In the footsteps of Ivarr the Boneless
Beginnings
Most of the information that exists about Ivarr inn beinlausi – Ivarr the Boneless – comes from the Scandinavian saga tradition. In particular it comes from Ragnars saga – the tale that recounts the exploits of his father, the Danish king Ragnarr Lodbrok ('Leather Breeches'), a famous Viking hero who led the sack of Paris in AD 845.
These sagas tend to mix historical fact with legend and folklore, but the existence of Ivarr, Ragnarr's eldest son, as an historical figure is in no doubt. His exploits are recorded in contemporary historical documents, and it is possible to trace his movements with relative certainty.
His mother's curse
The later Scandinavian sagas clearly describe Ivarr as 'lacking bones'.
The mid-12th-century poem Hattalykill says he was 'without any
bones at all'. In Ragnars saga, Ivarr's nickname is explained in
great detail, and though the explanation clearly has its roots in folklore,
the fiction was probably constructed to explain a disability that could
not then be logically understood.
According to Ragnars saga, Ivarr's 'bonelessness' was the result of a curse. His mother Aslaug was Ragnarr's second wife and had powers of sorcery and foresight. She warned her new husband that they must wait for three nights before consummating their marriage:
Three nights together, but yet apart,
Shall we bide, nor worship the gods as yet;
From my son this would save a lasting harm,
For boneless is he thou wouldst now beget.
Ragnarr refused to believe in the curse and immediately made love to his new wife. The result of the untimely union was Ivarr, who was indeed born without bones, having instead 'only the like of gristle where his bones should have been'. In fact, it is likely that he was suffering from a genetic disease. According to the sagas, Ivarr grew up unable to walk and had to be carried everywhere on poles or on the back of a shield.
Surviving
It might seem likely that, in the 9th century, such a deformed or
disabled child would have been destroyed at birth. However, since Ivarr
was a Danish prince and an eldest son, it is not unreasonable to
assume that he would have survived.
Centuries earlier, another disabled heir apparent had survived against the odds. In Sparta in the early 5th century BC, Agesilaus – the king's half-brother, who was born lame – was not killed shortly after birth as was the custom with disabled babies, but was allowed to live and eventually became king.
Wisdom and upper-body strength
At the same time as describing Ivarr's physical disability, the Norse
sagas emphasise his extraordinary wisdom. Whereas his brother Ubbe is
identified as having great physical strength and courage, Ivarr's mental
dexterity is always stressed: 'It is doubtful if anyone has ever been
wiser than he.' He is also credited with extraordinary cunning, and is
described as a master of strategy and tactics in battle. The more powerful
his mind was thought to be, the more his physical weakness was emphasised.
However, Ivarr's disability does not seem to have prevented him from fighting. Indeed, Ragnars saga emphasises his extreme upper-body strength, suggesting an almost superhuman might and alluding to powers of sorcery. In a battle against King Eysteinn of Sweden, Ivarr is said to have secured victory by defeating a bewitched cow named Sibilja. In the saga, he orders his men to carry him towards the terrible beast; he then blinds it by firing two arrows from a longbow as large as a tree trunk, which he drew back 'as if it were only a weak elm twig'.
Ragnarr's death
The sagas record how, during one of his many raiding missions along
the coast of England, Ragnarr's ship was blown off course and he landed
in East Anglia. There he was entertained at the royal court, but internal
politics led to his kidnapping. He was smuggled into Northumbria by its
king Ælla, and then executed in a pit of vipers.
In his dying breath, the Viking declared: 'The little pigs would grunt now if they knew how it fares with the old boar.' His words prophesied the violent revenge that would be exacted by his children. Bloody retribution was, indeed, forthcoming.
The conquering Vikings
In the early 9th century, Vikings from Norway – and, as we shall
see, some from Denmark – settled in Scotland, in an area comprising
the Northern and Western Isles and parts of the mainland. By the middle
of the century, this was ruled by an effective, and new, royal dynasty.
In the second half of the century, this dynasty made Dublin its headquarters,
engaged in warfare with Irish kings, controlled most Viking activity in
Ireland and imposed its overlordship and its tribute on Pictland and Strathclyde
in Scotland.
When the invaders initially seized it in AD 841, Dublin was a monastic centre. Contemporary Irish annals say that the Vikings set up a longphort, or ship camp, 'at Dubhlinn'. This camp lasted 61 years, until 902, when the invaders were expelled by the combined forces of the king of Brega to the north and the king of Leinster to the south.
