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'The Vikings Age,' writes Else Roesdahl, 'is shot through with the spirit of adventure. For 300 years, from just before AD 800 until well into the eleventh century...the Vikings affected almost every region accessible to their ships, and left traces that are still part of life today...' 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 farflung colonization. This encyclopaedic study brings together wide-ranging research on Viking art, burial customs, class divisions, jewellery, kingship, poetry and family life and, in this revised editon, has been updated to include recent discoveries. The result is a rich and compelling picture of an extraodinary civilization.
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