The Hammer and the Cross: A New History of the Vikings

From the first bloody attack on the Lindisfarne monastery in 793 to the settlement of Iceland and Greenland and the discovery of North America, the Vikings dominated Europe for over 300 years. What caused their outburst of violence and restless creativity, what sustained it, and what finally brought it to an end? Robert Ferguson’s new history sheds light on some of the most characteristic aspects of the Vikings’ culture, including their Heathen religion, their skill as shipbuilders and architects, and an extraordinary literary and poetic culture that celebrated the deeds of such enigmatically named leaders as Harald Bluetooth and Ivar the Boneless. This is the clearest and most compelling modern portrait of the Viking world yet. ====== Table of Contents ====== List of Illustrations List of Maps Introduction 1 The Oseberg Ship 2 The culture of northern Heathendom 3 The causes of the Viking Age 4 ‘The devastation of all the islands of Britain by the Heathens’ 5 The Vikings in the Carolingian Empire 6 Across the Baltic 7 The Danelaw I: Occupation 8 The settlement of Iceland 9 Rollo and the Norman colony 10 The master-builder: Harald Bluetooth and the Jelling stone 11 The Danelaw II: Assimilation 12 When Allah met Odin 13 A piece of horse’s liver: The pragmatic Christianity of Håkon the Good 14 Greenland and North America 15 Ragnarök in Iceland 16 St Brice, St Alphege and the wolf: The fall of Anglo-Saxon England 17 The Viking saint 18 Heathendom’s last bastion Notes Index