THE SAGA OF PRINCE HELGI ‘ARROW ODD’ ERIKSON Has Been Added to The Site Under the New Heading The VARANGIANS / UKRAINIANS Book Series – The True History of ‘The Great Viking Manifestation of Medieval Europe’© and the below Post Covers CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
The Death of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson
BOOK THREE: THE SAGA OF PRINCE HELGI ‘ARROW ODD’ ERIKSON
A Novel By Brian Howard Seibert
© Copyright by Brian Howard Seibert
WRITER’S UNCUT EDITION
(Contains Scenes of Violence and Sexuality Consistent with the Viking Period)
(May be Offensive to Some)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
14.0 THE DEATH OF RAGNAR ‘LOTHBROK’ SIGURDSON (Circa 863 AD)
(863 AD) Count Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ could remember it as though it had happened yesterday. His wife, Princess Aslaug, the witch Kraka, had been awakened by a dream. She saw her son dying out on the ice, and she blamed his half-brother for it. “It’s Erik’s fault!” she had called out in her sleep. “Roller shall die because of the snow! They both shall die because of the snow!” Ragnar woke his wife and asked her what she had dreamed. She told him that she had seen her son and Erik battling on ice with Westmar’s berserks, but the bone skates Erik had built to protect themselves would not work because snow had covered the ice. They would be slaughtered unless a suitable sacrifice was made to Odin.
Then Ragnar sacrificed himself, offered himself up to Odin, to stop the snows. He marked himself with a spear, got himself two longships, a ship for each son saved, filled them with grey-grizzled Norse warriors and set off to attack his old enemy, King AElla of Northumbria. The Northumbrian Anglish king had long ago lost his kingdom to Ragnar and his sons, but now Ragnar deprived him of the small county in Mercia that AElla had been gifted under the protection of the Mercian king. But the Anglish king had fled south beyond the Vik king’s reach, so Ragnar took his two ships south and he attacked Frankia next. He recaptured all the Hraes Trading Company stations King Charles ‘the Bald’ had taken from him and later he’d even sacked Rouen and Paris, but he always kept in mind who he had originally planned to attack. When his sons in York had taken warfleets east to the great Battle of the Goths and the Huns and one had even died there, King AElla had used the respite to take back York for himself, so, when Ragnar felt the time was right, he had Frankish shipbuilders craft him two of the largest double masted knars ever built and he equipped them handsomely and manned them with as many fine warriors as the ships could carry. He had marked himself for Odin to save two sons, so he always limited himself to two ships, but he wanted to attack King AElla of Northumbria with as many men as the large knars could hold and they were enormous ships. He learned that his wife, Kraka, did not approve of the idea because she came to him in a dream and told him the English coast was not fit for such ships, only for longships, but Ragnar did not listen to her advice. Quite true to her dream message, the ships proved very difficult to handle in the North Sea and were damaged by a storm. But Ragnar did manage to beach them safely with his army intact on the coast of Northumbria and they began to ravage and burn.
When King AElla of Northumbria learned of the pillaging army, he mustered an overwhelming force and crushed Ragnar’s army. They captured the old merchant warrior and held him for a long time under terrible conditions, but he refused to die for them. Ragnar demanded a death befitting a warrior who had marked himself with a spear for Odin. But King AElla was afraid to kill him; afraid of what his sons would do. So, he held a feast for Ragnar in his longhall in Castle York. He invited all his nobles and they were sworn to secrecy and during the feast Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson was brought into the center of the hall and was fed the fine highseat cuts and the king’s best wine while AElla selected twelve of his finest nobles and gave them poison slaked swords out of his armoury. When the food was done and Ragnar had finished his wine he stood up and servants took his stool away and chained his hands to a tall post in the middle of the hall between the two sets of highseats and the Anglish royals looked down from the highseats and it seemed as though Ragnar was in a fight pit, a blood-snake pit. The twelve nobles circled around Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ like vultures spiralling down on a carcass and a poisoned blood-snake would flash out and strike Ragnar and he would stumble from the blow and the circling would continue and then another blood-snake would strike and cut him and a new wound spurted blood across the floor of AElla’s great hall. Ten more times the blood-snakes struck, and the poison drove Ragnar to his knees, each of the dozen wounds on his body no worse than the others, but cumulatively fatal. No one person could be blamed for striking the mortal blow that killed Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson, and certainly not King AElla, so the feast carried on for another hour while Ragnar sang his death dirge as he succumbed to the poison:
“(I) We fought with swords: when in the Land of the Goths I slew a fire breathing dragon and my reward was the beauteous Princess Aslaug of Volsunga. Thence I was deemed a man: they called me Lothbrok from that slaughter. I thrust the monster through with my spear, with the steel producing in splendid reward, the Red Gold Hoard of Byzantium.
