Sigurd Snake-in-the-Eye

Sigurd Snake-in-the-eye (Old Norse: Sigurðr ormr í auga) was a Viking warrior in the middle of the 9th Century. He was one of the sons of the legendary Viking, Ragnar Lothbrok.

"Snake-in-the-eye" as part of Sigurd's name denoted a physical characteristic. He was born with a mark in his eye, described as the image of the Ouroboros (a snake biting its own tail) . The snake mark had been prophesied by his mother Aslaug, the daughter of the Valkyrie Brynhildr.

In modern times, it has been suggested that the mark in Sigurd's eye was a result of a congenital mutation of the PAXCOX6 gene.

As a boy, Sigurd was close to his father and accompanied Ragnar on a hazardous expedition through Russia to the Hellespont. Later on in life he is said to have sojourned for a time in Scotland and the Scottish Islands.

According to most sources, King Ælla of Northumbria killed Ragnar Lothbrok, in about 865, by having him thrown into a pit of snakes According to traditional accounts, Ragnar is reputed to have exclaimed, as he was dying, "How the young pigs would squeal if they knew what the old boar suffers!" Sigurd and his siblings were reportedly informed of their father's fate by an envoy from Ælla. As he heard the news, Sigurd was supposedly so affected that he cut himself to the bone with a knife he held in his hand; his brother Björn Ironside supposedly gripped a spear so tightly that the imprint of his fingers was left in the wood. Sigurd and his brothers swore they would avenge Ragnar's death.

In 866 the brothers crossed the North Sea with a store hær ("Great Army"). Traditional accounts claim that a first attack on Ælla failed. Sigurd's younger brother, Ivar the Boneless, devised a strategy in which the Great Heathen Army occupied and sacked York, to provoke Ælla into engaging on the Vikings' terms. Under Ivar's plan, the Vikings feigned retreat, leading Ælla to underestimate them and become encircled. According to The Tale of Ragnar's Sons (part of the Sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok), Ælla was captured alive and executed afterwards by blood eagle.

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