In 845 he sailed southward, looking for new worlds to conquer. With an alleged force of 120 ships and 5,000 Viking warriors, he landed in what is now
France, probably at the
Seine estuary, and ravaged West Francia, as the westernmost part of the
Frankish Empire was then known.
Rouen was ravaged and then
Carolivenna, a mere 20 km from St. Denis. The raiders then attacked and captured
Paris. The traditional date for this is 28 March, which is today referred to as Ragnar Lodbrok Day by certain followers of the
Asatru religion. The King of West Francia,
Charlemagne's grandson
Charles the Bald, paid Ragnar a huge amount of money not to destroy the city. Ragnar Lodbrok, according to Viking sources, was satisfied with no less than 7,000 pounds of
silver in exchange for sparing the city. However, that did not stop Ragnar from attacking other parts of France, and it took a long time for the
Franks to drive him out.
Later, Ragnar's sons were to return for more booty. Among their feats was destroying the city of
Rouen several more times. Ultimately, many of them settled there permanently, in a land that became known as
Normandy (for "Northmen", as the Franks called the Scandinavians or the "Nordmenn" as the Norwegians called themselves (which is much more likely)).[
citation needed]
After he was done with France, and after his supposed death in 845, he turned his attention to
England. In 865, he landed in
Northumbria on the north-east coast of England. It is claimed that here he was defeated in battle for the only time, by King
Aelle II of Northumbria.
Aelle's men captured Ragnar, and the King ordered him thrown into a pit filled with poisonous snakes. As he was slowly being bitten to death, he is alleged to have exclaimed "How the little pigs would grunt if they knew the situation of the old boar!", referring to the vengeance he hoped his sons would wreak when they heard of his death.
Alternative versions of the story say that he landed by accident in
East Anglia and there befriended
King Edmund before being killed by a jealous courtier. The murderer escaped to Denmark and blamed Edmund for Lodbrok's demise.