“(II) We fought with swords: I was very young when to the East, in the straits of Eirar, we gained rivers of wounds for the ravenous wolf, ample food for the yellow-footed fowl. There the hard iron sung upon the lofty helmets. The whole ocean was one wound. The raven waded in the blood of the slain.
“(III) We fought with swords: we lifted high our lances; when I had numbered twenty years, and everywhere acquired great renown. We conquered eight barons at the mouth of the Danube. We procured ample entertainment for the eagle in that slaughter. Bloody sweat fell in the ocean of wounds. A host of men there lost their lives.
“(IV) We fought with swords: we enjoyed the fight, when we sent the inhabitants of Helsing to the hall of Odin. We sailed up the Vistula. Then the sword acquired spoils, the whole ocean was one wound, the earth grew red with reeking gore, the sword grinned at the coats of mail, the sword cleft the shields asunder.
“(V) We fought with swords: I well remember that no one fled that day in the battle before in the ships Herauder fell. There does not a fairer warrior divide the ocean with his vessels. This prince ever brought to the battle a gallant heart.
“(VI) We fought with swords: the army cast away their shields. Then flew the spear to the breasts of the warriors. The sword in the fight cut the very rocks, the shield was all besmeared with blood, before king Rafno fell, our foe. The warm sweat ran down from the heads onto the coats of mail.
“(VII) We fought with swords: before the Isles of Indir. We gave ample prey for the ravens to rend in pieces, a banquet for the wild beasts that feed on flesh. At that time all were valiant, it was difficult to single out any one. At the rising of the sun, I saw the lances pierce, the bows darted the arrows from them.
“(VIII) We fought with swords: loud was the din of arms; before King Eistin fell in the field. Thence, enriched with golden spoils, we marched to fight in the land of Vals. There the sword cut the paintings of the shields. In the meeting of helmets, the blood ran from the wounds, it ran down from the cloven skulls of men.
“(IX) We fought with swords: before Bornholm we held bloody shields, we stained our spears. Showers of arrows broke the shield in pieces. The bow sent forth the glittering steel. Volnir fell in the conflict, of whom there was not a greater king. Wide on the shores lay the scattered dead, the wolves rejoiced over their prey.
“(X) We fought with swords: in the Flemings land the battle widely raged before king Freyr fell therein. The blue steel all reeking with blood fell at length upon the golden mail. Many a virgin bewailed the laughter of that morning. The beasts of prey had ample spoil.
“(XI) We fought with swords: before Angleland. There saw I thousands lie dead in the ships: we failed to the battle for six days before the army fell. There we celebrated a Mass of weapons. At rising of the sun Valdiofur fell before our swords.
“(XII) We fought with swords: at Bardafyrda a shower of blood rained from our weapons. Headlong fell the pallid corpse a prey for the hawks. The bow gave a twanging sound. The blade sharply bit the coats of mail, it bit the helmet in the fight. The arrow sharp with poison and all besprinkled with bloody sweat ran to the wound.
“(XIII) We fought with swords: before the bay of Hiadning we held aloft magic shields in the play of battle. Then might you see men, who rent shields with their swords. The helmets were spattered in the sweat of warriors. The pleasure of that day was like having a fair virgin placed beside one in bed.
“(XIV) We fought with swords: in the Northumbrian land a furious storm descended upon the shields, many a lifeless body fell to the earth. It was about the time of the morning, when the foe was compelled to fly in the battle. There the sword sharply bit the polished helm. The pleasure of that day was like killing a young widow at the highest feat of the table.
“(XV) We fought with swords: in the isles of the south. There Herthiose proved victorious. There died many of our valiant warriors. In the shower of arms Rogvaldur fell: I lost my son. In the play of arms came the deadly spear: his lofty crest was dyed with gore. The birds of prey bewailed his fall: they left him that prepared them banquets.
“(XVI) We fought with swords: in the Irish plains the bodies of the warriors lay intermingled. The hawk rejoiced at the play of swords. The Irish king did not act the part of the eagle. Great was the conflict of sword and buckler. King Marstan was slain in the bay and given as prey to the hungry ravens.
