Viking Britain

WASPs finally get their due in this stimulating history by one of the world's leading geneticists. Saxons, Vikings, and Celts is the most illuminating book yet to be written about the genetic history of Britain and Ireland. Through a systematic, ten-year DNA survey of more than 10,000 volunteers, Bryan Sykes has traced the true genetic makeup of British Islanders and their descendants.

Ride along with Rollo, the raider who spent decades laying waste to France and whose descendants eventually would rule over much of Europe. Rule with Olga of Kyiv, the most letha saint in history. Learn the incredible stories behind Erik the Red’s and Leif Erikson’s adventures in the New World. And hold on tight for the unbelievable adventures of Harald Hardrada, whose exploits are like a Viking’s greatest hits.

Harald Sigurdsson burst into history as a teenaged youth in a Viking battle from which he escaped with little more than his life and a thirst for vengeance. But from these humble origins, he became one of Norway’s most legendary kings. The Last Viking is a fast-moving narrative account of the life of King Harald Hardrada, as he journeyed across the medieval world, from the frozen wastelands of the North to the glittering towers of Byzantium and the passions of the Holy Land, until his warrior death on the battlefield in England.

Ragnar Lothbrok was a legendary warrior who left a legacy among the Vikings like none other. Today's popular TV show may have popularized Ragnar's story, but the real facts are not very well known. Discover the truth behind this Viking warrior and the rich history of the Vikings.

881 AD, Northumbria. Hundr, The Man with the Dogs Name, sails the England’s coastline raiding and challenging Viking champions to single combat. His wife and child died in a savage war with Rollo the Betrayer and Hundr seeks to soothe his grief in the fog of war. Hundr, a Northman with a dog's name… ruthless Viking warlords and savage individual combat… epic battles, gladiatorial fights, twists and turns. Hundr is lost in a violent sea storm and falls foul of fellow Vikings who force men to fight in the hjaldr-garth slave fighting pit.

The Viking Spirit is an introduction to Norse mythology like no other. As you’d expect from Daniel McCoy, the creator of the endearingly popular website "Norse Mythology for Smart People", it’s written to scholarly standards, but in a simple, clear, and entertaining style that’s easy to understand and a pleasure to listen to. It includes gripping retellings of no less than 34 epic Norse myths - more than any other book in the field - while also providing an equally comprehensive overview of the fascinating viking religion of which Norse mythology was a part.

In 871, three of England’s four kingdoms were overrun by Vikings, the ruthless, all-conquering Scandinavian raiders who terrorized early medieval Europe. With the Norsemen murdering one king with arrows and torturing another to death by ripping out his lungs, the prospects that faced the kingdom of Wessex were bleak. Worse still, the Saxons were now led by a young man barely out of his teens who was more interested in God than fighting.

"Au temps des Vikings"​ nous plonge au sein d'une civilisation fascinante, loin des clichés virils et barbares dont on l'a longtemps affublée. Le temps des Vikings, de 800 à 1100, c'est ce moment de l'histoire du Moyen Âge où de farouches guerriers venus du Nord sèment la terreur dans de nombreuses villes européennes accessibles par mer ou voie fluviale. Ils pillent, s'emparent des trésors des églises et des monastères, enlèvent des habitants qu'ils échangent contre une rançon ou vendent comme esclaves.

The story of the Highland clans of Scotland is famous, the names celebrated, and the deeds heroic. Having clung to ancient traditions of family, loyalty, and valor for centuries, the clans met the beginning of their end at the fateful Battle of Culloden in 1746. Alistair Moffat traces the history of the clans from their Celtic origins to the coming of the Romans; from Somerled the Viking to Robert the Bruce; from the great battles of Bannockburn and Flodden to Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobite Risings; and from the Clearances to the present day.

Jarl Dragon Heart leaves the Isle of Man to go raiding. Beset by enemies both Viking and Saxon, he has to rely on the Ulfheonar and his own skills to see him through the crisis. A harsh winter in the land of Rheged brings him face-to-face with his old enemy, the Wolf. All the while, he is learning about his own ancestor, the Warlord of Rheged. The treachery of other Vikings who try to carve out kingdoms has Dragon Heart caught in the middle of their machinations.

