Vikings: A Concise History of the Vikings by Henry Freeman

Vikings: A Concise History of the Vikings Reviews

• 
  Labijose

  Hace poco tiempo tuve la oportunidad de visitar Suecia y Noruega, en uno de los mejores viajes que recuerdo, y recuerdo muchos. Volví enamorado del paisaje y de sus gentes.
  
  Pero no quiero desbarrar, viene esto a cuento porque, entre las muchas atracciones que visité, me deslumbró el museo de barcos vikingos que está a las afueras de Oslo (Vikingskipshuset). Creía conocer muchas cosas de la cultura vikinga, pero el guía que nos mostró el museo me abrió los ojos en cuanto a lo que de verdad y de mito se mezclan en ambos conceptos. Desde que no llevaban los famosos cascos con cuernos que tanto se ha empeñado en inculcarnos Hollywwod, hasta cómo eran de verdad los célebres Drakkar, de los que en el museo tenían algunos muy bien conservados. Por no hablar de la famosa serie de TV, en la que han fusionado en un solo personaje (Ragnar Lothbrok), hechos, anécdotas y leyendas que ocurrieron a lo largo de toda la historia de sus gentes y de sus líderes. Pero ya vuelvo a irme por las ramas…..
  
  El presente resumen sobre los vikingos es una aproximación muy acertada para aquellos que no quieran entretenerse demasiado con el tema. Aborda las cuestiones fundamentales de su historia, de su cultura, de su religión, de sus conquistas y saqueos y de los líderes que las llevaron a cabo. Todo ello de forma bastante concisa, en poco más de una hora de lectura.
  
• 
  Jacques Coulardeau

  I still wonder if Harald Hadrada is Hadrada or Harada but that’s just a little pebble in my shoe.
  
  The history of the Vikings is Fascinating in many ways. Fascinating because they are, which is not said, Germanic and as such part of the vast Germanic migration into Europe and it has to be clearly positioned between the Slavic migration and the Celtic migration respectively east and west. It would be good to remember that all these are part of the same Indo-European migration from the Middle East through the Caucasus and then into the vast steppes and plains of central Europe.. It would also be good to remind us of the fact that another branch of this Indo-European migration came through Anatolia to Greece and then to Italy and will give after the Roman Empire the various romance languages. It would also have been a good thing to remind us of the survival of pre-Ice-Age Turkic languages of Europe in the shape of Basque, Sami, the language of Lapplanders, and Finnish. Finland is essential in the history of the Baltic Sea.
  
  If we assume we all know this heritage or history and that the basic Scandinavian mythology, Odin, Thor and Ragnarok, is in fact a Germanic Mythology vastly shared with the other German people and was Richard Wagner’s basic inspiration, we can neglect recalling it to mind, though recollecting such facts should be basic. In the same way the sagas are often common and the German Siegfried has a Scandinavian version with Sigurd. This Germanic nature of the Scandinavian people or even peoples is central in the whole history of Europe and it probably explains why the Scandinavians never tried to raid or conquer German territory. They looked east into Slavic territory and they look west into Celtic and Frankish territory which must have appeared at the time as some continuation of the Roman Empire in western Europe and the Gaulish Celtic previous phase.
  
  The presentation dividing the whole history in three phases: raiding, conquering and settling down is interesting. In Western Europe we hardly mention them apart from their famous raids accompanied by looting, burning and killing all that could have any value or any life. With maybe one element that could be added clearly: they actually got some prisoners that they enslaved in their own communities. These slaves were the substitute workers necessary to replace the warriors who went on missions. These slaves are just servants that have no civil rights and it would have been interesting to insist on the direct government they had, each community convening their male members into some kind of general assembly that decided of all common issues. They invented direct democracy (though some might see it as a pre-Roman-Empire survival that also existed among Celtic people and was killed along with the egg the Roman legions crushed) and what will become parliament in England a few centuries later.
  
  The conquering phase presented as an exploring venture is very interesting and it reveals the change in Scandinavian societies and ideologies and it should have been twinned with the religious evolution. They replaced raiding with trading. It is commerce that saves them from being eventually destroyed, the way they were in England in the 11th century, a destruction that led to the full dissolving of Anglo-Saxon culture under the domination of Norman culture. And yet this Scandinavian influence remained in England and it will lead to Runnymede and the Magna Carta and with Parliament being re-invented later on. This Anglo-Saxon influence and behind it the direct influence of Danish and Scandinavian cultures and languages is the substratum of English today and makes English a Germanic language. This linguistic descent should have been emphasized and the famous Tristan and Yseult will be translated into German but also into Norse and Icelandic in the 12th century. The connection worked both ways from Celtic Welsh oral tradition to other Celtic areas (Cornwall, Ireland, Brittany) into English, or rather Middle English at the time, and further on into German and Scandinavian traditions.
  
