Viking marauders in their longships burst through the defences of ninth-century Europe, striking terror into the hearts of peasants and rulers alike for two centuries. But the Vikings were more than just marine warriors and this atlas shows their development as traders and craftsmen, explorers, settlers and mercenaries. With over sixty full colour maps, it follows the tracks of the Viking merchants who travelled deep into Russia, of Viking mercenaries who served in the emperor’s bodyguard at Constantinople, and Viking mariners who sailed beyond the edge of the known world to North America.
Table Of Contents
The Causes of the Viking Age
Timeline
Part I: The Origins of the Vikings
The Scandinavian Environment
Scandinavia before the Vikings
Pagan Religion and Burial
Part II: Scandinavia in the Viking Age
From Chiefdoms to Kingdoms
Rural Settlement
Trade and Trade Routes
Ships and Seafaring
Viking Towns
Women in the Viking Age
Part III: The Viking Raids
The Raids Begin
The Raids Intensify
The Vikings in the Mediterranean
The Franks Fight Back
The Great Army in England
The Great Raids on Francia
Wessex Defended
The Conquest of the Danelaw
The Kingdom of York
Vikings in Ireland I
Vikings in Ireland II
The Vikings in Scotland
Scandinavian Placenames in Britain
The Duchy of Normandy
The Vikings in Brittany
The Viking Warrior
Part IV: The North Atlantic Saga
The Faeroes and Iceland
The Settlement of Iceland
Icelandic Literature
The Vikings in Greenland
Voyages to Vinland
Part V: The Vikings in the East
The Swedes in the East
From Scandinavian to Slav
Part VI: The Transformation of the Vikings
Raids on Aethelraed’s Kingdom
The Danes Conquer England
The Empire of Cnut
The Thunderbolt of the North
The Struggle for England
The Kingdom of Man and the Isles
The Twilight of Viking Scotland
Scandinavia after the Vikings
The Early Scandinavian Church
Viking Kings and Rulers
Further Reading
Index
Acknowledgements
About the Author