The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction (Very Short Introductions)

169 Pages·2005·3.76 MB·English

by  Julian D. Richards

The Vikings: A Very Short Introduction
Very Short Introductions are for anyone wanting a stimulating
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MACHIAVELLI Quentin Skinner ROMAN BRITAIN Peter Salway
THE MARQUIS DE SADE ROUSSEAU Robert Wokler
John Phillips RUSSELL A. C. Grayling
MARX Peter Singer RUSSIAN LITERATURE
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THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION SPINOZA Roger Scruton
S. A. Smith STUART BRITAIN John Morrill
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Chris Frith and Eve Johnstone Charles Townshend
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SHAKESPEARE Germaine Greer Leofranc Holford-Strevens
SIKHISM Eleanor Nesbitt TRAGEDY Adrian Poole
SOCIAL AND CULTURAL THE TUDORS John Guy
ANTHROPOLOGY TWENTIETH-CENTURY
John Monaghan and BRITAIN Kenneth O. Morgan
Peter Just THE VIKINGS Julian D. Richards
SOCIALISM Michael Newman Wittgenstein A. C. Grayling
SOCIOLOGY Steve Bruce WORLD MUSIC Philip Bohlman
Socrates C. C. W. Taylor THE WORLD TRADE
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR ORGANIZATION
Helen Graham Amrita Narlikar
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CONTEMPORARY ART MANDELA Tom Lodge
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THE CRUSADES PERCEPTION Richard Gregory
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Derrida Simon Glendinning Jack Copeland and
ECONOMICS Partha Dasgupta Diane Proudfoot
THE END OF THE WORLD PHOTOGRAPHY Steve Edwards
Bill McGuire PSYCHIATRY Tom Burns
EXISTENTIALISM Thomas Flynn RACISM Ali Rattansi
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THE FIRST WORLD WAR THE RENAISSANCE
Michael Howard Jerry Brotton
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Malise Ruthven ROMANTICISM Duncan Wu
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Julian D. Richards
THE VIKINGS
A Very Short Introduction
1
3
Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp
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© Julian D. Richards 2005
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First published as a Very Short Introduction 2005
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 0–19–280607–6
978–0–19–280607–9
1357910864 2
Typeset by RefineCatch Ltd, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
TJ International Ltd., Padstow, Cornwall
Contents
List of illustrations ix
1
Vikings then and now 1
2
Early Scandinavian kingdoms 8
3
Pagans and Christians 19
4
Changes in the countryside 29
5
Towns and trade 39
6
Across the ocean: seafaring and overseas expansion 47
7
Settlers in England 63
8
Raiders and traders around the Irish Sea 77
9
Vikings and Picts: genocide or assimilation? 88
10
Landnám in the North Atlantic 97
11
The edge of the world: Greenland and North America 106
12
Reinventing the Vikings 117
Timeline 134
Further reading 137
Index 141
This page intentionally left blank
List of illustrations
1 Red Erik: Danish 8 Russia and the East 59
luxury beer 3
Courtesy of Ceres Brewery, 9 Scandinavian activity in
Denmark
England 65
2 Viking Age
Scandinavia 11 10 Excavations in progress
at Coppergate, York 69
3 Rune stone, Jelling 16
© York Archaeological Trust for
© Julian Richards Excavation and Research Ltd
4 Artist’s impression of the
11 Middleton warrior,
fortress at Fyrkat 16
North Yorkshire 75
From J. Graham-Campbell et al.,
© Department of Archaeology,
Cultural Atlas of the Viking
University of Durham.
World (1994), 57. © Brown
Photo: T. Middlemass
Reference Group
5 Burial mounds, Birka 22 12 Brough of Birsay:
© Julian Richards aerial view 91
Crown copyright, reproduced
6 Aerial view, Hedeby 43
courtesy of Historic Scotland
© Wikinger Museum, Haithabu
7 The Oseberg ship; 13 Westness, Rousay. Male
excavation crew in the boat grave with the prow
mound, 21 September and stern packed with
1904 49 stones to create a central
© Museum of Cultural History, chamber for the body 93
University of Oslo, Norway © Bergen Museum