  The book justly insists on the conquest of Iceland, Greenland and the discovery of Newfoundland and Canada, or Northern America. It mentions the fact they will have to eventually leave Greenland under the pressure of local Inuit or Eskimo people and the fact that they did not settle in America because of the strong hostility from the local Native Americans. This is based on sagas and old tales but such documents are essential in a mostly oral society since it was the only way for people to know their history and destiny: to listen to the sagas told by the saga-tellers/poets/minstrels who had learned them by heart from having heard them themselves. No books in those days, only memory. And these sagas were told very often to some accompanying music that could be some string instrument like the lute, or some pipes, or later on the organistrum evolving into the hurdy-gurdy (and later on in Sweden the nyckelharpa), and we probably should speak of the bagpipe too (Scandinavia or Swedish Sackpipa and Finnish Sakkipilli). Beowulf, the Anglo-Saxon poem or shouldn’t we say saga, is a perfect example since it states the use of music to tell the story.
  
  The book is very interesting on the Scandinavian or Viking penetration of Ukraine (more than Russia) even if the Rus Brothers brought the root of Russian into that territory. Kiev was the cultural epicenter in Slavic lands just as much as it became the religious center of Slavic Orthodox Christianity. It is this religious link that should be seen as first finding some echo in the Christianized Vikings and at the same time lead them to the ambition of going further and reaching out to Byzantium. Interestingly the military move was defeated and they immediately replaced it with a commercial link. Note this was easy since the commercial link between Scandinavia and Byzantium already existed through the commercial network developed by the Hanseatic League. Actually it would be interesting to connect the commercial dimension that developed at the end of the first millennium and the beginning of the second to the progressive Christianization of the Vikings themselves. We could and probably should also connect this Christianization with the important Peace of God movement that developed in Feudal Europe starting in the 10th century and enabling the development of trade fairs and markets with special protection to merchants all over feudal Europe: merchants could move freely in Europe with their merchandise and be protected along the way and at the various fairs provided they paid special fees. Bartholomew Fair in London for instance developed a special court for the duration of the fair.
  
  I will not conclude like the book does with Christianization. It is this necessary evolution that explains the slow shifting from a warlike stance to a commercial stance and that commercial stance requires peace. Then the Nobel Peace Prize is the direct continuation of this evolution. But this heritage can be slightly contradictory. Scandinavia was the first European region to instate eugenic laws just after the first world war (Swedish State Institute for Race Biology in 1922 after the Swedish Society for Eugenics founded in 1909) and also the last one to get rid of them long after the second world war (The various eugenic laws lapsed only in 1976). Norway seen as a haven of peace is not always true. Norway tried to help in Sri Lanka when the Tamil Tigers were dominant in nearly half the country Thanks to their using terrorism and the ceasefire the Norwegians instated there was only the smokescreen used by the Tamil Tigers to build up their military power and to go on with their terrorist activities (assassination of the Minister of Foreign Affairs in July 2005, and/because he was a Tamil, hence a traitor to his “people” according to the narrow nationalistic approach of the LTTE).
  
  The book opens up our horizon on Scandinavia and should enable us to widen our approach and to see the great influence Scandinavia (including Finland though their language and culture is Turkic, hence agglutinative) had in Europe when it accepted to become Christian and to integrate European procedures.
  
  Dr Jacques COULARDEAU
  
• 
  mina

  As I’m currently interested in Vikings this seemed as a good place to start. Don’t expect it to go in depth about Viking history as it is too short for that; it’s solely a beginner’s guide, enough to spark an interest for further expedition in these waters.
• 
  Zdravko

  Written like a high school book report but when it's 2 AM and you can't sleep and there's nothing on tv... you read ..well.. a book report about.. Vikings? It was free of course so I'm adding one star :D
• 
  Fatima M. Nabil

  why was bluetooth tech called bluetooth? i've always wondered :D
• 
  Lanko

  Very good material in only 40 pages. For the reasons of the Viking invasions, details of their conversion to Christianism, arriving in America first and the fact they actually had some form of democracy in the Althing long before the rest of Europe.
• 
  JediMasterPercy

  This was one of the better Hourly Histories. Pre 1,000 AD UK / Northern Europe might be my favorite era of history. Very Game of Thrones. Also couldn’t help wondering what the Viking kings would think about what Thor has become in pop culture. Will there be a hulking handsome Jesus in the year 3,000? Hurdling a cross at cosmic aliens to defend earth from invasion? Can’t wait.
• 
  Elisa

  A good background read into Viking history
• 
  Emma Que

  Fascinating
  
  Seems like an excellent starting off point to a study of viking history. Very simply put and assumes some prior knowledge of global history.
• 
  Adam Carman

  Great summary!
  
