Björn Ironside

Björn Ironside
Legendary king
House	House of Munsö
Religion	Norse Paganism

Björn Ironside (Old Norse: Bjǫrn Járnsíða, Icelandic: Björn Járnsíða, Swedish: Björn Järnsida) was a legendary king of Sweden who lived sometime in the 9th century. Björn Ironside is said to have been the first ruler of the Munsö dynasty. In the early 18th century, a barrow on the island of Munsö was claimed by antiquarians to be Björn Järnsidas hög or Björn Ironside's grave. Hög, from the Old Norse word haugr, means barrow or mound.

See also the tales of Björn Ironside's potential sons and grandsons, including Björn at Haugi, and Eric Björnson, a Scottish Viking warlord.

A powerful Viking chieftain and naval commander, Björn and his mentor and fathers close friend Hastein conducted many (mostly successful) raids in France in a continuation of the tradition initiated by their (legendary) father Ragnar Lothbrok. In 860, Björn led a large Viking raid into the Mediterranean. After raiding down the Iberian coast and fighting their way through Gibraltar, Björn and Hastein pillaged the south of France, where his fleet over-wintered, before landing in Italy where they captured the coastal city of Pisa. They proceeded inland to the town of Luni, which they believed to be Rome at the time, but were unable to breach the town walls. To gain entry a tricky plan was devised: Hastein sent messengers to the bishop to say that, being deathly ill, he had a deathbed conversion and wished to receive Christian sacraments and/or to be buried on consecrated ground within their church. He was brought into the chapel with a small honor guard, then surprised the dismayed clerics by leaping from his stretcher. The Viking party then hacked its way to the town gates, which were promptly opened letting the rest of the army in. Flush with this victory and others around the Mediterranean (including in Sicily and North Africa) Björn returned to the Straits of Gibraltar only to find the Saracen navy from Al-Andalus waiting for him. In the desperate battle that followed, Björn lost 40 ships, largely to a form of Greek fire launched from Saracen catapults. The remainder of his fleet managed to return to Scandinavia, where he lived out his life as a rich man.

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