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It is darkest winter.

In Uppsala, folk from near and far have gathered in a mead house for you all.

The festival to celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring.

The air is thick, a mixture of sweat, earth and honeymead,

which mingles with the swirling smoke rising from the crackling central half.

Music from jaw harps and liars drifts to the highest rafters of the darkening hall.

While the sounds of eating, drinking and dancing raise the volume to that of a raucous din.

All is well, all is merry.

Welcome to this episode of Gone Medieval, I'm Matt Lewis.

We've got something a little bit different for you in today's episode.

We're starting with a reading from a Norse saga.

The myth of how Ragnar Lothbrook got his name to be precise.

That's because today's guest is Caroline Larrington.

You may recognize her from a previous episode about how Norse myths shaped the way we think.

She's a professor of medieval European literature at Oxford University

and has also been awarded the Order of the Falcon by the president of Iceland

for services to Icelandic literature, which is incredibly cool.

Ragnar Lothbrook is part of the Viking Foundation myth,

...