Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr
illustration by Jenny Nyström (1895).
In the Norse sagas, Thora Town-Hart (Old Norse: Þóra Borgarhjǫrtr, Thora Borgarhjört) was a wife of Ragnar Loðbrók, who slew a serpent to win her hand.
In the stories, her father Herrauðr, the earl of Götaland, gave her a small lindworm that grew into a serpent and encircled her bower. Her father promised Þóra to the one who could slay the serpent.
Ragnar went to Västergötland and dressed himself in hairy breeches (whereby he gained his nickname, Loðbrók ("Hairy-Breeks")) that he had treated with tar and sand. He took a spear and approached the serpent. The serpent blew poison at him, but he protected himself with his shield and his clothes. He then stuck the spear through the serpent's heart, cut off the serpent's head, and married Þora.
According to the Tale of Ragnar's Sons (Ragnarssona þáttr), they had two sons, Eiríkr and Agnar, who would both die in battle with Eysteinn Beli, Ragnar's Earl of Sweden. However, before this could occur, Þóra died of an illness.
Ragnar was remarried to Aslaug (Aslög), the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhildr.[1]
Sources
The story appears in Krákumál, the Tale of Ragnar Lodbrok's sons, Ragnar Lodbrok's saga, Gesta Danorum and Bósa saga ok Herrauds. According to the last saga, the lindworm was hatched from an egg that Herrauðr had taken in Bjarmland.
References
Other sources
- McTurk, Rory Studies in Ragnars saga loðbrókar and its Major Scandinavian Analogues (Oxford: The Society for the Study of Mediæval Languages and Literature, 1991) ISBN 978-0-907570-08-0