Reddit mentions of The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings (Hist Atlas)

Depending on the time and place, portrayals of Vikings as sea-based raiders are either highly accurate or somewhat farcical. It's worth noting briefly that the term 'viking' actually comes out a verb for raiding: "going viking" is something that is by definition fitting your stereotype. However, since that's not the colloquial definition it's probably only of minor interest to you.

There are certainly places where the perception is somewhat inaccurate. According to the Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings, raiding was something that took place in the Mediterranean only exceptionally (there is one saga talking about a raid going to Italy) or not at all. However, we can be quite certain that viking age scandinavians were active there: trading in the Islamic world for the vast quantities of silver coinage that we find today, fighting in the Varangian Guard for the Byzantine Emperor, and otherwise getting around quite a bit without such a strong plunder association. [Varangians aren't generally associated as raiders, but they might fit your stereotype of loot, plunder and rape in other ways.]

However, it's also true that for other areas the only thorough interaction we see with the Vikings is loot, plunder, and rape. Early Medieval England sees raids from about 793 to 865 that almost entirely fit this stereotype you mention, and although the 'Great Heathen Army' that comes in 865 does quite a lot of capture territory and see the genuine settlement of Scandinavian people in the area they control. This is so much the case that when Ethelred Unraed is fed up of being raided by vikings, he attempts to have all the Scandinavians in his kingdom killedon St Brice's Day, he is allegedly unable to have this enforced in large parts of his land because there are too many Scandinavians around. But that's also complicated by the fact that even while there are lots of settlers, Ethelred is spending thousands of tons of silver a year in 'danegelds': organised payments to those who would be raiding him to get them to go away for a year.

This system of danegelds and raids occurs throughout north-western europe whenever the various kings are unable to effectively defend themselves. The vikings do all kinds of crazy things: when they attack Paris, for example, they meet a Frankish army in two halves, so they attack the lesser half, hang the prisoners, let the other half run away, sack the city, and then get payment from the King to go away. This is what gives people that rather unpleasant impression of the vikings.

But it's also true that in some areas they barely seem to fight at all, or at least don't do so with a reputation of success. A final thing worth noting is the viking settlement of Iceland, Greenland, and (temporarily) North America. That's not the stereotype at all, but it's still an important part of what Scandinavians were doing in the viking age.

I also haven't mentioned any of the stuff they're doing in Russia and Ukraine, mostly because I don't know much about that stuff.

I mentioned the Penguin Historical Atlas. Also worth mentioning is Vikings! by Magnus Magnusson for some of this information. If you're looking for detail on things like preserved buildings from the viking age, he is a good source (as far as I'm aware).

Since I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the questions right now, I'm going to copy and paste two answers I've given to similar question in earlier threads. (One of which is a copy-and-paste job itself.)


1. General books:

I'm going to copy and paste an answer I once gave to someone who asked me for book recommendations via private message.

>Hi there!

>No Problem! Always glad to help. If you need a quick overview over the topic or are rather unfamiliar with it The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings gives a good first impression. Else Roesdahl's The Vikings is a bit more in depth but with less pictures. There's also Peter Sawyer's Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. All three of those are slightly outdated but they give a great first impression of the Age. If money's thight, start with Sawyer, then Roesdahl, then the atlas.

>If you want to go more in depth there's The Viking World by Stefan Brink and Neil Price. Do not confuse it with the book of the same name by Graham-Campbell and Wilson, which is rather outdated. This "Viking World" is a collection of essays by the world's leading experts on the period an the de facto standard of the discipline at the moment. It's well worth the price.

>If you are (or at least read) German (which is possible from your username) try to get the current catalogue of the Haithabu museum. It gives a good overview over that important trading settlement. Or even better: visit there! (Or any of the large Scandinavian National Museums (Moesgård, Statens Historiska museet, or the Viking ship museums in Roskilde and Oslo, respectively).

>If you are interested in the world of the sagas you can't go wrong with Jesse Byock's Viking Age Iceland.

