Norsemen in the Viking Age (The Peoples of Europe) - Hardcover

Christiansen, Eric

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0631216774 ISBN 13: 9780631216773

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 2001

Synopsis

This history of the Nordic peoples in the period 750-1050 focuses on their homelands and colonies, demonstrating the fluidity and incoherence of the world in which they lived.

• Considers the Nordic peoples in Viking times without undue recourse to developmental theories.
  
• Guides readers through some of the scholarly controversies surrounding these peoples.
  
• Illustrated by reference to runic, poetic and archaeological evidence.

About this title

Book Description:

This history separates the Nordic peoples from such organizing principles & describes life in their homelands & colonies in terms of more or less ingenious responses to hostile environments at one & overseas.

From the Back Cover:

This book is a lively introduction to Norsemen in the period 750-1050. Without dismissing stereotypes of aggressive, warmongering Vikings, Eric Christiansen shows how Nordic peoples responded to hostile environments at home and overseas. He concentrates on life within their homelands and colonies, families and communities.

The Norsemen in the Viking Age covers many aspects of Nordic life, including ecology, politics, war, work, and migration. Christiansen examines both social conventions and self-awareness of individuals and groups, and reconstructs Viking-age ideas about the past, present, and future to explain contemporary behaviour.

Runic, poetic, and archaeological evidence is used to illustrate the author's arguments, while an appendix sketches the outline of modern research and the directions it is taking.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0631216774
• ISBN 13: 9780631216773
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 392