In the footsteps of Ivarr the Boneless
Find out more
Websites
The Clan Ivarr
www.regia.org/clanivar.htm
Article that includes information on Ivarr the Boneless, on the Regia
Anglorum website, run by a re-enactors' society.
Vikings!
www.regia.org/vikings.htm
General article on the history, ships and weapons of the Vikings,
by Kim Siddorn, a very experienced re-enactor (see his book Viking
Weapons & Warfare below).
The Viking Age in Ireland
www.ncte.ie/viking/listt.htm
Very comprehensive site, with a lot of information on the archaeological
remains from this period.
The History of the Kingdom of Northumbria: Part Two – Jorvik and the Viking Age
www.northeastengland.talktalk.net/VikingNorthumbria.htm
Concise history of this part of England, written by David A Simpson.
Vikings
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/
An enormous amount of information can be found on this BBC History
Online site.
The Vikings
www.vikingsonline.org.uk
Founded in 1971, The Vikings are the oldest and largest Dark Age re-enactment
society in the UK, and probably the world, with over 700 members throughout
Britain, and others in Europe and the US. The website has details of the
events in which they are participating.
West Stow Country Park and Anglo-Saxon Village
www.stedmundsbury.gov.uk/sebc/play/weststow-asv.cfm
Superb historic reconstruction of an early medieval village. Find
out what Ivarr encountered when he invaded England. (Much of the Channel
4 programme was filmed here.)
Books
The Vikings by Else Roesdahl, translated by Susan M Margeson and
Kirsten Williams (Penguin, 1998) £8.99
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 book brings together the latest
research on Viking art, burial customs, class divisions, jewellery, kingship,
poetry and family life.
The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings edited by Peter
Sawyer (Oxford Paperbacks, 2001) £15
Were the Vikings, as a contemporary description has it, a 'valiant, wrathful,
foreign, purely pagan people' who swept in from the sea to plunder and
slaughter? Or were they unusually successful merchants, extortionists,
and pioneer explorers? This book, by leading international scholars, considers
the latest research and presents a compelling picture of the Vikings and
their age.
Viking Age England by Julian D Richards (Tempus, 2000) £14.99
Major excavations in the countryside and in towns such as London, Lincoln
and York have made it possible to reassess the Viking contribution to
the history of late Anglo-Saxon England and to examine the creation of
a new mixed Anglo-Scandinavian identity. Julian Richards, senior lecturer
in archaeology at the University of York, uses the latest archaeological
evidence to examine various aspects of Anglo-Scandinavian society: rural
settlement and the economy, the growth of towns, trade and exchange, craft
and industry, burial rituals and stone memorials.
Viking Scotland by Anna Ritchie (Historic Scotland/Batsford, 1993)
£15.99
Scotland is very rich in the remains and evidence of the Vikings. Using
all the sources available – historical, archaeological and linguistic
– this book explores this heritage and studies in detail the story
of the Vikings in Scotland, beginning with the situation before they arrived
and concluding with the longer-term effects of Norse settlement.
Vikings in Scotland: An archaeological survey edited by James
Graham-Campbell and Colleen Batey (Edinburgh University Press, 1998) £17
This full overview of the archaeology of the Vikings in Scotland incorporates
many results from fieldwork and excavation. Concentrating on the Viking
and late Norse periods, which span the 8th to 13th centuries in northern
and western Scotland, the chronological range allows for the Norse impact
to be placed in its wider context. Fully illustrated, this book should
be accessible to students and teachers of the Viking Age and the archaeology
and history of Scotland, as well as to the general reader.
The Viking Age in Caithness, Orkney and the North Atlantic edited
by Christopher D Morris, Colleen E Batey and Judith Jesch (Edinburgh University
Press, 1994). Out of print; may be available from libraries and second-hand
bookshops.
This book presents the findings of a team of archaeologists, art historians,
historians, place-name experts and scholars of saga literature who chart
the Vikings' occupation of northern Scotland, Iceland, Greenland and the
Faeroe Islands in all its facets. A gazetteer of the major sites in the
region summarises the most recent findings, while experts from Scandinavia,
Britain and the US provide its historical and literary background.
Viking Weapons & Warfare by J Kim Siddorn
(Tempus, 2000) £15.99
The author has 20 years' experience of Viking re-enactment in Britain,
which informs his views on equipment manufacture and use, battle tactics
and the experience of being a Viking warrior in Britain. The book is divided
into chapters on iron (extraction and use), spears, shields, armour, swords,
scabbards, helmets, money, ships and the sea (including techniques of
navigation). There are plenty of first-hand accounts of the manufacture
of weapons and other equipment (for re-enactment purposes) and their use
in simulated battle conditions.
Specialist publications
All of the following are out of print. However, they may be available
from libraries or second-hand bookshops.
Danish Medieval History and Saxo Grammaticus: Danish medieval history – new currents edited by Niels Skyum-Nielsen and Niels Lund (Museum Tusculanum Press, 1981).
Scandinavian Kings in the British Isles, 850-880 by Alfred P Smyth (Oxford Historical Monographs/University Press, 1977).
Scandinavian York and Dublin: The history and archaeology of two related Viking kingdoms by Alfred P Smyth (Irish Academic Press, 1987).
Studies in 'Ragnars Saga Lodbrokar' and its Major Scandinavian Analogues by Rory McTurk (Society for the Study of Mediaeval Languages and Literature, 1991).
