Ragnar the Prophet

Ragnar the Prophet (c.30 BSE - SE 26) was the founder of Submission, the most widely-practiced religion in the world.

Ragnar was born in the Kingdom of Halogaland approximately 25 to 30 years before the beginning of the Standard Era. He was almost certainly born in a wealthy family, wealthy by the standards of the island, poor by any other standard at the time. He may well have had some claim to nobility, for what such a claim would have been worth. It is well documented within the Traditions that he was a merchant-trader as a young man, travelling quite substantial distances in order to sell furs acquired from trade with the Lapps. From his subsequent career we can know with some certainty that he visited Kaupang and Hedeby on numerous occasions, then blossoming from small hamlet settlements into trading towns (archaeological digs show the growth during this period, nevertheless these were still very small settlements). In these towns he made contacts that would prove useful later in life. He may also have travelled further afield. Some commentators suggest that he encountered monotheists of other religions in this voyages, Trinitarian or Jabrite Christians, or even some sect of one or other minor religions now forgotten. It is impossible to say.

What is certain is that on a voyage north from his home, apparently to buy walrus tusks from the hunter gathers who lived around the White Sea, he became lost and drifted for perhaps many weeks before finding land. It was during this time, now known as the Separation, that he received his first revelation -- he heard what he believed to be the voice of God. This revelation marks the beginnings of the standard calendar SE 0 -- the year of Submission. On his return journey he continued to receive revelations and became convinced of his divine mission to prophesize to his people, and to the world.

Ragnar was reportedly extremely handsome, charismatic and a good persuader -- as a fur trader he would have learned how to convince others. Soon after returning to Halogaland he convinced his wife and family, and the majority of the small community of the truth of his prophethood and revelation. At his direction, Olaf the Companion, a former priest of Odin who had mastered the runic alphabet, first began setting down the revelations Ragnar received from God on parchment paper, which was preserved and subsequently copied to form the Revelations. Ragnar's insistence on creating a written record of his revelations quickly transformed the traditionally oral culture of Scandinavia into a fully literate one.

Once his own community had been converted to Submission, Ragnar set out to spread his message to the nearest center of population and power, the small town of Trondheim in the Trondelag region of Halogaland. He stayed in Trondheim a year, making many converts, but also many enemies, including the King of Halogaland, Harald. Olaf the Companion later recorded Ragnar's teachings and actions during this period in the Epistle to Norwegians. This early material is strongly theological in nature, describing the nature of God, man, and his place in the universe. In winter SE 1 Ragnar and his closest followers were banished from Trondelag on pain of death, and many of the first Submissives were killed in fighting with the pagan Norse.

Thus began the best documented period of Ragnar's life, the exile in Denmark. In first Viborg, then throughout Jutland and Hedeby, the new religion of Submission gained ground. Olaf's Epistle to the Danes describes this phase of the struggle. Much of the material within this Epistle concerns social and legal instruction, and codes of personal conduct. It is clear that it was here, in the more civilized southern marches of Scandinavia, that Ragnar intended to build a society thoroughly intertwined with his religion, a holy community. Attempts to unify Denmark had been made within the previous century, and it is certain that Ragnar's message fell upon willing ears. Unlike in remote Norway, the Danish peoples were more inclined to form a unified community. Many may have already encountered some form of monotheistic thinking in interactions with the Christian Franks, and by providing a Norse religion Ragnar had appealed to both the religious impulses of a changing society and the political trend towards centralisation of power.

Nevertheless the conversion of Denmark took almost ten years. In SE 11 Ragnar led Danish soldiers into the Vestfold. In Kaupang he already had many allies, and soon he had conquered and brought all the lands up to Oslo into the House of Submission. His stunning victories, many without the shedding of blood, forced the other kings and tribal leaders to acknowledge his power -- yet there was still great resistance both from those who feared losing autonomy, and those who remained true to their pagan Gods. The period of exile ended with the Battle of Lade, where King Harald's forces fell before army of Hakon of Senja, one of the earliest Companions and a gifted fighter. King Harald was killed on the field of battle. Trondheim could offer no resistance, and Ragnar returned to Halogaland in triumph.

The later years of the Prophet's life were spent in the attempt to convert the peoples of Vastergotland. He also meticulously prepared for his death and the succession of the leadership of the community he had created. The Epistle to the Swedes, which was recorded by Styrbjorn after Olaf's death, recount much of this overtly political material, concerned with the organization of the society rather than personal conduct. He fell ill and died in Gotland in the year SE 26. His body was cremated and a tomb erected at Pavikan (the Prophet's Tomb, rebuilt in SE 511).

While it is certainly the case that the Scandinavian peoples and society were undergoing striking changes due to inherent economic and demographic forces, and thus proved fertile soil for the religion of Submission, there can be no doubt that the personality and abilities of Ragnar gave Submission its vitality, a vitality that from the outset gave some unity to the Norse (though the Wars of Apostasy still had to be fought), and later to Europe and the world.