Author: Gareth Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472818377
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 81
Book Description
Between the late 8th and late 11th century Viking warriors had a massive impact not just in northern Europe, but across a huge arc from the western Mediterranean round through northern Europe and the Baltic to the Middle East and Central Asia. Their success depended in part on their skills in battle, their unique sense of strategic mobility, and on the quality of their weapons and equipment. Written by an expert on early medieval weaponry, this book examines the weapons of the typical Viking warrior, dispels some of the myths of the popular image, such as double-headed axes, and considers the range of weapons that actually underpinned the Vikings' success including bows and arrows. Drawing upon contemporary literary and historical accounts from the North Atlantic to the Arab world, surviving examples of weapons and armour, and practical experimentation and reconstructions by modern weapon-smiths and re-enactors, this study casts new light on how Viking weapons were made and used in battle.
Women and Weapons in the Viking World
Author: Leszek Gardela
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789256666
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
The Viking Age (c. 750–1050 AD) is conventionally seen as a tumultuous time when hordes of fierce warriors from Scandinavia wreaked havoc across the European continent and when Norse merchants travelled to distant corners of the world in pursuit of slaves, silver, and exotic commodities. Until relatively recently, archaeologists and textual scholars had the tendency to weave a largely male-dominated image of this pivotal period in world history, dismissing or substantially downplaying women's roles in Norse society. Today, however, there is ample evidence to suggest that many of the most spectacular achievements of Viking Age Scandinavians - for instance in craftsmanship, exploration, cross-cultural trade, warfare and other spheres of life - would not have been possible without the active involvement of women. Extant textual sources as well as the perpetually expanding corpus of archaeological evidence thus demonstrate unequivocally that both within the walls of the household and in the wider public arena women’s voices were heard, respected and followed. This pioneering and lavishly illustrated monograph provides an in-depth exploration of women's associations with the martial sphere of life in the Viking Age. The multifarious motivations and circumstances that led women to engage in armed conflict or other activities whereby weapons served as potent symbols of prestige and empowerment are illuminated and interpreted through an interdisciplinary approach to medieval literature and archaeological evidence from Scandinavia and the wider Viking world. Additional cross-cultural excursions into the lives and legends of female warriors in other past and present cultural milieus - from the Asiatic steppes to the savannas of Africa and European battlefields - lead to a nuanced understanding of the idea of the armed woman and its embodiments in Norse literature, myth and archaeological reality.
Publisher: Oxbow Books
ISBN: 1789256666
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 536
Book Description
The Viking Age (c. 750–1050 AD) is conventionally seen as a tumultuous time when hordes of fierce warriors from Scandinavia wreaked havoc across the European continent and when Norse merchants travelled to distant corners of the world in pursuit of slaves, silver, and exotic commodities. Until relatively recently, archaeologists and textual scholars had the tendency to weave a largely male-dominated image of this pivotal period in world history, dismissing or substantially downplaying women's roles in Norse society. Today, however, there is ample evidence to suggest that many of the most spectacular achievements of Viking Age Scandinavians - for instance in craftsmanship, exploration, cross-cultural trade, warfare and other spheres of life - would not have been possible without the active involvement of women. Extant textual sources as well as the perpetually expanding corpus of archaeological evidence thus demonstrate unequivocally that both within the walls of the household and in the wider public arena women’s voices were heard, respected and followed. This pioneering and lavishly illustrated monograph provides an in-depth exploration of women's associations with the martial sphere of life in the Viking Age. The multifarious motivations and circumstances that led women to engage in armed conflict or other activities whereby weapons served as potent symbols of prestige and empowerment are illuminated and interpreted through an interdisciplinary approach to medieval literature and archaeological evidence from Scandinavia and the wider Viking world. Additional cross-cultural excursions into the lives and legends of female warriors in other past and present cultural milieus - from the Asiatic steppes to the savannas of Africa and European battlefields - lead to a nuanced understanding of the idea of the armed woman and its embodiments in Norse literature, myth and archaeological reality.
Swords of the Viking Age
Author:
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843830892
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
This title surveys some 60 examples of swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking Age, from the mid 8th to the mid-11th century. It contains an illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscriptions and handle forms and Jan Petersen's classification.
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843830892
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
This title surveys some 60 examples of swords made and used in northern Europe during the Viking Age, from the mid 8th to the mid-11th century. It contains an illustrated overview of blade types and construction, pattern-welding, inscriptions and handle forms and Jan Petersen's classification.
Viking Warriors
Author: Ben Hubbard
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1502624559
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
In Viking Warriors, the Norse invaders, as infamous for their brutality as their exploration, come to life. Students will read about raids, battles, and key fighters and leaders. Illustrations, engravings, and relics depict the Norse culture, marine and combat technology, and fighting styles that gave them the advantage in battle. Maps and diagrams demonstrate their ambitious expansion and conquest of cities and people throughout the Northern hemisphere. With their far-reaching longships and fierce tactics, the influence and violence of the Vikings spread from America to the Middle East, leaving behind traces of an iconic culture and combative strategy.
