Ragnar "Lodbrok" Sigurdsson King of DENMARK

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Information copied from Wayne Iverson, World Connect db=wiversrm,rootsweb.com
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Bjørn was one of the major Viking raiders from the mid 850s until 862.During 856-7 he was on the Seine and his name is associated with thevikings who established or took over a base on the island of Oissel wherethey were at last beleagured by Charles the Bald.  They managed to raisethe siege after 12 weeks.  Later he and Hastein made a four year cruisewith 62 ships to Spain, North Africa and Italy and possibly further east.Two of their ships laden with gold, silver and prisoners were capturedby the Moors off the coast of Spain.  They were next at Guadalquivar butdid not prosper and some say they went upriver as far as Seville.  Thenthrough the Straits of Gibralter to Algeciras to plunder and next to theNorth African shore in the Cabo Tres Forcas region where they rounded upprisoners for ransom and took a few with them who eventually wound up inIreland.  Then it was back to Spain's Murcia coast, the Balearics,southern France and sacked Narbonne and then wintered on the island ofCamargue in the Rhone delta.  They raided Arles, Nimes and Valence buttook a beating from the Franks and went to the Ligurian Riviera and thenraided Pisa and east to Alexandria, raided Luna mistakenly thinking itwas Rome, and by 861were back at Gibralter where the Moorish fleetdefeated them.  The survivors reached Navarre and captured Pamplona andransomed its prince and in 862 one 20 of the 62 ships sailed safely backinto the mouth of the Loire.