“(XVII) We fought with swords: the spear resounded and the banners shone upon the coats of mail. I saw many a warrior fall in the morning, many a hero in the contention of arms. Here the sword reached betimes the heart of my son: it was Egill deprived Agnar of life. He was a youth, who never knew what it was to fear.
“(XVIII) We fought with swords: at Skioldunga we kept our words, we carved out with our weapons a plenteous banquet for the wolves of the sea. The ships were all besmeared with crimson, as if for many days the maidens had brought and poured forth wine. All rent was the mail in the clash of arms.
“(XIX) We fought with swords: when Harold fell. I saw him struggling in the twilight of death; that young chief so proud of his flowing locks: he who spent his mornings among the young maidens: he who loved to converse with the handsome widows.
“(XX) We fought with swords: we fought three kings in the isle of Lindis. Few had reason to rejoice that day. Many fell into the jaws of the wild-beasts. The hawk and the wolf tore the flesh of the dead: they departed glutted with their prey. The blood of the Irish fell plentifully into the ocean, during the time of that slaughter.
“(XXI) We fought with swords: at the isle of Onlug. The uplifted weapon bit the shields. The gilded lance grated on the mail. The traces of that fight will be seen for ages. There kings marched up to the play of arms. The mores of the sea were stained with blood. The lances appeared like flying dragons.
“(XXII) We fought with swords: death is the happy portion of the brave, for he stands the foremost against the storm of weapons. He, who flies from danger, often bewails his miserable life. Yet how difficult is it to rouse up a coward to the play of arms? The dastard feels no heart in his bosom.
“(XXIII) We fought with swords: young men should march up to the conflict of arms – man should meet man and never give way. In this hath always consisted the nobility of the warrior. He who aspires to the love of his mistress ought to be dauntless in the clash of arms.
“(XXIV) We fought with swords: now I find for certain that we are drawn along by fate. Who can evade the decrees of destiny? Could I have thought the conclusion of my life reserved for AElla; when almost expiring I shed torrents of blood? When I launched forth my ships into the deep? When in the Scottish gulphs I gained large spoils for the wolves?
“(XXV) We fought with swords: this fills me still with joy, because I know a banquet is preparing by the father of the gods. Soon, in the splendid hall of Odin, we shall drink beer out of the shared horns of our enemies. A brave man shrinks not at death. I shall utter no repining words as I approach the palace of the gods.
“(XXVI) We fought with swords: oh that the sons of Aslaug knew; oh that my children knew the sufferings of their father! that numerous blood snakes slaked with poison tear me to pieces! Soon would they be here! Soon would they wage bitter war with their swords! I gave a mother to my children from whom they inherit a valiant heart!
“(XVII) We fought with swords: now I touch on my last moments. I receive a deadly hurt from a serpent. A viper inhabits the hall of my heart. Soon may all my sons blacken their swords in the blood of AElla. They wax red with fury! They burn with rage! Those gallant youths will not rest till they have avenged their father!
“(XXVIII) We fought with swords: battles fifty and one have been fought under my Raven banners. From my early youth I learnt to dye my sword in crimson: I never yet could find a king more valiant than myself. The gods now invite me to them! Death is not to be lamented!
“(XXIX) ‘Tis with joy I cease. The goddesses of destiny are come to fetch me. Odin hath sent them from the habitation of the gods. I may be joyfully received into the highest seat; I may quaff full goblets among the gods. The hours of my life are past away. I die laughing!
“(XXX) When my young porkers learn of how their old boar has died, they shall surely free me from this pit of snakes,” he finally cried and then he collapsed.
King AElla suddenly became fearful of the sons of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ and he asked his young daughter, Princess Blaeja, who was a healer, to go over and revive him but she said, “It is too late. He is dead.”
“What did he cry out at the end?” AElla asked.
“He said that his young porkers, meaning sons, shall free the old boar, being him, from this pit of snakes, meaning us,” she answered.
“He must have been delirious to think that that might happen.”
“I think he’s cursed us,” she replied. “I told you not to torture Ragnar or use death by poison blood-snakes to kill him. You should have put him and his men in those god awful knars and sent him on his way back to Frankia.”
“How has he cursed us? He just babbled about pigs!”
“He has made us the snakes and his sons are the swine, mortal enemies of snakes. If a farmer’s fields are being overrun by snakes he lets his swine out into the fields and they kill and eat all the snakes. They are impervious to poison. His sons shall be let out onto the battlefields of Northumbria and they shall kill all the snakes and set Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’s spirit free. I fear, dear father, that…we…are…focked!”
