Just Finished Reading: A Brief History of The Vikings – The Last Pagans or the First Modern Europeans? by Jonathan Clements

I have a ‘thing’ about warrior cultures as well as an interest in Vikings dating back to my childhood. Indeed it’s probably quite likely that I have some Viking genes kicking around my DNA (OK probably along with a lot of other Europeans) as they settled in the part of Ireland my Father was from – at least that’s what the romantic side of me thinks anyway.

But to the book itself….. Interestingly he doesn’t start with the usual introduction of the Viking Age with the attack on the monastery on Lindisfarne. He starts much further back in Roman times when there are apparent reports of Viking style raids on the East coast. Rather inevitably after the Romans left the raids increased and, from time to time, sometimes they stayed. As you might expect they never actually called themselves Vikings – indeed no one at the time called them that. Like many things to do with English history it was a term invented by the Victorians. But whatever they called themselves they came from Scandinavia sometimes as traders (AKA spies) and sometimes as raiders – especially when times were hard back home. They both raided and traded throughout Europe – all over England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales, France (Normandy being named after them of course) and as far East as Russia. Apparently they tried to raid further East in the Arab lands but got their assess handed to them – although ironically they were sort after as mercenaries by various sultans. From bases in Iceland they sailed West discovering and occupying Greenland (presumably much greener back then) and more famously Vinland AKA Newfoundland where they had issues with the Native Americans – always a fascinating Alternative History jumping off point.  They most certainly got around. But where they most interested me and fed my ever growing interest in English history was how the Viking colonisation impacted on it. Of course this ended in 1066 with Harold Godwinson fighting the successful battle at Stamford Bridge followed by the much less successful one near Hastings. William the Bastard (later William the Conqueror) was of course a descendent of Vikings who had settled in Normandy.

I found this book very enjoyable indeed. Not only was it on a subject that I have long been interested in, the style of the writing was engaging with lots of interesting information that was new to me. Unlike the recent book on the Samurai I was able to keep track of most of the various characters in the book though I admit it helped to have heard of a fair few of them before. If you are interested in early European history in general or the Vikings in particular this is definitely the book for you. Recommended.