In a saga reminiscent of Game of Thrones and The Last Kingdom, Battle for the Island Kingdom reveals the life-and-death struggle for power which changed the course of history. The six decades leading up to 1066 were defined by bloody wars and intrigues, in which three peoples vied for supremacy over the island kingdom. In this epic retelling, Don Hollway (The Last Viking) recounts the clashes of Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and Normans, their warlords and their conniving queens.

The Strongbow Saga is an epic tale of one man's unstoppable quest for justice and vengeance that carries him across the ninth century world of the Vikings. In Viking Warrior, Book One of the saga, a cruel twist of fate both frees Halfdan and robs him of the mother he loves, setting him upon the path to a new destiny. But a brutal act of treachery and murder upends Halfdan's new life, sending him on the run with ruthless hunters hot on his trail.

We tend to think about the Middle Ages as a dark and backward time, characterised by violence, ignorance and superstition. We believe that life was unchanging over the period, so if a peasant fell asleep in in the year 1000 and woke up six hundred years later, he would return to a world that was instantly recognisable. We hold that change is facilitated by science and technological innovation, and that it was the inventions of recent centuries, from the steam engine to the Internet, that created the modern world. We couldn't be more wrong.

During the first millennium AD the most northerly part of Britain evolved into the country known today as Scotland. The transition was a long process of social and political change driven by the ambitions of powerful warlords. At first these men were tribal chiefs, Roman generals, or rulers of small kingdoms.

In 1035, a young 15-year-old Viking is dragged wounded from the battle. Left for dead, for the next 20 years his adventures lead him over mountains, down the length of Russia and ultimately to Constantinople and the Holy City of Jerusalem. Drawn into political intrigue, he will be the lover of empresses, the murderer of an emperor; he will hold the balance of power in the Byzantine Empire in his hands and then give it all up for a Russian princess and the chance to return home and lead his own people.

The ubiquitous picture of the Vikings as horn-helmeted, brutish, hairy giants that mercilessly marauded among the settlements of Northern Europe is based on a smattering of facts combined with an abundance of prejudicial historical writing by those who were on the receiving end of Viking depredations. At the same time, much of the popular picture of the Vikings is a result of the romantic imagination of novelists and artists. However, the Vikings' reputation for ferocious seaborne attacks along the coasts of Northern Europe is no exaggeration.

Until Scandinavia converted to Christianity and came under the rule of powerful kings, the Vikings were a dominant force in the medieval world. Outfitted with wind-powered sailing ships, they left their mark, spreading terror across Europe, sacking cities, deposing kings, and ransacking economies. But as much as we know about this culture, there is a large missing piece: its women. In this revisionist portrait, science journalist Heather Pringle turns those assumptions on their head, using the latest archaeological research and historical findings to reveal this group as they actually were.

Rescued as an infant from the wreckage of his boat, Caelin ap Cadwyr has come to be raised as a Norseman, far from his homeland, his family, and his destiny. Given a new name - Rathulf Thorvaldarsson - the orphaned Briton is unaware that his chosen path as a Viking warrior is soon to be thrown wildly off course.

Life is progressing normally for sixteen-year-old Dan Renfrew when he accidentally transports himself to England in the year 1066. He soon realizes that he’s trapped there, and that’s not his only astonishing discovery. Dan learns that he’s descended from a long line of time jumpers—secret heroes who travel to the past and resolve glitches in the time stream that threaten to alter subsequent history. The only way Dan can return home is to set history back on its proper course in the Anglo-Saxon age. This is no easy task.

The journey of Erik the Viking is almost done but the Norns have not yet finished spinning and their webs threaten to engulf Erik, his family and his growing clan. He may be getting old, but Erik is still a force to be reckoned with and when others falter, the last Viking in the New World is there to steer the clan to safety. This is the last audiobook in the saga that has been the story of Erik the Navigator.