But there was even more to Ragnar’s words than that. The City of York had originally been called Eburakon by the Britons, meaning place of the Yew tree, the saplings that the famous Briton Yew bows were fashioned from. When the Romans conquered Briton they Latinized the name as Eboracum and when they left to defend the Empire, the Angles conquered York and they renamed it Eorforwic, meaning the Village of the Boar and when King Ragnar and his Norse Danes conquered York, they left it as that, and it was not called Jorvik until later. When King Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson had called his sons young porkers and had referred to himself as the Old Boar, he was reinforcing his rightful claim to the Village of the Boar, and his sons as the rightful heirs, right into the wording of his curse, compounding the meanings of his words, as skalds of the time were wont to do. The dual nature of the curse required a duality of vengeance. Perhaps this inspiration had come to him with the approach of death, for he was not noted as a gifted skald, as was his son, Prince Erik ‘Bragi’ Ragnarson, but the healer, Princess Blaeja, had been charged by her father, King AElla, to prepare the poison that had been slaked upon the twelve blood-snake swords, and she had mixed an opioid into the apothecary drug to take a bit of the bite out of the blades and that, too, could have brought the poet out in the Old Vik King.
Chapter 15: PRINCESS OLVOR’S SCALE MAIL SHIRT of BOOK 3: THE SAGA OF PRINCE HELGI ‘ARROW ODD’ ERIKSON shall follow on next Post.
Note: This website is about Vikings and Varangians and the way they lived over a thousand years ago. The content is as explicit as Vikings of that time were and scenes of violence and sexuality are depicted without reservation or apology. Reader discretion is advised.
The VARANGIANS / UKRAINIANS or The Nine Books of Saxo’s Danish History Per Brian Howard Seibert
BOOK ONE: The Saga of King Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson
King Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ Sigurdson’s third wife, Princess Aslaug, was a young survivor of the Saga of the Volsungs and was a daughter of King Sigurd ‘the Dragon-Slayer’ Fafnirsbane, so this is where Ragnar’s story begins in almost all the ancient tales (except Saxo’s). In our series, we explore this tail end of the Volsungs Saga because King Sigurd appears to be the first ‘Dragon-Slayer’ and King Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ would seem to be the second so, it is a good opportunity to postulate the origins of Fire Breathing Dragons and how they were slain. King Ragnar would lose his Zealand Denmark to the Anglish Danes of Jutland, who spoke Anglish, as did the majority of Vikings who attacked England, which spoke both Anglish and Saxon languages, sometimes mistakenly called a common Anglo-Saxon language. The Angles and Saxons of England never really did get along, as shall be demonstrated in the following books. King Ragnar assuaged the loss of Zealand by taking York or Jorvik, the City of the Boar, in Angleland and Stavanger Fjord in Thule from which he established his Nor’Way trade route into Scythia.
BOOK TWO: The Saga of Prince Erik ‘Bragi’ Ragnarson
Book Two of the Nine Book The Varangians / Ukrainians Series places The Saga of Prince Erik ‘Bragi’ Ragnarson from Book Five of The First Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200 AD) about King Frodi ‘the Peaceful’ into its proper chronological location in history. In 1984, when I first started work on the book, I placed Prince Erik’s birth at circa 800 CE, but it has since been revised to 810 CE to better reflect the timelines of the following books in the series. Saxo had originally placed the saga at the time of Christ’s birth and later experts have placed the story at about 400 CE to correspond with the arrival of the Huns on the European scene but, when Attila was driven back to Asia, the Huns didn’t just disappear, they joined the Khazar Empire, just north of the Caspian Sea, and helped the Khazars control the western end of the famous Silk Road Trade Route. Princes Erik and Roller, both sons of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’, sail off to Zealand to avenge their father’s loss, but Erik falls in love with Princess Gunwar, the sister of the Anglish King Frodi of Jutland and, after his successful Battle Upon the Ice, wherein he destroys the House of Westmar, Erik marries Gunwar and both brothers become King Frodi’s foremost men instead, and the story moves on to the founding of Hraes’ and Gardar Ukraine.
