Customer Reviews

The Vikings (Pelican Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Johannes Brøndsted brushes a thorough and very detailed portrait of the Viking (from vik = fiord) society and the history of their explorations and invasions from the 9th till the 11th century which went as far as the North-American coast, Novgorod (Russia) and the Mediterranean sea (Morocco).

Reasons, means and goals
Besides overpopulation (the inheritance was passed only to the eldest son), the major factors behind the raids were piracy and quest for territory and trade (slaves- mostly women, furs).
Together with their general characteristics of belligerence, adventurousness, thirst for glory and scorn for death, the success of the raids was built on navigation skills and the quality of the vessels.
The raids could be political expeditions (conquest of territories), private-enterprise piracies, colonizing ventures (France, England, Greenland) or commercial penetrations (Russia).

Urban, social, political, judicial, religious and personal organization
The Viking towns were built on fiords and fortified with earthworks.
Their society was composed of three social groups: two free ones (the nobles and the peasants) and one without personal liberty (the serfs). The peasants (smallholders) were the backbone of the society. `Killing a serf was not a major crime.'
The King was the primus inter pares (`we are all equal'). His power was limited by the Thing (the Parliament), the assembly of all free people. Major decisions were taken at the great regional assemblies (the Landsthings).
The judicial system was not more than an oral code. Their religion was polytheistic (Odin, Thor, Tyr, Balder, Frey, Freya).
Their personal life was centered on the family (polygamous).

Art
The themes of their literature (skaldic poetry) were used as ingredients in the Icelandic sagas of the Middle Ages.
Decorative art used animal designs, while figure paintings represented the protagonists of their myths and sagas.

Place in European history
`What did the Vikings give Europe? The `dona Danaorum': destruction, rape, plunder, murder and colonization. The Viking could teach nothing.'

This book with excellent graphic material is a must read for all those interested in European history.

For anyone interested in learning the basic facts about the Vikings, this little book is an excellent place to begin. Brondsted covers enough to give you a sense of the Vikings and their time. He also provides enough detail to spark interest in reading further.

_The Vikings_ covers:

historical overview of the 9th-11th centuries
weapons and tools
dress and jewelry
transport
towns, earthworks, and camps
coins and weights and measures
runic inscriptions
art
Viking way of life
Viking religious beliefs
the Viking spirit

This book was the perfect book for any school asignment. It gave very specific facts and dates. It only lacked in the fact that it was kind of boring. It gets more interesting as you go along though. Overall, it was a very good book.