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
ISBN: 1502624559
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
In Viking Warriors, the Norse invaders, as infamous for their brutality as their exploration, come to life. Students will read about raids, battles, and key fighters and leaders. Illustrations, engravings, and relics depict the Norse culture, marine and combat technology, and fighting styles that gave them the advantage in battle. Maps and diagrams demonstrate their ambitious expansion and conquest of cities and people throughout the Northern hemisphere. With their far-reaching longships and fierce tactics, the influence and violence of the Vikings spread from America to the Middle East, leaving behind traces of an iconic culture and combative strategy.
God's Daughter
Author: Heather Day Gilbert
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781492880417
Category : Christian fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"In the tenth century, when pagan holy women rule the Viking lands, Gudrid turns her back on her training as a seeress to embrace Christianity. Clinging to her faith, she joins her husband, Finn, on a voyage to North America. But even as Gudrid faces down murderous crewmen, raging sickness, and hostile natives, she realizes her greatest enemy is herself--and the secrets she hides might just tear her marriage apart"--Page 4 of cover.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781492880417
Category : Christian fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
"In the tenth century, when pagan holy women rule the Viking lands, Gudrid turns her back on her training as a seeress to embrace Christianity. Clinging to her faith, she joins her husband, Finn, on a voyage to North America. But even as Gudrid faces down murderous crewmen, raging sickness, and hostile natives, she realizes her greatest enemy is herself--and the secrets she hides might just tear her marriage apart"--Page 4 of cover.
Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques
Author: William R. Short
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594162176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A History of the Arms, Armor, and Individual Fighting Strategies of Medieval Europe's Most Feared Warriors A source of enduring fascination, the Vikings are the most famous raiders of medieval Europe. Despite the exciting and compelling descriptions in the Icelandic sagas and other contemporary accounts that have fueled this interest, we know comparatively little about Viking age arms and armor as compared to weapons from other historical periods. We know even less about how the weapons were used. While the sagas provide few specific combat details, the stories are invaluable. They were written by authors familiar with the use of weapons for an audience that, likewise, knew how to use them. Critically, the sagas describe how these weapons were wielded not by kings or gods, but by ordinary men, as part of their everyday lives. Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques provides an introduction to the arms and armor of the people who lived in Northern Europe during the Viking age, roughly the years 793-1066. Using a variety of available sources, including medieval martial arts treatises, and copiously illustrated with images of historical artifacts, battle sites, and demonstrations of modern replicas of Viking weapons, the author and his colleagues at Hurstwic (a Viking-age living history organization) and at the Higgins Armory Sword Guild have reconstructed the combat techniques of the Viking age and what is known about the defensive and offensive weapons of the time in general. Throughout, the author corrects some popular misconceptions about Viking warriors and warfare, such as the belief that their combat techniques were crude and blunt rather than sophisticated. In addition, the book provides an overview of Viking history and culture, focusing on the importance of weapons to the society as well as the Vikings' lasting impact on Europe through their expeditions of trade and exploration.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781594162176
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Book Description
A History of the Arms, Armor, and Individual Fighting Strategies of Medieval Europe's Most Feared Warriors A source of enduring fascination, the Vikings are the most famous raiders of medieval Europe. Despite the exciting and compelling descriptions in the Icelandic sagas and other contemporary accounts that have fueled this interest, we know comparatively little about Viking age arms and armor as compared to weapons from other historical periods. We know even less about how the weapons were used. While the sagas provide few specific combat details, the stories are invaluable. They were written by authors familiar with the use of weapons for an audience that, likewise, knew how to use them. Critically, the sagas describe how these weapons were wielded not by kings or gods, but by ordinary men, as part of their everyday lives. Viking Weapons and Combat Techniques provides an introduction to the arms and armor of the people who lived in Northern Europe during the Viking age, roughly the years 793-1066. Using a variety of available sources, including medieval martial arts treatises, and copiously illustrated with images of historical artifacts, battle sites, and demonstrations of modern replicas of Viking weapons, the author and his colleagues at Hurstwic (a Viking-age living history organization) and at the Higgins Armory Sword Guild have reconstructed the combat techniques of the Viking age and what is known about the defensive and offensive weapons of the time in general. Throughout, the author corrects some popular misconceptions about Viking warriors and warfare, such as the belief that their combat techniques were crude and blunt rather than sophisticated. In addition, the book provides an overview of Viking history and culture, focusing on the importance of weapons to the society as well as the Vikings' lasting impact on Europe through their expeditions of trade and exploration.