>If you are looking for a quick ressource or if you have a specific question there's the site of The Viking Answer Lady. She appears to be a reenactor not a scholar but her answers are very well sourced and I have yet to find a major error on her site. Or you can always ask me/post to AskHistorians...

>cheers, wee_little_puppetman


Also, you might want to check out this huge annotated Viking movie list.

There's also a rather good three part BBC series on the Vikings on Youtube.

And for some quick Viking fun there's the animated short The Saga of Biorn.

Oh, one more thing: You might also enjoy Viking Empires by Angelo Forte, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. It goes beyond the traditional end of the Viking Age into the Middle Ages and should therefore tie in nicely to your main interest in the crusades.



2. Sagas

Egils saga and Njáls saga are usually the ones that are recomennded for first time readers. They feel very modern in their narrative structures. Grettis saga is also quite good for a start. And then maybe Laxdæla saga. If you aren't specifically interested in Iceland and want to start with something that conforms more to the public picture of "Vikings" try Eiriks saga rauða, Jómsvíkinga saga or Sverris saga. But afterwards you have to read at least one Icelander saga (i.e. one of the ones I mentioned first)!

Icelandic sagas are fascinating but you have to commit to them. Don't be disappointed if a chapter begins with two pages of the family tree of a minor character! And always keep in mind that this is medieval literature: although it might look like it it is not history. These things were written in the 12th to 14th centuries, even if the take place much earlier!

Nonfiction: The Penguin Historical Atlas: Vikings http://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Historical-Atlas-Vikings-Hist/dp/0140513280

Fiction (but historical/realistic): The Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell - Book 1 is The Last Kingdom: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Kingdom-Saxon-Chronicles-Series/dp/0060887184

Also worthwhile:

Beowulf: http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-New-Verse-Translation-Bilingual/dp/0393320979/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425795525&sr=1-1&keywords=beowulf

Sagas of the Icelanders: http://www.amazon.com/Sagas-Icelanders-Penguin-Classics-Deluxe/dp/0141000031/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425795544&sr=1-1&keywords=sagas+icelanders

GURPS Vikings (tabletop RPG): http://www.amazon.com/GURPS-Vikings-Roleplaying-World-Norsemen/dp/1556342012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425795572&sr=1-1&keywords=Vikings+gurps

Vikings (comic): http://www.amazon.com/Viking-1-TPB-Ivan-Brandon/dp/1607061694/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1425795563&sr=1-1&keywords=Vikings+comic

Enjoy!!

793 wasn't the first raid on England. According to the Anglosaxon chronicle 3 ships from here in Norway attacked Portland in 789.

I can recommend this book as a historical atlas: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Historical-Atlas-Vikings-Atlases/dp/0140513280/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368064713&sr=1-1&keywords=viking+atlas

I was interested in the Vikings and Scandinavian history a few years back. I read a selection of things that were Viking histories and English histories that pertained to the Vikings. As far as Egyptian history I read a few egyptian history book my university has and I also read a book called Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt by Rosalie David. It traced the history of Egyptian faith practices from the civilization's beginning through its growth into an empire and its later years as a Roman province. And for the Latin American Civilizations and feudal japan i cant help you there. Also, check out the History subreddit's reading list https://www.reddit.com/r/history/wiki/recommendedlist

Vikings: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Wolves-History-Vikings/dp/1909979120/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486836520&sr=8-2&keywords=vikings+book

https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Historical-Atlas-Vikings-Hist/dp/0140513280/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1486836584&sr=8-10&keywords=vikings+book

Egypt: https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Magic-Ancient-Egypt-Rosalie/dp/0140262520

You're right in terms of a detailed and nice looking, focused map of all Viking settlement (I just looked around). The ones in this atlas spread it out over several maps:

https://www.amazon.ca/Penguin-Historical-Atlas-Vikings/dp/0140513280

And a few of my go to's before this:

https://i.imgur.com/ehvDkW5.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/B8wVBvd.jpg

So, nicely done!