XIVThe Viking Age

Angus A. Somerville, now retired, formerly taught Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon at Brock University. Somerville was a contributor to the Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary.R. Andrew McDonald is Professor in the Department of History at Brock University.

• List of IllustrationsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. The Scandinavian Homelands2. Scandinavian Society3. Early Religion and Belief4. Gender in the Viking Age5. Viking Warriors and Their Weapons6. Fjord-Serpents: Viking Ships7. “Sudden and Unforeseen Attacks of Northmen”8. “The Heathens Stayed”: Campaigns, Conquests, and Settlements9. Into the Western Ocean: The Faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland10. Austrveg: The Viking Road to the East11. “Going from Land to Land on Trading Voyages”: Merchants and Trade12. From Odin to Christ13. State-Building at Home and Abroad14. The End of the Viking Age15. Reawakening AngantyrSources Index of TopicsIndex of Authors and Sources

"Like me, you may have one or more of the earlier editions of The Viking Age: A Reader and think to yourself, ‘That will do.’ It won’t. With every edition the collection becomes more comprehensive–new material is added to old themes and entirely new themes make their début. This is one of those rare books that is as valuable for teachers as for their students: try opening it to any page and you are sure to learn something, as it is simply full of surprises."