What’s in a Name?
Ivar the Boneless Died cAD 873
One of the leaders of the Great Heathen Army that arrived in England in AD 865, Viking chieftain Ivar the Boneless may have been given his curious name after being born with a muscle or bone weakness or suffering an injury.
According to one legend, Ivar – said to be the son of legendary Viking king Ragnar Lodbrok – may have had his father to thank for his odd nickname. According to Icelandic saga , Ragnar’s wife (a seer) cautioned her new husband to wait three nights before consummating their marriage. Ragnar ignored her warning; the result, so the tale goes, was Ivar, born ‘boneless’. References to Ivar’s ‘bonelessness’
