Repton, The British Valhalla To The Great Viking Heathen Army And Ivar The Boneless?
Was Ivar the Boneless, son of Ragnar Lothbrock, buried at Repton in Derbyshire county, England? At first glance the small village of Repton, with its gentle village green does not seem at all remarkable, but over the past 50 years archaeology has gradually revealed its secrets: that Repton was both an Anglo-Saxon royal centre and the final resting place for over 200 members of the Viking Great Heathen Army. For this reason it is referred to locally as Valhalla.
Conversion to Christianity
The Abbey at Repton was founded in circa 600 AD by Saint David, or 60 years later by the Mercian royal family. The written history of Repton dates to 653 AD, when the monk Bede tells that Peada, King of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of which Repton was part, was baptized in order to secure a marriage alliance with the kingdom of Northumbria. In an attempt to convert the whole of Mercia to Christianity, four missionaries were sent there, Diuma, Adda, Betti and Cedd. King Peada however met a bloody end, having been somewhat ironically betrayed by his wife.
King Ælla's messenger before Ragnar Lodbrok's sons, by August Malmström (1857) (Public Domain)
