A History of the Vikings

by Gwyn Jones

Book Overview

An illustrated study of the northern peoples and kingdoms of Ireland, Greenland, Britain, and Christian Europe and their culture, society and livelihood. Illustrations.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 019285139X
• ISBN13: 9780192851390
• Release Date: November 1984
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 520 Pages
• Weight: 0.99 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 5.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Magnificent

For me, Gwyn Jones's 'History of the Vikings' is, quite simply, far and away the best single-volume work on this subject in the English language. It first appeared back in 1968 (I first read it in the early 1970s), but has been repeatedly updated in the light of new scholarship and, unlike many works of that vintage, still reads as freshly as when it was first published. The scope is comprehensive. He starts the story with the earliest references to Scandinavia in Greek and Roman literature (the Scandinavians didn't start writing their own history until well after the Viking period) and carries it right through to the defeat of the last Viking invasion of England in 1066. The start point couldn't be set earlier; the end point is perhaps a little arbitrary (anyone who has read Orkneyinga Saga knows there were still people around in the 12th century AD who hadn't heard the Viking age was over), but you've got to draw a line somewhere. Geographically, he covers the full sweep of the Viking world, from Newfoundland to the Volga and all points between. Unlike many writers, who treat the Viking phenomenon largely from the viewpoint of the people they attacked, he gives full weight to the Vikings at home and to the slow and painful integration of the Scandinavian homelands into more or less (often less) unified kingdoms.Like all serious modern Viking scholars, he is healthily sceptical about the saga and legendary sources, but he uses infinite care and judgement in extracting the sparse grains of historical fact from them. He makes skilful use of the remarkable range of material from the Vikings' neighbours: monastic chronicles from Western Europe and Russia; King Alfred's debriefing of a visiting Norwegian merchant; the Byzantine Emperor's strategic review of his northern borders; and - most surprising to the newcomer in the field - the several surviving reports by Arab diplomats. He has also taken full advantage of the advances in Viking archaeology over the last 35 years. It is salutary to remember that back in the 1960s there was by no means complete acceptance of the Anse aux Meadows site in Newfoundland as Viking.The treatment is largely narrative, but it never degenerates into a relentless chronological grind because he pauses from time to time to insert thematic chapters covering matters like ecology, ethnography, ships, navigation, and so on, and he alternates the viewpoint between the Scandinavian homelands and the Viking movements overseas, both peaceful and warlike. Also, while pursuing broad trends and root causes with scholarly acumen, he clearly relishes the personalities in Viking history, from the legendary King Dag ("unlikely death of an unlikely king" says the index entry), via Gunnhild Mother of Kings ("a famous but somewhat fictitious northern lady"), to Harald Hardradi, last and greatest of them all - warrior in Russia, captain of the Varangian Guard at Byzantium, and King of Norway, whose claim to England (the unreliable legend sa

Best of its kind

For a comprehensive but still adequately detailed survey of the Vikings, this book cannot be beat. It deserves a place on the bookshelf of any serious student of Scandinavian history.

This may be the compleat Viking saga

This may be the compleat Viking saga, however unlikely that sounds. It just seems to have everything, including Viking girth, humor and robustness. However, if your interest in the Vikings is only superficial, and your mastery of English is not quite up to it, you won't read very far. Gwyn Jones has written a densely-packed narrative (for, in spite of being very much non-fiction, he manages to keep us in a narrative stream) which requires only so many mouthfuls at a sitting. For my money, only the experienced or very persistent reader of Norse history will get along with this work, but oh what a ride he or she will have. Jones is, oh happy day, the sort of writer whose scholarly leanings have not over-reached themselves so far that he cannot take risks, sometimes in the most delightful fashion. The text abounds in marvellous one-liners, so that it is possible to imagine the writer acting the fool to some sixth century prince of a Northern realm, and having to be very quick on his feet to stay alive. There is much history here, no doubt, yet Jones has taken it and presented it all with a very large grain of salt, such that I for one, am very confident about the skipper on this particular voyage. It's a remarkable book, what more can one say. Thoroughly recommended.

Thoughtful, scholarly, if you only read one-this is it

Jones has a way of laying out evidence and reasoning that allows the reader to follow along with the process of making conclusions about the Viking era from the available evidence. I've read many viking histories and consider this one to be the best balanced, most closely reasoned.