Quotes from Anders Winroth

Ragnar Hairy-Breeches (Loðbrók), as he came to be known, is portrayed as a heroic fighter, extremely bloodthirsty, and given to extraordinary feats. Nothing about him is normal, not even his death, which becomes a memorable execution. King Ella of Northumbria captured him and

In contrast, I argue that their violence, seen in broad historical context, was no worse than that of others in a savage time, when heroes like Charlemagne (d. 814) killed and plundered on a much greater scale than the northern raiders.