Jump to content

User:Angusmclellan/Ivar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ívarr (died 873), Old Irish Ímar, was a Viking king in Britain and Ireland. His ancestry and origins are uncertain and a matter of debate. He is the eponymous ancestor of the Uí Ímair kindred to which many kings of Dublin and kings of York appear to have belonged.

The recorded activities of Ívarr begin circa 853 in Ireland. In the years that followed he has been associated with the invasion of Northumbria and capture of York in 866, with the Viking conquests of East Anglia and death of King Edmund the Martyr in 869, with the siege of Dumbarton Rock in 870. At his death in 873 he is called the "king of the Norsemen of all Ireland and Britain".

Ivarr was the basis of the saga character Ivar the Boneless, but the extent to which Scandinavian sagas and histories, or indeed later sources in general, are trustworthy sources for the events of the 9th century is questionable.

Sources

[edit]

The most credible sources for the lives and times of Ívarr and his kinsmen are contemporary annals kept in England, Ireland and Francia. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is the best known English source, and the most nearly contemporary with events. Other lost annals and records may survive in part in later works, such as those attributed to John of Worcester, Symeon of Durham and other post-Norman Conquest historians of the 12th and 13th centuries. Irish annals do not survive in contemporary forms, but in later editions which have been glossed and revised. The now-lost Chronicle of Ireland was the source of the core of the later annals.

As well as English historians of the 12th and 13th centuries, Irish and Scottish records of the 11th and 12th centuries, such as the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba, the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland and the The War of the Irish with the Foreigners may contain accurate records of Ívarr's times. The degree to which even later sources such as the saga of Ragnar Lodbrok's sons can be used as the basis of narrative history is disputed. Frankish sources rarely notice events in Britain and Ireland, but the Annales Bertiniani, kept at Saint Omer, may contain some contemporary clues to Ívarr's origins and activities.

Background

[edit]

Origins

[edit]
Ívarr's kin after Irish sources.

There is no general agreement on Ívarr's origins ...

Ívarr's ancestry is contained in the so-called Osraige saga within the Fragmentary Annals of Ireland. This calls him Ímar son of Gofraid son of Ragnall son of Gofraid Conung son of Gofraid (Ívarr son of Guðrøðr son of Røgnvaldr son of [King?] Guðrøðr son of Guðrøðr), but, with the possible exception of his father's name, this is considered to be unreliable. Other parts of the Fragmentary Annals make Ívarr one of four brothers, the others are Amlaíb (Óláfr), Albdann (Hálfdan) and Auisle (Ásl or Auðgísl). The Ingwar of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, who is often identified with Ívarr, is said to have been the brother of Hálfdan and another, unnamed brother. Amlaíb is described as "son of the king of Laithlind" by the Irish annals; it is possible that this king is to be identified with "the king of Lochlann, Gofraid", who "died of a sudden hideous disease" circa 873, according to the Fragmentary Annals.

Lochlann

McTurk

Woolf, Hudson

Ireland and Northumbria

[edit]

East Anglia and Dumbarton

[edit]

Death and posterity

[edit]

Scandinavian and Irish sagas

[edit]

Ivar the Boneless today

[edit]

Notes

[edit]