  Picked up this book to review for a textbook chapter I'm writing. It is well written and hits all the high points!
• 
  Thom Swennes

  Few images have been as inspiring as the sight of large, blond, bearded, and horn-helmeted Vikings invading a peaceful and unsuspecting coastal village. Their dragon-headed longboats, with their single sail, banks of oars, and rows of rounded shields, inspire fear and awe even today. Who were these warriors from the north? Why did they descend on peaceful towns, villages, and hamlets so far from their native lands? Was it for financial gain? Was it for territorial gain?
  This short history explores their motivations for invasion. It also gives the reader a brief chronicle of Viking activity from their first landing on the island of Lindisfarne in 793 AD to the establishment of a permanent base in Dublin, Ireland in 841 AD. The aggressive invasion, conquering, and pillaging stage soon gave way to another era. The era of discovery saw the Northern hordes sailed westward to discover and settle Iceland and Greenland. Further evidence seems to corroborate the legend that Lief Ericson discovered the North American mainland five hundred years before Christopher Columbus made his fateful voyage in 1492. It would be illogical to assume that the seafarers that braved the unknown of the North Atlantic would shun the much smaller Baltic Sea to the east. The Vikings settled throughout the Baltic countries and Russia; bring trade and influencing the indigenous peoples and cultures.
  From invading barbarians to peaceful settlers, farmers, and traders, the Vikings made their mark on the world around them. A publication of a mere forty pages can’t do justice to an era and people that so dramatically changed the world that surrounded them.
  Today it is hard to believe that the tolerant and liberal peoples of Scandinavia could have produced such fierce and barbaric warriors. Their history is a joy to discover and this book provides the reader with a welcome introduction.
  
• 
  Atila Yumusakkaya

  A short and informative book about the Vikings. You will get familiar with the general characteristics of the Vikings and what they had done in history. It is astonishing to see that members of these northern communities with a warrior character are the most peaceful people of today. Also, it is interesting that in the process of transition to Christianity, they did not leave their old religion immediately and had the belief in two religions together. This is a book worth reading.
  
• 
  Bruce

  I appreciate this book very much. I never knew that the Viking scourge of England and Ireland was due to the treatment the Vikings had received from Charlemagne and the Franks. I find the conversion of the Vikings to Christianity very interesting. I also find it interesting that The Tibetans, like the Vikings, were extremely aggressive and violent in their day, and yet both have become profoundly peaceful people seeking after a better and kinder world.
• 
  Mike Briley

  This short overview of the Vikings is interesting because it takes a different perspective from the usual Hollywoodian clichés. Vikings as the underdog fighting back is an original way of looking at history and the author provides some evidence for this. The hour it took me to read this book was well spent.
• 
  Sandy

  Vikings: A Concise History
  
  Interesting and informative. Easy read for a quiet afternoon. Author has obviously done the research to help the reader get a better understanding of the truth about the Vikings
• 
  Ed Barton

  Good Read
  
  One of the best Hourly History books. Covers the 300 years or so of Viking influence from the Arctic Circle to Byzantium. Discussion includes religion, commerce, exploration, politics and more. A good and quick intro to the Vikings.
• 
  Courtney Wendleton

  Short, but Interesting
  
  Very quick overview of their history and a lot less ruthless than I thought. Still interesting, but a little sad that, like everything else, the Vikings were highly political.
• 
  Royce Ratterman

  Vikings: Bloodthirsty tyrants? Valiant warriors? Pirates? Invaders? Explorers? Or were they just like all other cultures throughout history, expanding their kingdom and reaping the spoils of those lands? Bu the 800 AD, Vikings from Norway commenced establishing themselves on the northernmost islands of Scotland, the Orkneys and the Shetlands. In a medieval Irish chronicle known as The Annals of Ulster, we read of a Viking raid near Dublin in A.D. 821, in which “they carried off a great number of women into captivity.” Slavery played an important part in the Viking way of life.
  
