In the eighth to twelfth centuries, England, Normandy, Ireland, Iceland and the Ukraine were colonised by a people we now call the Vikings-Norse-speaking Scandinavians whose trade-routes dominated the early medieval world. Yet histories of the period often marginalise the Vikings, considering them only as raiders and interlopers in the 'civilised' Latinate cultures of Continental Europe. This unit sets the Vikings at centre stage, tracing their societies, culture, and history through their own sagas, poetry, art and archaeology, as well as through accounts of them by their contemporaries. It focuses particularly on the best methods of researching Viking history through a range of primary... -- Course Website
Instructor: Dr Stephanie Tarbin
Prerequisites: any Level 2 unit in History or MEMS2002 World Views: Religion, Gender and Society in Pre-modern Europe