BOOK THREE: The Saga of Prince Helgi ‘Arrow Odd’ Erikson
Book Three, The Saga of Prince Helgi ‘Arrow Odd’ Erikson, recreates Arrow Odd’s Saga of circa 1200 AD to illustrate how Arrow Odd was Prince Helgi (Oleg in Slavic) Erikson of Kiev, by showing that their identical deaths from the bite of a snake was more than just coincidence. The book investigates the true death of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ by poisoned blood-snakes in York or Jorvik, the ‘City of the Boar’, and how his curse of ‘calling his young porkers to avenge the old boar’ sets up a death spiral between swine and snake that lasts for generations. The book then illustrates the famous Battle of the Berserks on Samso, where Helgi ‘Arrow Odd’ and Hjalmar ‘the Brave’ slay the twelve berserk grandsons of King Frodi on the Danish Island of Samso, setting up a death struggle that takes the Great Pagan Army of the Danes from Denmark to ravage Norway and then England and on to Helluland in Saint Brendan’s Newfoundland. A surprise cycle of vengeance manifests itself in the ‘death by snakebite’ of Helgi ‘Arrow Odd’.
BOOK FOUR: The Saga of Prince Ivar ‘the Boneless’ Erikson
Book Four, The Saga of Prince Ivar ‘the Boneless’ Erikson, reveals how Ivar ‘the Boneless’ Ragnarson was actually Prince Eyfur or Ivar (Igor in Slavic) Erikson of Kiev and then King Harde Knute ‘the First’ of Denmark. By comparing a twenty year lacuna in the reign of Prince Igor in The Hraes’ Primary Chronicle with a coinciding twenty year appearance of a King Harde Knute (Hard Knot) of Denmark in European Chronicles, Prince Igor’s punishment by sprung trees, which reportedly tore him apart, may have rather just left him a boneless and very angry young king. Loyal Danes claimed, “It was a hard knot indeed that sprung those trees,” but his conquered English subjects, not being quite as polite, called him, Ivar ‘the Boneless’. The book expands on the death curse of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’ and the calling of ‘his young porkers to avenge the old boar’ when Ivar leaves his first son, King Gorm (Snake) ‘the Old’, to rule in Denmark and his last son, Prince Svein (Swine) ‘the Old’ to rule in Hraes’, further setting up the death spiral between the swine and snake of the ‘Lothbrok’ curse.
BOOK FIVE: The Saga of Prince Svein ‘the Old’ Ivarson
Book Five, The Saga of Prince Svein ‘the Old’ Ivarson, demonstrates how Prince Sveinald (Sviatoslav in Slavic) ‘the Brave’ of Kiev was really Prince Svein ‘the Old’ Ivarson of Kiev, who later moved to Norway and fought to become King Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ of Denmark and England. But before being forced out of Russia, the Swine Prince sated his battle lust by crushing the Khazars and then attacking the great great grandfather of Vlad the Impaler in a bloody campaign into the ‘Heart of Darkness’ of Wallachia that seemed to herald the coming of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and included the famed 666 Salute of the Army of the Impalers. The campaign was so mortifying that the fifteen thousand pounds of gold that the Emperor of Constantinople paid him to attack the Army of the Impalers seemed not nearly enough, so Prince Svein attacked the Eastern Roman Empire itself. He came close to defeating the greatest empire in the world, but lost and was forced to leave Hraes’ to his three sons. He returned to the Nor’Way and spent twelve years rebuilding Ragnar’s old trade route there.
BOOK SIX: The Saga of Grand Prince Valdamar ‘the Great’ Sveinson
Book Six, The Saga of Grand Prince Valdamar ‘the Great’ Sveinson, establishes how Grand Prince Valdamar (Vladimir in Slavic) ‘the Great’ of Kiev, expanded the Hraes’ Empire and his own family Hamingja by marrying 700 wives that he pampered in estates in and around Kiev. Unlike his father, Svein, he came to the aid of a Roman Emperor, leading six thousand picked Varangian cataphracts against Anatolian rebels, and was rewarded with the hand of Princess Anna Porphyrogennetos of Constantinople, a true Roman Princess born of the purple who could trace her bloodline back to Julius and Augustus Caesar. She was called ‘Czarina’, and after her, all Hraes’ Grand Princes were called ‘Czars’ and their offspring were earnestly sought after, matrimonially, by European royalty.
