
Scandinavia, Iceland, Greenland, and the Vikings
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The Viking Age
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Meet the Aesir: Norse Mythology & Cosmology
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How Snorri Saved Civilization: The Icelandic Sagas
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The Vikings Head West
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Viking Women and their World
As we sailed between former Viking outposts, this series of Viking-related explorations delved deeper into the colorful lives of these visionary explorers who were the dominant economic power between the Fall of Rome and the Crusades. We examined the power vacuum in Europe, which the Vikings filled thanks to their revolution in shipbuilding and the urge to explore beyond the horizons of their own world. We also saw the Vikings control an empire that ultimately stretched from Greenland to Kyiv, and we considered the legacy they left Europe when the Viking Age came to an end.
We considered the lives of Viking women, who shared their brothers’, husbands’, and sons’ thirst for adventure and power. We examined the challenges of life on the home front as well the battlefield, and reviewed the stories of bold and brave women in the sagas and real life.
We also examined Norse mythology and cosmology more closely, learning how it survived and was preserved in Iceland by Snorri Sturluson in his magisterial Prose Edda. We met deities such as Thor, Loki, Odin, and Freya as well as the other mythical creatures who inhabit the nine worlds of the Norse cosmology. Finally, we explored the rituals and festivals of the Norse pagans, which still resonate in our own traditions today, and we looked at the ways this rich belief system has inspired Western literature from Wagner to Tolkien and beyond.
Recommended Reading
Non Fiction and Biography
Viking scholar Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir examines the lives of Viking women and the roles they played. Drawing on known sources and the portrayal of women int t the legendary Sagas, Friðriksdóttir helps us understand the passions and motivations of Viking women.
Enjoy my podcast interview with Jóhanna Katrín Friðriksdóttir about the book.
Janet Hartley’s magisterial history of Russia through the vehicle of its largest river begins with ground-breaking research about the trading networks along the Volga at Bolgar and Itil. Enjoy my conversation with Professor Hartley about the book for the New Books Network podcast.
The Vikings were obsessed with dying good deaths, and this book delves into just why that was. Was it the drive to join the mighty in Valhalla? To ensure that those who came after had respect for a life well-lived? And was it this obsession that drove the Vikings to conquer much of Europe? Tom Shippey explores these issues and much more besides. This is a fantastic insight into the Viking mindset.
Without the Viking longship, the Viking empire would not have been feasible or possible. This authoritative study of this maritime phenomenon from the British Museum draws on information from the Roskilde 6 ship from Denmark. An excellent introduction and detailed and informative book on this fascinating topic.
Noted historian Tom Holland considers the pervading fear of the End of Times, which gripped the known world in the approach to the millennium. The terrifying Viking raids were seen as a sign of this impending doom. But when the world didn’t end, both the Christian and pagan worlds had to come to a better understanding of each other. This is a fascinating study into the mindset of the early medieval European.
Michael Pye’s exploration of the people and politics of the North Sea is an engrossing read — his narrative style is addictive and he delves into topics that are not ocovered in detail in other studies of the region. Highly recommended as is the audio version.
This brilliantly-illustrated coffee table book is out of print, but available via second-hand dealers. For those looking for a more in-depth study of the Hansa, this is the best. The chapters cover life in the Hansa towns, guilds, art of the age, shipping, laws, and commerce. A treasure trove of information about the Hansa.
The Sagas of the Icelanders
Watch, Listen, Learn, and Enjoy
Audio recordings, podcasts, lecture series, TV series, and films
The Widow Queen has all the qualities of a historical saga in the tradition of Bernard Cornwell, Sharon Kay Penman, or Philippa Gregory. Set in the Baltic littoral, the story begins in the last years of the 10th century; just when Christianity is on the rise in the former Viking homelands, and the sea kings of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden are pitted against one another for their newly minted crowns. [Read more of my review of this engrossing saga on my website].
Noah Tetzner brings passion and drive to this expansive, multi-season podcast, dedicated to the Lost History of the Vikings. With mini-series within the podcast about different topics, interviews with eminent scholars, and news of new archeological discoveries, this one podcast has it all! I always learn something from these episodes!
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