The first recorded Viking raid in England There is something almost understated about the first Viking raid...
Vikings
The Viking Era, roughly late eighth to mid eleventh century, marks a restless chapter in European history. Norse sailors pushed out from Scandinavia not only to raid but to trade, settle, and argue loudly about law. Monks noticed first. “Never before has such terror appeared in Britain,” wrote Alcuin of York in 793, sounding like a man who had just lost his roof. Further east, Ibn Fadlan observed their funerals with fascination and clear discomfort. From longships to marketplaces, the Vikings were less chaos incarnate and more highly motivated neighbours with excellent boats.
There is something oddly persistent about the Viking image. Horned helmets, wild screaming charges, a sort of...
The Viking Age has a habit of being reduced to a few familiar images. Longships cutting through...
What a Longhouse Really Was The Viking longhouse was a world contained within timber walls. A place...
There is a temptation to picture the Vikings arriving in Ireland as a sudden storm, all fire...
There are battles that feel inevitable, and then there are battles that feel personal. Clontarf is firmly...
If television had a hall of fame for people getting dramatically stabbed while shouting about destiny, freedom,...
Vikings have a habit of turning up in history with an axe in one hand and a...
The Vikings arrived in England as raiders. They stayed as settlers, merchants, rulers and, in more than...
When the Great Heathen Army descended upon York in late 866, Northumbria was already doing a perfectly...