same year. Primary sources locate the battle at "Eðandun".
Ragnar Lothbrok was a fearless Viking...
No matter how brilliant a tactician Ivar the Boneless was, there's little doubt that Bjorn was a better overall fighter - it's even in his name, as he was dubbed 'Ironside' due to his seeming inability to be killed or harmed in battle.
At the battle of Ashdown in 871, Alfred routed the Viking army in a fiercely fought uphill assault.
Among the English court, Earl Godwin is one of the bravest, in large part because he has had to make up for his own father's misdeeds and mistakes in his own pursuit of power and influence at the court of the king.
The Battle of Tettenhall (sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield or Wōdnesfeld) took place, according to the chronicler Æthelweard, near Tettenhall on 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an army of Northumbrian Vikings in Mercia.
Because they were swift and ruthless strikers with expert fighting skills, the Vikings were greatly feared. Through their raids, trading, settlements, and colonization, they had a significant influence on Dark Age Europe.
In popular lore, few images are as synonymous with Viking brutality as the “blood eagle,” a practice that allegedly found torturers separating the victim's ribs from their spine, pulling their bones and skin outward to form a set of “wings,” and removing their lungs from their chest cavity.
Ivar the Boneless (Old Norse: Ívarr hinn Beinlausi [ˈiːˌwɑrː ˈhinː ˈbɛinˌlɔuse]; died c. 873), also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a Viking leader who invaded England and Ireland.
On November 13, A.D. 1002, Æthelred Unræd, ruler of the English kingdom of Wessex, “ordered slain all the Danish men who were in England,” according to a royal charter. This drastic step was not taken on a whim, but was the product of 200 years of Anglo-Saxon frustration and fear.
The end of the Viking Age is traditionally marked in England by the failed invasion attempted by the Norwegian king Harald III (Haraldr Harðráði), who was defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinson in 1066 at the Battle of Stamford Bridge; in Ireland, the capture of Dublin by Strongbow and his Hiberno-Norman forces in ...
Ivar The Boneless
He had to work harder than the rest of Ragnar's sons to become the powerful man he was but when he finally learned, he became the best.