References

[edit]
  • Annals of Ulster AD 431–1201, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, 2003, retrieved 2007-02-10
  • Campbell, John; John, Eric; Wormald, Patrick, eds. (1982), The Anglo-Saxons, London: Phaidon, ISBN 0-14-014395-5
  • Charles-Edwards, T.M. (2004), "Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid (d. 862)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, retrieved 2007-02-15
  • Costambeys, Marios (2004), "Hálfdan (d. 877)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2007-10-25
  • Costambeys, Marios (2004), "Ívarr (d. 873)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2007-10-25
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1987), Scandinavian Scotland, Studies in the Early History of Britain, Leicester: Leicester University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1282-0
  • Downham, Clare (2004), "The career of Cearbhall of Osraige", Ossory, Laois and Leinster, 1: 1–18, ISSN 1649-4938
  • Downham, Clare (2007), Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland: The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014, Edinburgh: Dunedin, ISBN 1-903765-89-0 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  • Higham, Nick J. (1993), The Kingdom of Northumbria AD 350–1100, Stroud: Sutton, ISBN ISBN 0-86299-730-5 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  • Hudson, Benjamin (2004), "Áed mac Néill (d. 879)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, retrieved 2007-02-15
  • Hudson, Benjamin T. (2004), "Óláf the White (fl. 853–871)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 2007-10-25
  • Hudson, Benjamin (2005), Viking Pirates and Christian Princes: Dynasty, Religion and Empire in the North Atlantic, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-516237-4
  • Keynes, Simon (1997), "The Vikings in England, c. 790–1016", in Sawyer, Peter (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 48–82, ISBN 0-19-285434-8
  • Lapidge, Michael, ed. (1999), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, ISBN 0-631-22492-0
  • Lönnroth, Lars (1997), "The Vikings in History and Legend", in Sawyer, Peter (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 83–109, ISBN 0-19-285434-8
  • MacFirbis, Duald (1905), Bugge, Alexander (ed.), On the Fomorians and the Norsemen, Christiania [Oslo]: J. C. Gundersens for the Norske historiske kildeskriftfond, retrieved 2008-02-16
  • McTurk, Rory (2006), "Kings and kingship in Viking Northumbria", The Thirteenth International Saga Conference, retrieved 2008-02-16
  • Miller, Sean (1999), "Edmund", in Lapidge, Michael (ed.), The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England, Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 159–160, ISBN 0-631-22492-0
  • Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (2006), General: Vikings in Ireland (PDF), CELT:Corpus of Electronic Texts, retrieved 2008-01-16
  • Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (1998), "The Vikings in Scotland and Ireland in the Ninth Century" (PDF), Peritia, 12: 296–339, retrieved 2007-12-01{{citation}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Ó Corráin, Donnchadh (1997), "Ireland, Wales, Man and the Hebrides", in Sawyer, Peter (ed.), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 83–109, ISBN 0-19-285434-8
  • Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (1995), Early Medieval Ireland 400–1200, Longman History of Ireland, London: Longman, ISBN 0-582-01565-0
  • Radner, Joan N., ed. (2004), Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts, retrieved 2007-02-10 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |origdate= ignored (|orig-date= suggested) (help)
  • Radner, Joan N. (1999), "Writing history: Early Irish historiography and the significance of form" (PDF), Celtica, 23: 312–325, ISBN 1-85500-190-X, retrieved 2007-08-20
  • Sawyer, Birgit; Sawyer, Peter (1993), Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation circa 800–1500, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, ISBN 0-8166-1739-2
  • Sawyer, Peter, ed. (1997), The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings, Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-285434-8
  • Sawyer, Peter (1982), Kings and Vikings: Scandinavia and Europe AD 700–1100, London: Methuen, ISBN 0-415-04590-8
  • Smyth, Alfred P. (1984), Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000, New History of Scotland, London: E. J. Arnold, ISBN 0-19-280139-2
  • Stenton, Frank M. (1971), Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-280139-2
  • Sturluson, Snorri (1964), Hollander, Lee M. (ed.), Heimskringla: History of the Kings of Norway, Austin: University of Texas Press, ISBN 0-292-73061-6
  • Swanton, Michael (1996), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, New York: Routledge, ISBN 0-415-92129-5
  • Tunstall, Peter, ed. (2005), The Tale of Ragnar's Sons, retrieved 2008-02-16
  • Walsh, Annie (1922), Scandinavian relations with Ireland during the Viking period, Dublin: Talbot Press, retrieved 2008-02-16
  • Whitelock, Dorothy (1969), "Fact and Fiction in the Legend of St. Edmund", Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology, 31: 217–233, retrieved 2008-02-16
  • Woolf, Alex (2007), From Pictland to Alba, 789–1070, The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-1234-5 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: checksum (help)
  • Wormald, Patrick (1982), "The Ninth Century", in Campbell, John; John, Eric; Wormald, Patrick (eds.), The Anglo-Saxons, London: Phaidon, pp. 132–159, ISBN 0-14-014395-5

Scribbles

[edit]
  • Smyth, Warlords: @148, sack of Crowland in 868 (Pseudo-Ingulf?); @151, son of Ragnar ([851] "... Danes ... possibly led by Ragnar Lodbrok and his son Ivar", WTF?, further Ragnar nonsense @152; @158 (Great Army); @160; @190 (GmF); @200 ("claims to York"); @215, Dumbarton &c.
  • Downham, "Cearbhall"
  • Ó Cróinín, Early Medieval Ireland: @251; @252; @253-4
  • Wormald, "The Ninth Century": @145; @148
  • Sawyer (ed), Ill. Hist. Vikings: @13: @54; @90; @92; @97
  • Boyer, Les Vikings: @156 (cf Ragnar Lodbrok