The real story of Ragnar 'Lothbrok' right out of the Danish Histories! He sails halfway round the known world to slay a fire breathing dragon for the hand of Princess Aslaug. The Saga of Ragnar 'Lothbrok' Sigurdson is about King Ragnar Lothbrok of...
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Healer Witch Diagnoses True Cause of the 'Snake-In-The-Eye'
"The term 'Viking' is derived from the Old Norse _vík_, a bay, and
means 'one who haunts a bay, creek or fjord'."
Allen Mawer, M.A. 'The Vikings'
"Viking comes from Vik-Kings, Viks being the huge fjords cutting into
the coast of the Nor'Way and Kings being the petty kings who lorded
over them; and their people came to be called VIKINGS".
Brian Howard Seibert, B.A. 'The Varangians'
Used in a sentence:
"We're Vikings, from the Viks of the Nor'Way!" King Ragnar 'Lothbrok'
told the East Anglish King for the third focking time.
(Circa 815 AD) King Ragnar and his warfleet were met at the harbour town that served Liere by his sons, Ivar and Siward. Messengers had come home and told the boys to expect the return of their father, the king. They had finally won the battle, but had lost the war. King Fridleif had refused to negotiate an amicable peace and had lost his life in that final battle, but King Ragnar had lost so many men winning it, they could not hold the field against fresh Frankish and Anglish Danish troops that were replacing Fridleif's losses. But Ragnar was confident that King Fridleif's death would set back the Anglish Dane plans by at least a year so he made plans of his own to lead a spring merchant fleet east across the Baltic and then south through Scythia to Baghdad and Constantinople, while his foremost man in Stavanger, Brak, would lead a second merchant fleet across the Nor'Way for trade with the Volga Bulgars and Khazars. He would leave his sons, Ivar and Siward, in charge of Zealand and Skane while he was off trading and when he got back in the fall it would be with paid Roman mercenaries and he would take the war, once more, back to the Schlei and the Anglish Danes before their beloved Danevirk.
Back in Liere, King Ragnar went through his plans with Princes Ivar and Siward and they thought it a fine strategy and looked forward to seeing the rented legions their father had talked about. For enough gold and prospects of booty, an ally of Rome could rent a legion of five thousand Roman foot or a cataphract legion of three thousand Roman knights or both if required. Ragnar had spent much gold while he had been visiting the Hellespont and this attracted the attention of the Emperor Michael and they'd had discussions of King Ragnar's Sor'Way venture and the way Slav hurdles could be overcome along the 'Way. The Romans were particularly interested in serviles, or slaves, to man the oars of their naval fleet, the galleys and biremes and new triremes that gobbled up manpower, and the slaves that the Danes had been bringing from the north, the Anglo-Saxons and Irish and Frisians were all strong and very adept at rowing, so the Emperor was open to supporting the Hraes' or Rhos, as they put it, Trading Company militarily for repayment in serviles and furs and gold. When the Emperor brought up Roman trade tariffs, Ragnar told him flat out that the Hraes' Trading Company paid tariffs to no one, that being the main reason that mercenaries might be required to deal with the many intervening kingdoms between the Danes and Romans. Now the Romans were known to tariff anyone who dealt with them, so it looked as though the trade agreement had hit some rocks, but the Romans really needed the serviles, as they were at war in the Levant and a strong naval presence was required, so the Emperor had relented and gave a verbal approval for tariff-free trade.
