Ingwær (also referred to as Ingvar, Ivar or Ivarr; ) was a Norse

King of Northumbria Northumbria, a kingdom of Angles (tribe), Angles, in what is now northern England and Lothian, south-east Scotland, was initially divided into two kingdoms: Bernicia and Deira. The two were first united by King Æthelfrith around the year 604, an ...

. According to

Æthelweard Æthelweard, also spelled Ethelweard, Aethelweard, Athelweard, etc., is an Anglo-Saxon male name. It may refer to: * King Æthelweard of the Hwicce (''fl''. 7/8th century) * King Æthelweard of East Anglia (''fl.'' mid-9th century) * Æthelweard ( ...

's ''Chronicon'' he was a co-king of Northumbria along with his brothers

Eowils and Halfdan Eowils and Halfdan (Healfdan) were kings in Danish (Viking) ruled Northumbria in the early tenth century. Following the death of Alfred the Great in 899 the throne was disputed between his son Edward the Elder and Æthelwold, a son of Alfred's ...

, though the ''

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...

'' does not mention him. By Æthelweard's account he died at the

Battle of Tettenhall The Battle of Tettenhall (sometimes called the Battle of Wednesfield or Wōdnesfeld) took place, according to the chronicler Æthelweard (historian), Æthelweard, near Tettenhall on 5 August 910. The allied forces of Mercia and Wessex met an a ...

alongside his brothers in 910.

Biography

Following the

Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...

victory at the

Battle of the Holme The Battle of the Holme took place in East Anglia on 13 December 902 where the Anglo-Saxon men of Wessex and Kent fought against the Danelaw and East Anglian Danes. Its location is unknown but may have been Holme in Huntingdonshire (now admin ...

in 902 and the defeat of

Æthelwold's Revolt Æthelwold's Revolt was an attempt by Æthelwold ætheling to seize the Anglo-Saxon throne from Edward the Elder after the death of Alfred the Great in 899. It ended when Æthelwold was killed in battle in 902 while fighting alongside his Danish ...

the three brothers Eowils, Halfdan, and Ingwaer were among the claimants to Viking

Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...

, and were able to successfully establish their rule. The population of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

was boosted in 902 by the arrival of the Vikings of Dublin who were ejected from the city that year. Throughout the first decade of the tenth century the Viking kings of Northumbria, and the Viking king of

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

, carried out raids on Anglo-Saxon lands to test the resolve of

Edward the Elder Edward the Elder (870s?17 July 924) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 899 until his death in 924. He was the elder son of Alfred the Great and his wife Ealhswith. When Edward succeeded to the throne, he had to defeat a challenge from his cousi ...

, the new king of

Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...

. In 910 the three co-kings marched an army south and attacked Wessex. They were driven back by the Anglo-Saxons, and were pursued until Edward's forces caught up with them at

Tettenhall Tettenhall is a historic village within the City of Wolverhampton, in the county of the West Midlands, England. Tettenhall became part of Wolverhampton district in 1966, along with Bilston, Wednesfield and parts of Willenhall, Coseley and ...

on the fifth of August. In the ensuing

battle A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force co ...

Eowils, Halfdan and Ingwær were killed.

Identity

The identity of Ingwær and his brothers, and the nature of their rule, is subject to some debate. No coins bearing their names are known and it is possible they each ruled different parts of Northumbria, or even that they were simply commanders in the Viking army rather than kings, and their identification as such by contemporary sources is erroneous. Ingwær is known to history through

's Latin version of the ''

''; in the extant

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

manuscripts he does not appear, only his brothers Eowils and Halfdan. The names of the three brothers are equivalent to the names of

Ímar Ímar ( ; died c. 873) was a powerful Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the progenitor of the Uí Ímair dynasty, who would go on to dominate the Irish Sea region for several centuries. He was the son o ...

Auisle Auisle or Óisle ( or ; died c. 867) was a Viking leader in Ireland and Scotland in the mid-late ninth century. He was the son of the king of Lochlann, identified in the non-contemporary '' Fragmentary Annals of Ireland'' as Gofraid, and brothe ...

, and

Halfdan Ragnarsson Halfdan Ragnarsson (; or ''Healfdene''; ; died 877) was a Viking leader and a commander of the Great Heathen Army which invaded the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England starting in 865. Halfdan was one of six sons of Ragnar Lodbrok named in Norse ...

, three Vikings active in the British Isles in the ninth century who may have been brothers.

David Dumville David Norman Dumville (5 May 1949 – 8 September 2024) was a British medievalist and Celtic scholar. Life and career Dumville was born on 5 May 1949 to Norman Dumville and Eileen Florence Lillie Dumville (née Gibbs). He attended Emmanuel Coll ...

has suggested this similarity could indicate Ingwær, Eowils and Halfdan are from the same family as the earlier trio, the

Uí Ímair The Uí Ímair (; meaning ‘''scions of Ivar’''), also known as the Ivar dynasty or Ivarids, was a Norse-Gael dynasty which ruled much of the Irish Sea region, the Kingdom of Dublin, the western coast of Scotland, including the Hebrides and ...

Dumville Dumville is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bush Dumville (born 1945), Canadian politician *David Dumville David Norman Dumville (5 May 1949 – 8 September 2024) was a British medievalist and Celtic scholar. Life and car ...

, pp. 88–89 According to

Clare Downham Clare Downham is an English academic, a medievalist and historian of Ireland and Britain and the Vikings, specialising in the era 400 to 1350. Career She studied for degrees in Medieval History at the University of St Andrews and in Anglo-S ...

, "the coincidence is perhaps too striking to be ignored".

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingwaer Anglo-Saxon warriors Monarchs of Jorvik 910 deaths 10th-century English monarchs Year of birth unknown Monarchs killed in action Vikings killed in battle Norse monarchs 10th-century Vikings