  Though this work's information appears outdated and speculative at times, especially archeologically and historically, it may provide some information valuable for the readers' continued research. The Vikings are documented through extensive archeology as the first Europeans recorded to reach the new world, landing at L'Anse aux Meadows over 1,000 years ago. The Vinland sagas, a pair of Icelandic texts written in the 13th century, describe the Norse explorer Leif Erikson’s expeditions to a land referred to as Vinland.
  
  - Additional information:
  
  L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site:
  https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/lhn-nhs/nl/me...
  
  Index of the Icelandic Sagas:
  https://sagadb.org/index_az
  
  The Norse Eddas and Sagas:
  https://www.learnreligions.com/norse-...
  
  Viking Sagas book list at Goodreads:
  https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...
  
  King Canute the Great: England's Viking King 1016-1035:
  https://englishhistory.net/vikings/ki...
  
  Harald III "Hard ruler", king of Norway:
  https://www.geni.com/people/Harald-II...
  
  Baptism of Harold Bluetooth:
  https://www.medieval.eu/the-baptism-o...
  
  Harald Bluetooth & the Conversion of Denmark:
  https://www.worldhistory.org/article/...
• 
  Adrian

  It was a dark day in 793 CE when Viking ships landed on the island of Lindisfarne just off the shores of England.
  
  This may be a concise history but it is fascinating nonetheless. It added some interesting detail to the history of the vikings which I was already aware of, such as the fact that the early attacks on English monasteries was a direct result of Charlemagne attacking sites sacred to them.
  
  And among the most traumatic events in this holy war being raged against the Norse was in 772, when Charlemagne ordered to have the holy tree Yggdrasil—an object of great religious meaning to all the would-be Vikings of the region—burned down to the ground.
  
  It also details the vikings exploration across the globe from the more obvious Iceland and Greenland to the lesser known Newfoundland and Russian adventures.
  
  It was these Viking settlers of the Baltic that became known as the “Rus”, a name from which our concept of “Russia” and “Russian” is derived.
  
  I also found the reaction to the defeats by Byzantine empire rather interesting:
  
  And then just like the old adage “If you can’t beat them, join them”, the defeated Vikings soon began showing up at the gates of Constantinople not to fight but to be hired on for active duty in the Byzantine military.
  
  Finally, I couldn't help but think of Norweigan death metal bands when I read this line!
  
  Starting in that fateful year of 800, Norwegian bands began establishing themselves in the Orkneys and the Shetlands, part of the northernmost islands of Scotland.
• 
  Gemma Wiseman

  A thirst to know more about those intrepid Vikings of legendary history led me to this book. Who were the Vikings beyond the brash invaders in long ships? Did they really hold people to ransom in the 8th to 11th centuries A.D.? The Viking altercations with the Frankish emperor Charlemagne are intriguing. That explains one reason for Viking assaults on monasteries. In early days Vikings traded in human beings... people were sold as merchandise...But what people and why? The book leaves the question hanging in space...The Vikings, at one stage, sacked and looted Paris...But then what? Often, this book makes amazing claims about the Vikings, but there is no evidence or source to substantiate the claims...So frustrating...Who would believe that Kiev Vikings became an elite military unit in the Byzantine Empire to protect the Emperor. So what active duty did they perform? Evidence? While this book only claims to be a concise history of the Vikings - intriguing as it may be - perhaps it is a little too concise for the history lover?
  
  My Poetic Review + Amazon Review
  
  Songlines on the Winds
• 
  Terri

  It's a short, concise summary of Viking attacks, why they might have started, the areas that Vikings spread to, their accidental discovery of Iceland, Greenland, and America. The facts that are detailed in the book follow along with documentaries I have watched on Netflix and History Channel so I would say that on the outside the book appears to be accurate. I would have liked it if there was information about the Vikings way of life, what their homes were like, how they built their ships, etc., but this short book did not go into any of that.
• 
  Bob Willis

  A Concise History of the Vikings
  
  Very interesting reading. I learned a great deal from this short history of the Vikings. I knew a little about their raiding the British Isles, but nothing more. Their raids and expansion east as far as present day Damascus and use of the European river system surprised me .I would recommend this book for readers who are interested in historical information.
• 
  Carolina Casas

  A good way to start Viking history
  
  This is a good beginner's guide for history buffs who want to switch to a new historical topic or want others to become interested in the Vikings. It doesn't gloss over much and does a great job dispelling myths about these warring and sea faring groups.
• 
  Mary

  A Different Point of View
  
  This is a fascinating short history of several aspects of Norse history: exploration, religious beliefs, colonization, and political structures. I wish it had included a bibliography of additional sources for readers who want to delve deeper into the subject. Also, the book would benefit from the efforts of a good editor.