Ubbe, Ubba or Hubba Ragnarsson was a Norse

Norsemen

Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...

 leader during the Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

. Ubbe Ragnarsson was one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar Lodbrok

Ragnar Lodbrok was a Norse legendary hero from the Viking Age who was thoroughly reshaped in Old Norse poetry and legendary sagas.-Life as recorded in the sagas:...

 and, along with his brothers Halfdan

Halfdan Ragnarsson

Halfdan Ragnarsson was a Viking chief and one of the sons of Ragnar Lodbrok with Aslaug. It has been suggested that Halfdan is the same person as Ragnar's son Hvitserk....

 and Ivar the Boneless

Ivar the Boneless

Ivar Ragnarsson nicknamed the Boneless , was a Viking leader and by reputation also a berserker. By the late 11th century he was known as a son of the powerful Ragnar Lodbrok, ruler of an area probably comprising parts of modern-day Denmark and Sweden.-Invader:In the autumn of AD 865, with his...

, a leader of the Great Danish Army

Great Heathen Army

The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Great Army or the Great Danish Army, was a Viking army originating in Denmark which pillaged and conquered much of England in the late 9th century...

.

In 878, a party of Vikings landed on the English coast at Combwich

Combwich

Combwich is a village in the parish of Otterhampton within the Sedgemoor district of Somerset, between Bridgwater and the Steart Peninsula.The village lies on Combwich Reach as the River Parrett flows to the sea and was the site of an ancient ferry crossing. In the Domesday book it was known as...

. There they observed that a number of Saxons

Saxons

The Saxons were a confederation of Germanic tribes originating on the North German plain. The Saxons earliest known area of settlement is Northern Albingia, an area approximately that of modern Holstein...

 had taken refuge in the fort of Cynwit. Ubba was originally part of the Danish invasion of England. Ubba was one of the main leaders of the invasion, also was his brother Ivar. The Vikings proceeded to besiege the fort, expecting the English to surrender eventually from lack of water. Instead of waiting to die of thirst on top of the hill, the Saxons attacked suddenly out of the fortress at dawn, taking the Danes by surprise and winning a great victory. Ubbe was killed by the Saxons under the leadership of Odda of Devon

Odda of Devon

Odda of Devon was the ealdorman of Devon in England in the 9th century, during the reign of Alfred the Great.He was the leader of a Saxon force which defeated a Viking raid in the Battle of Cynuit, England, in 878.- Odda in fiction :...

 at the Battle of Cynuit in Somerset

Somerset

The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

. The town of Hubberston

Hubberston

Hubberston is a coastal village in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It belongs to the parish of Hubberston in the historical hundred of Roose. It is located directly to the west of the larger town of Milford Haven, and is a district of the community of Milford Haven. It is adjacent to the village of Hakin. It...

 in Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

, South Wales

South Wales

South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...

 was named for him.

Little is known about Ubbe Ragnarsson. The information that is available about him is written principally in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is a collection of annals in Old English chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the Chronicle was created late in the 9th century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of Alfred the Great...

.

Other sources

• Keary C. F. The Vikings in Western Christendom (T. Fisher Unwin: London. 1891)
• Schlauch, Margaret, trans. The Saga of the Volsungs: the Saga of Ragnar Lodbrok together with the Lay of Kraka (New York: American Scandinavian Foundation, 1964)