Ivar the Boneless
King of Jorvik
Ivar the Boneless (Old Norse: Ívarr hinn Beinlausi [ˈiːˌwɑrː ˈhinː ˈbɛinˌlɔuse]; died c. 873), also known as Ivar Ragnarsson, was a Viking leader who led invasions into England and Ireland. According to the Tale of Ragnarr Loðbrók, he was the son of Aslaug and her husband Ragnar Loðbrok, and was the brother of Björn Ironside, Halvdan (or Hvitserk), Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye, and Ragnvald. However, it is not known whether this is historically accurate. Ivar is sometimes regarded as the same person as Ímar, a Viking king of Dublin between 870 and 873.
It is unclear why Ivar acquired the nickname "boneless". Some sagas claim that he was born with a skeletal condition which left him unable to walk, while others suggest that he was merely impotent.
Sources
According to the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok, Ivar's bonelessness was the result of a curse. His mother, Aslaug, Ragnar's third wife, was described as a völva, a seer or clairvoyant. Aslaug suggested that she and her husband wait for three nights before consummating their marriage after a long separation while he was in England raiding. However, Ragnar was passionate after such a long separation and did not heed her words.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Ivar the Boneless” is king of Jorvik. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Ivar, Boneless and King, not as a finished interpretation.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q350321. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference.
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This entry incorporates text from “Ivar the Boneless” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.