Raven banner
A Viking war banner bearing a raven. Chroniclers say the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok raided England under one, and that the raven’s look in the wind was read as a sign of victory or defeat.
Meaning
The Danish encyclopedia Lex describes the raven banner as a field sign under which the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok are said to have harried England in the 9th century. When the banner unfurled in the wind, the raven seemed to fly, and that was taken as a sign of victory; when it hung slack, of defeat. By tradition, Lex adds, Cnut the Great carried a raven banner against his enemies in England in 1016.
Origin and history
The earliest mention is English. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, for the year 878, records that the brother of Ingwar and Healfden landed in Devon with twenty-three ships and was killed with eight hundred of his men, “and there also was taken the war-flag, which they called the RAVEN”. The raven was Odin’s bird: in Norse myth his two ravens, Huginn and Muninn, fly over the world and bring him news.
See also
Huginn and Muninn, Mjölnir (Thor’s hammer), Gungnir, Sleipnir, Huginn and Muninn, Yggdrasil.
Sources
- Ravnebanner (Lex), Lex, Danmarks Nationalleksikon
- The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (Ingram translation), J. Ingram (trans.), 1823, Project Gutenberg, A.D. 878
- Hugin og Munin (Store norske leksikon), Store norske leksikon
Last reviewed September 26, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research