Far from being just 'wild, barbaric, axe-wielding pirates', the Vikings created complex social institutions, oversaw the coming of Christianity to Scandinavia and made a major impact on European history through trade, travel and far-flung consolidation. This encyclopedic study brings together the latest research on Viking art, burial customs, class divisions, jewellery, kingship, poetry and family life. The result is a rich and compelling picture of an extraordinary civilisation.

Table of Contents

The Viking age and its sources; Scandinavia; the expansion.

About the Author

Else Roesdahl is Reader in Medieval Archaeology at the University of Arhus, Denmark and special Professor in Viking Studues at the University of Nottingham. In 1988 she was awarded the Soren Gyldendal Prize for the Danish edition of THE VIKINGS.

Reviews

A survey of Viking civilization, originally published in Denmark (1987), concentrating on the period c.750-c.1050. One chapter covers sources, and about one-third of the book deals with Viking expansion into Russia, Normandy, the British Isles, Iceland, Greenland, etc. (Only a few pages touch upon activities in North America.) Most of the book surveys the geography, people, society, religion, art, etc., of the Vikings' Scandinavian homelands, stressing the complexity of their civilization. The Vikings is a sober, factual, accurate, though somewhat pedestrian account accessible to laypersons and reflecting recent scholarship. Public or academic libraries needing an up-to-date (post-1980) survey should acquire it. Roesdahl is the author of Viking Age Denmark (State Mutual Bk., 1982)-- J.F. Husband, Framingham State Coll., Mass.