The Vikings' longphort was enclosed by large earthen banks but would have had direct access to the sea, crucial for the fleet. It must have been very large, given that, in one year alone, AD 849, it was able to cope with the loss of 1,000 fighting men and the simultaneous arrival of a fleet of 140 warships. It was also the home of political leaders, traders and craftsmen and their families.
In AD 853, Ivarr inn beinlausi arrived in Dublin and, with Olaf the White (in Norse, Amláib), who was from Norway, assumed sovereignty of the Viking settlement there.
What you can see now
Viking Age Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
Kildare Street
Dublin
Open Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm, Sun 2-5pm, admission free
This permanent exhibition covers the period from AD 795 to the
first half of the 12th century. The Vikings' initial impact on Ireland
is illustrated chiefly by the collection of weapons, tools and ornaments
from the great 9th-century cemeteries at Kilmainham and Islandbridge
to the west of Dublin (see below) – the largest
collection of Viking grave finds outside Scandinavia.
Artefacts from 20 years' excavations by the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin (see below) form the core of the exhibition. Tools and artefacts connected with the different trades and crafts carried on in the Viking town are included. There is a model of a Viking Age house, as well as a model of part of the city as it would have been at the time. The importance of trade is illustrated by finds such as amber and jet, silk and gold braid, whalebone and walrus skulls.
Viking Dublin
As a result of the excavations at High Street, Wood Quay and
in the Temple Bar area, we have a good idea how the Dublin ruled
over by the Vikings would have looked.
The settlement was situated on raised ground beside where the river Poddle entered the Liffey. It was surrounded by an embankment of earth, gravel and mud that was topped by a post-and-wattle palisade. This was replaced by a stone wall before the Vikings left for good.
Craftsmen of the same type tended to work close together in certain areas of the town. Leather workers were concentrated in the High Street area, and amber jewellers and wood workers in Fishamble Street. Fishermen, boat builders and merchants are most likely to have gathered together along the waterfront.
The streets of the town were surfaced with gravel and stones, wattle mats or split logs. The lines of the plots changed little over the years, implying respect for property and continuity. The overall impression of the town is that it was an ordered place whose layout and defence were overseen and regulated.
Viking cemeteries at Kilmainham and Islandbridge,
Dublin
There is nothing specific left to see of the Viking burials
at Kilmainham, Dublin, which now lie beneath the railway line and
station and the World War I memorial park, created in 1933-4. However,
you might enjoy trying to imagine what the site looked like in the
9th century.
There were two distinct cemeteries, one at the early Christian monastic site of Cell Maignenn (Kilmainham) and the other about 800 metres west at Islandbridge. In both cases, it appears that the Viking burials were inserted into older native cemeteries where the burial rite was east-west inhumation without grave goods (indicating Christian burials). There were at least 17 pagan Viking burials with grave goods at Kilmainham, 15 male and 2 female. At Islandbridge there were 19 such burials, 17 male and 2 female.
The grave goods included many weapons, swords, spear heads, shield bosses, axeheads and knives. There were also farming implements (shears and sickles, smithing tools), tongs and pincers and commerce items (weighing scales and weights). Spindle whorls and needle cases indicate garment making. These finds can be seen at the National Museum (see above).
All the artefacts recovered have been dated to the second half of the ninth century, contemporary with the Viking longphort established at Dublin in 841 and which continued until the Vikings were driven out in 902.
Find out more
The Archaeology of the Early Viking Age in Ireland
www.ncte.ie/viking/vikarch.htm
A comprehensive rundown of what has been found from the period AD
795-c 950: graves, weapons, silver, early settlements.
Temple Bar – Viking Excavations
www.mglarc.com/projects/templebar.htm
Website created by the archaeological consultants who, between 1996
and 1998, excavated the Viking remains at Temple Bar in Dublin (the area
now bounded by Fishamble Street on the west, Essex Street West on the
north, Essex Street Upper on the east and Copper Alley on the south).
It appears that this was the site of the original Viking longphort,
from which Ivarr would have ruled. There are also panoramic views of the
excavations.
The Vikings in Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn (O'Brien Press, 1996)
£7.99
In Irish history, the Vikings are often seen merely as attackers. This
book gives an account of the wider picture – how the Vikings significantly
influenced Irish art and trade and the growth of towns and cities.
