Norse sagas describe Ragnar Loðbrok being executed via a venomous snake pit, what kinds of snakes would have been available to a 9th century Anglo-Saxon king?
Norse sagas describe Ragnar Loðbrok being executed via a venomous snake pit, what kinds of snakes would have been available to a 9th century Anglo-Saxon king?
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There are three species of snake that are endemic to the British Isles and to Scandinavia. They are:
the European adder (Vipera berus)
the grass snake (Natrix natrix)
and the smooth snake (Coronella austriaca)
Neither region is particularly replete with snake species given their climate, my home state has more species of venomous snakes than all of Scandinavia and the British have snake species, but they are present and are not particularly rare. Likewise, they certainly were more common in the Medieval period and late Antiquity than they are today. So on a purely literal level/interpretation, the existence of a snake pit that could be used for the disposal of particularly troublesome viking raiders, such as Ragnar Lothbrok, is not inherently implausible, even if the logistics of such an undertaking do stretch the imagination somewhat. Common European adders are present in both regions of the world and are sufficiently venomous that repeated bites would be capable of killing someone. While they are not the most venomous snakes in the world, they are capable of severe damage, even healthy adult humans, without medical care.
However, we should not take this at first glance and just assume that this is the end of the story. Literal interpretations can be just fine and dandy, but there is more going on there than meets the eye.
Snake pits are actually not unique to the story of Ragnar Lothbrok, split into the various traditions as it is, but is actually a repeated element to several different Norse stories. The death of the Burgundian king Gunnar is mentioned in two different stories and likewise features the death of a legendary figure in a snake pit, however he can be differentiated with the presence of a harp in a scene depicting his death in a snake pit. So rather than refelcting the real practice of execution via serpent pit, it would be a better idea to understand that the snake pits of these various stories were likely not faithful accounts of execution that reflected real practices, but instead a literary embellishment that had a presence in Scandinavian literary traditions.