Bjørn was one of the major Viking raiders from the mid 850s until 862. During 856-7 he was on the Seine and his name is associated with the vikings who established or took over a base on the island of Oissel where they were at last beleagured by Charles the Bald. They managed to raise the siege after 12 weeks. Later he and Hastein made a four year cruise with 62 ships to Spain, North Africa and Italy and possibly further east. Two of their ships laden with gold, silver and prisoners were captured by the Moors off the coast of Spain. They were next at Guadalquivar but did not prosper and some say they went upriver as far as Seville. Then through the Straits of Gibralter to Algeciras to plunder and next to the North African shore in the Cabo Tres Forcas region where they rounded up prisoners for ransom and took a few with them who eventually wound up in Ireland. Then it was back to Spain's Murcia coast, the Balearics, southern France and sacked Narbonne and then wintered on the island of Camargue in the Rhone delta. They raided Arles, Nimes and Valence but took a beating from the Franks and went to the Ligurian Riviera and then raided Pisa and east to Alexandria, raided Luna mistakenly thinking it was Rome, and by 861were back at Gibralter where the Moorish fleet defeated them. The survivors reached Navarre and captured Pamplona and ransomed its prince and in 862 one 20 of the 62 ships sailed safely back into the mouth of the Loire.
Bjorn (Ironside) Ragnarsson 
