Vikings: Life and Legend

“The bigger argument the exhibition was making was that we shouldn’t see the Vikings as an isolated phenomenon affecting Britain and parts of western Europe: a walk-on part in history, or a disruptive event that arrived like a spell of bad weather. In truth the Viking world had an enormous footprint. Through their maritime culture, the Vikings became the first people to reach four continents. They forged communication networks and effected cultural transformations that had a profound impact on the trajectory of Europe. They shaped the political destiny of multiple European nations: England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Russia and Ukraine among them. The exhibition was giving the Vikings back some of their dignity, agency and transformative power in the European story.” Read more...

The best books on Medieval Europe

Thomas Williams, Historian