This book presents a collection of papers from experts in a broad range of disciplines, including history, archaeology, genetics, and linguistics, to provide a detailed understanding of the Vikings in peace and in war. It focuses on one particularly exciting area of the Viking world, namely the north-west section of England, where they are known to have settled in large numbers. The 12 integrated studies in this book are designed to reinvigorate the search for Vikings in this crucial region and to provide must-reading for anyone interested in Viking history.

The relationship of Ireland with the Viking World is one of the enduring themes of the study of the Viking Age. The Fifteenth Viking Congress addressed key issues in the debate, including Viking-Age Ireland, the colonization of the North Atlantic, weapons and warfare, and the development of urbanism. This book, comprising papers by more than fifty of the world's leading Viking specialists, presents a broad range of ideas and approaches to these studies, supported by archaeological, historical, literary and linguistic evidence. --Book Jacket.

What do our myths say about us? Why do we choose to believe stories that have been disproven? David M. Krueger takes an in-depth look at a legend that held tremendous power in one corner of Minnesota, helping to define both a community’s and a state’s identity for decades. In 1898, a Swedish immigrant farmer claimed to have discovered a large rock with writing carved into its surface in a field near Kensington, Minnesota. The writing told a North American origin story, predating Christopher Columbus’s exploration, in which Viking missionaries reached what is now Minnesota in 1362 only to be massacred by Indians. The tale’s credibility was quickly challenged and ultimately undermined by experts, but the myth took hold. Faith in the authenticity of the Kensington Rune Stone was a crucial part of the local Nordic identity. Accepted and proclaimed as truth, the story of the Rune Stone recast Native Americans as villains. The community used the account as the basis for civic celebrations for years, and advocates for the stone continue to promote its validity despite the overwhelming evidence that it was a hoax. Krueger puts this stubborn conviction in context and shows how confidence in the legitimacy of the stone has deep implications for a wide variety of Minnesotans who embraced it, including Scandinavian immigrants, Catholics, small-town boosters, and those who desired to commemorate the white settlers who died in the Dakota War of 1862. Krueger demonstrates how the resilient belief in the Rune Stone is a form of civil religion, with aspects that defy logic but illustrate how communities characterize themselves. He reveals something unique about America’s preoccupation with divine right and its troubled way of coming to terms with the history of the continent’s first residents. By considering who is included, who is left out, and how heroes and villains are created in the stories we tell about the past, Myths of the Rune Stone offers an enlightening perspective on not just Minnesota but the United States as well.

*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the Vikings' expeditions from medieval sagas *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents Over the centuries, the West has become fascinated by the Vikings, one of the most mysterious and interesting European civilizations. In addition to being perceived as a remarkably unique culture among its European counterparts, what's known and not known about the Vikings' accomplishments has added an intriguing aura to the historical narrative. Were they fierce and fearsome warriors? Were they the first Europeans to visit North America? It seems some of the legends are true, and some are just that, legend. 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 fact 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. It is true that the Norsemen, who traded extensively throughout Europe, often increased the profits obtained from their nautical ventures through plunder, acquiring precious metals and slaves. Of course, the Vikings were not the only ones participating in this kind of income generation; between the 8th and the 11th centuries, European tribes, clans, kingdoms and monastic communities were quite adept at fighting with each other for the purpose of obtaining booty. The Vikings were simply more consistently successful than their contemporaries and thus became suitable symbols for the iniquity of the times. Of course, the military reputation came about because the Vikings were the great mariners and explorers of medieval Europe. While many of their journeys were ones of conquest, they also had a deep love of exploration, and from their homeland in Scandinavia, they traveled as far as North America and became the first Europeans who are known to have set foot on what is now Canada. It was not until 1960 that the actual site of a Viking settlement in Vinland was found. At the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula in Newfoundland, Canada, a small Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows was excavated, with the foundations of three residential halls have been found. These halls would have housed between 70 and 90 people. As well as the sod covered halls, a smithy where nails were made and a small boat repair building have been found. It is believed that this settlement, which may have had as many as 500 inhabitants, is one of two settlements called Straumfjord and Hop mentioned in the Saga of Erik the Red as being his Vinland bases. L'Anse aux Meadows is thought to be the former, and it is believed that Hop was a summer camp perhaps as far south as New Brunswick. The native inhabitants of the New World were called Skrellings by the Vikings, and there is evidence that they engaged in battle with the Beothuks at L'Anse aux Meadows and the Mi'kmaq people further south. While there is still debate over where exactly the Norse settled the land, there is no hard evidence that they ventured further south than Newfoundland, where remains of a settlement have been found. If they had rounded Cape Breton and crossed the Cabot Strait, they would have come to a markedly different environment that would probably have compelled the explorers to come up with a fourth name for the region south of Vinland. The Vikings in North America chronicles the historic voyages the Vikings made to North America and what's known and unknown about their pre-Columbian settlements. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Norse colonization of North America like never before, in no time at all.

The European coastal areas and the lands around the rivers had great importance for the Vikings, who settled in strategic areas and defended themselves - often against other intruding Vikings. This book is a collection of articles focusing on the Vikings and their presence on the western European continent.

Faced with harsh conditions in their Greenland home, a group of Vikings took the reins of fate into their own hands. With incredible luck, skill and fortitude, they discovered lands filled with a profusion of wood, wild game and fertile land. In the sagas that grew from this discovery, the lands were given names that resonated with hope and promise. Almost 1000 years later, a husband and wife team united their talents. Intrigued by allusions in the ancient sagas to fabled Vinland, they considered the scholarship on Viking culture and technology; they studied maps and they researched intensively the prominent theories on Vinland's location. And finally their efforts bore fruit when a remote Newfoundland peninsula yielded up a soapstone spindle-whorl, a Viking ring pin, and what had to be the overgrown remnants of over a dozen Viking buildings.

A radically new interpretation of two medieval Icelandic tales, known as the Vinland sagas, considering what the they reveal about native peoples, and how they contribute to the debate about whether Leif Eiriksson or Christopher Columbus should be credited as the first "discoverer" of America.

“An epic history of piracy . . . Goodall explores the role of these legendary rebels and describes the fine line between piracy and privateering.” —WYPR The story of Chesapeake pirates and patriots begins with a land dispute and ends with the untimely death of an oyster dredger at the hands of the Maryland Oyster Navy. From the golden age of piracy to Confederate privateers and oyster pirates, the maritime communities of the Chesapeake Bay are intimately tied to a fascinating history of intrigue, plunder and illicit commerce raiding. Author Jamie L.H. Goodall introduces infamous men like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach and “Black Sam” Bellamy, as well as lesser-known local figures like Gus Price and Berkeley Muse, whose tales of piracy are legendary from the harbor of Baltimore to the shores of Cape Charles. “Rather than an unchanging monolith, Goodall creates a narrative filled with dynamic movement and exchange between the characters, setting, conflict, and resolution of her story. Goodall positioned this narrative to be successful on different levels.” —International Social Science Review