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Who were the Vikings, and do they deserve their unsavoury reputation? Through over 100 primary source documents, this fascinating collection weighs the cultural importance and lasting influence of the Vikings.
Medieval Iceland was unique amongst Western Europe, with no foreign policy, no defence forces, no king, no lords, no peasants and few battles. It should have been a utopia yet its literature is dominated by brutality and killing. The reasons for this, argues Jesse Byock, lie in the underlying structures and cultural codes of the islands' social order. 'Viking Age Iceland' is an engaging, multi-disciplinary work bringing together findings in anthropology and ethnography interwoven with historical fact and masterful insights into the popular Icelandic sagas, this is a brilliant reconstruction of the inner workings of a unique and intriguing society.
This study brings within its scope all those areas of present-day Scotland (and the Isle of Man) influenced by Scandinavian peoples, whether Norwegian, Danish or Irish-Norse, from the beginning of the Viking raids to the death of the great earl of Orkney, Thorfinn 'the Mighty' (c. 1065). A maritime realm with no territorial unity, this area ranges from the Orkney and Shetland Islands across northern Scotland and down the Hebrides to the Irish Sea, and it came under lasting, and in some areas permanent, influence from Viking raids and Norse settlement.
Text drawn up in collaboration with the European Centre for Nature Conservation, Tilburg, the Netherlands, submitted by the Council of Europe at the Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" (Sofia, Bulgaria, 23-25 October 1995), and approved by the ministers of the environment of the 55 states present at the conference
The majority of literature about the Viking period, based on artifacts or written sources, covers battles, kings, chiefs and mercenaries, long distance travel and colonization, trade, and settlement. Less is said about the life of those that stayed at home or those that immigrated into Scandinavia, whether voluntarily or by force. This book uses results from the examination of a substantial corpus of Swedish osteological material to discuss aspects of demography and health in the Viking period – those which would have been visible and recognizable in the faces or physical appearances of the individuals concerned. It explores the effects of migration, from the spread of new diseases such as...
Written during the second half of the 12th century, the Historia Norwegie presents a lively and Christianised account of Norwegian history, particularly of the 10th century.
Iceland was the last country in Europe to become inhabited, and we know more about the beginnings and early history of Icelandic society than we do of any other in the Old World. This world was vividly recounted in The Book of Settlements, first compiled by the first Icelandic historians in the thirteenth century. It describes in detail individuals and daily life during the Icelandic Age of Settlement.