BOOK SEVEN: The Saga of King Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ Ivarson
In The Saga of King Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ Ivarson, Prince Svein anonymously takes the name of Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ in Norway and befriends the Jarls of Lade in Trondheim Fjord in Norway as he expands the Nor’Way trade route of his grandfather, Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’. He had come close to defeating the Eastern Roman Empire, and still felt that he was due at least a shared throne in Constantinople. He used the gold from the Nor’Way trade to rebuild his legions and his Hraes’ cataphracts and though his brother, King Gorm ‘the Old’, was dead, his son, Sweyn’s nephew, King Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormson had usurped the throne of Denmark and had hired the famed Jomsvikings to attack Prince Sweyn in Norway, setting up the famous Battle of Hjorungavagr in a fjord south of Lade. King Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ would emerge from that confrontation and then he would defeat King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway in the Battle of Svolder in 1000 AD, in an engagement precipitated over the hand of Queen Sigrid ‘the Haughty’ of Sweden. Later he attacked England in revenge for the following St. Brice’s Day Massacre of Danes in 1002 AD and he fought a protracted war with the Saxon King Aethelred ‘the Unready’ that could only be described as the harvesting of the English for sale as slaves in Baghdad and Constantinople. With the help of his son, Prince Valdamar of Kiev, and the legions and cataphracts of Hraes’, he conquered England on Christmas Day of 1013, but victory was not kind to him.
BOOK EIGHT: The Saga of King Canute ‘the Great’ Sweynson
Prince Valdamar ‘the Great’ Sveinson of Kiev, who had supported his father, King Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ of Denmark in attacks upon England left his ‘Czar’ sons in charge of Hraes’ and took over as King Valdamar of England, but the Latin Christian English revolted against his eastern name and Orthodox Christian religion and brought King Aethelred back from exile in Normandy and Valdamar had to return to Hraes’ and gather up the legions he had already sent back after his father’s victory. His half brother was ruling in Denmark and his sons were ruling in Hraes’ so, in 1015 AD Grand Prince Valdamar ‘the Great’ of Kiev was written out of Hraes’ history and in 1016 the Latin Christian Prince Canute ‘the Great’ returned to England to reclaim his throne. He defeated Aethelred’s son, King Edmund ‘Ironside’ of England, at the Battle of Assandun to become King Canute ‘the Great’ of England and later King Knute ‘the Great’ of Denmark and Norway as well. But that is just the start of his story and later Danish Christian Kings would call his saga, and the sagas of his forefathers, The Lying Sagas of Denmark, and would set out to destroy them, claiming that, “true Christians will never read these Sagas”.
BOOK NINE: The Saga of King William ‘the Conqueror’ Robertson
The Third Danish Conquest of Angleland was seen to herald the end of the Great Viking Manifestation of the Middle Ages, but this, of course, was contested by the Vikings who were still in control of it all. Danish Varangians still ruled in Kiev and Danes still ruled the Northern Empire of Canute ‘the Great’, for the Normans were but Danish Vikings that had taken up the French language, and even Greenland and the Newfoundland were under Danish control in a Hraes’ Empire that ran from the Silk Road of Cathay in the east to the Mayan Road of Yucatan in the west. “We are all the children of Ragnar ‘Lothbrok’,” Queen Emma of Normandy often said. Out of sheer spite the Saxons of England took over the Varangian Guard of Constantinople and would continue their fight against the Normans in Southern Italy as mercenaries of the Byzantine Roman Empire. They would lose there as well, when in the Fourth Crusade of 1204, the Norman Danes would sack the City of Constantinople and hold it long enough to stop the Mongol hoards that would crush the City of Kiev. It would be Emperor Baldwin ‘the First’ of Flanders and Constantinople who would defeat the Mongol Mongke Khan in Thrace. But the Mongols would hold Hraes’ for three hundred years and this heralded the end of the Great Viking Manifestation. The Silk Road was dead awaiting Marco Polo for its revival. But the western Mayan Road would continue to operate for another hundred years until another unforeseen disaster struck. Its repercussions would be witnessed by the Spanish conquerors who followed Christopher Columbus a hundred and fifty years later in the Valley of the Mound Builders.
Conclusion:
By recreating the lives of four generations of Hraes’ Ukrainian Princes and exhibiting how each generation, in succession, later ascended to their inherited thrones in Denmark, the author proves the parallels of the dual rules of Hraes’ Ukrainian Princes and Danish Kings to be cumulatively more than just coincidence. And the author proves that the Danish Kings Harde Knute I, Gorm ‘the Old’ and Harald ‘Bluetooth’ Gormson/Sweyn ‘Forkbeard’ were not Stranger Kings, but were Danes of the Old Jelling Skioldung Fridlief/Frodi line of kings who only began their princely careers in Hraes’ and returned to their kingly duties in Denmark with a lot of Byzantine Roman ideas and heavy cavalry and cataphracts.
SeiberTeck: 'The Varangians Series' 