Here is the complete story of the Vikings from their origins in
Scandinavia during the early first millennium AD, through the incredible
period of raiding, trading, and settling known as the Viking Age, to the
last surviving Viking settlements in fifteenth-century Greenland.
Following in the footsteps of Viking merchants, raiders, and emigrants,
we track their journeys from the first documented raid on the island
monastery of Lindisfarne in 739 to the semi-mythical travels of
individuals such as Eirik the Red and the expansive kingdoms of Viking
leaders. The book explores Viking life and culture in detail: their
appearances, warfare, targets, crafts, and weapons, as well as their
stunning pattern-welded swords and helmets. Drawing on the latest
discoveries and augmenting textual evidence with archaeological detail,
this is a vivid picture of the Vikings at home and abroad in an era that
laid many of the foundations of the modern world.