The Real Valkyrie
Author: Nancy Marie Brown
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250200830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
In the tradition of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra, Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors “Once again, Brown brings Viking history to vivid, unexpected life—and in the process, turns what we thought we knew about Norse culture on its head. Superb.” —Scott Weidensaul, author of New York Times bestselling A World on the Wing "Magnificent. It captured me from the very first page." —Pat Shipman, author of The Invaders In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, “As heroes we were widely known—with keen spears we cut blood from bone.” In this compelling narrative Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250200830
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 325
Book Description
In the tradition of Stacy Schiff’s Cleopatra, Brown lays to rest the hoary myth that Viking society was ruled by men and celebrates the dramatic lives of female Viking warriors “Once again, Brown brings Viking history to vivid, unexpected life—and in the process, turns what we thought we knew about Norse culture on its head. Superb.” —Scott Weidensaul, author of New York Times bestselling A World on the Wing "Magnificent. It captured me from the very first page." —Pat Shipman, author of The Invaders In 2017, DNA tests revealed to the collective shock of many scholars that a Viking warrior in a high-status grave in Birka, Sweden was actually a woman. The Real Valkyrie weaves together archaeology, history, and literature to imagine her life and times, showing that Viking women had more power and agency than historians have imagined. Nancy Marie Brown uses science to link the Birka warrior, whom she names Hervor, to Viking trading towns and to their great trade route east to Byzantium and beyond. She imagines her life intersecting with larger-than-life but real women, including Queen Gunnhild Mother-of-Kings, the Viking leader known as The Red Girl, and Queen Olga of Kyiv. Hervor’s short, dramatic life shows that much of what we have taken as truth about women in the Viking Age is based not on data, but on nineteenth-century Victorian biases. Rather than holding the household keys, Viking women in history, law, saga, poetry, and myth carry weapons. These women brag, “As heroes we were widely known—with keen spears we cut blood from bone.” In this compelling narrative Brown brings the world of those valkyries and shield-maids to vivid life.
Weapons of the Viking Warrior
Author: Gareth Williams
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472818369
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 81
Book Description
Between the late 8th and late 11th century Viking warriors had a massive impact not just in northern Europe, but across a huge arc from the western Mediterranean round through northern Europe and the Baltic to the Middle East and Central Asia. Their success depended in part on their skills in battle, their unique sense of strategic mobility, and on the quality of their weapons and equipment. Written by an expert on early medieval weaponry, this book examines the weapons of the typical Viking warrior, dispels some of the myths of the popular image, such as double-headed axes, and considers the range of weapons that actually underpinned the Vikings' success including bows and arrows. Drawing upon contemporary literary and historical accounts from the North Atlantic to the Arab world, surviving examples of weapons and armour, and practical experimentation and reconstructions by modern weapon-smiths and re-enactors, this study casts new light on how Viking weapons were made and used in battle.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472818369
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 81
Book Description
Between the late 8th and late 11th century Viking warriors had a massive impact not just in northern Europe, but across a huge arc from the western Mediterranean round through northern Europe and the Baltic to the Middle East and Central Asia. Their success depended in part on their skills in battle, their unique sense of strategic mobility, and on the quality of their weapons and equipment. Written by an expert on early medieval weaponry, this book examines the weapons of the typical Viking warrior, dispels some of the myths of the popular image, such as double-headed axes, and considers the range of weapons that actually underpinned the Vikings' success including bows and arrows. Drawing upon contemporary literary and historical accounts from the North Atlantic to the Arab world, surviving examples of weapons and armour, and practical experimentation and reconstructions by modern weapon-smiths and re-enactors, this study casts new light on how Viking weapons were made and used in battle.
Viking Warrior
Author: Judson Roberts
Publisher: Judson Roberts
ISBN: 0578076438
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
He's the son of a chieftain and a princess--yet Halfdan was born a slave. Now he is becoming a man and it is time for him to meet his destiny. Though raised a slave who could only dream of freedom, young Halfdan's fate may be about to change. If freed, he may train as a Viking warrior, and come to know the glories of true brotherhood and the horrors of unspeakable evil. In the world of Vikings, a warrior's destiny is forged in the heat of battle. If the fates decree it, Hafdan may emerge as a new hero . . . a new myth . . . and perhaps a new legend.
Publisher: Judson Roberts
ISBN: 0578076438
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 308
Book Description
He's the son of a chieftain and a princess--yet Halfdan was born a slave. Now he is becoming a man and it is time for him to meet his destiny. Though raised a slave who could only dream of freedom, young Halfdan's fate may be about to change. If freed, he may train as a Viking warrior, and come to know the glories of true brotherhood and the horrors of unspeakable evil. In the world of Vikings, a warrior's destiny is forged in the heat of battle. If the fates decree it, Hafdan may emerge as a new hero . . . a new myth . . . and perhaps a new legend.