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Books > History > British & Irish history
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Viking Pirates and Christian Princes - Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic (Hardcover, New)
Loot Price: R3,839
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Viking Pirates and Christian Princes - Dynasty, Religion, and Empire in the North Atlantic (Hardcover, New)
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In popular imagination, the Vikings are remembered as fierce
warrior seamen who campaigned through Western Europe, terrorizing
British, Frankish, and Irish societies. Yet is it possible that the
great Viking armies left more in their wake than carnage and
destruction? The stories of two families-the Olafssons, who
transformed a pirate camp in Ireland into the kingdom of Dublin,
and the Haraldssons, whose rule encompassed Hebrides, Galloway, and
the Isle of Man-suggest that the Vikings did indeed leave behind a
much greater legacy.
Between the tenth and twelfth centuries, these two Viking
families, descendants of men whom earlier chroniclers dismissed as
pagan pirates, established themselves as Christian rulers whose
domain straddled the Scandinavian and Celtic worlds. The Olafssons
and Haraldssons carved out empires that inspired fear and made
their families fabulously wealthy. From their ranks came the
settlers who gave name to the Danelaw in Britain, Fingal in
Ireland, and Normandy in Francia. Celebrated in Icelandic sagas and
poems, Irish tales, and French history, the Olafssons and
Haraldssons took part in the last successful Scandinavian invasion
of Britain and the overthrow of the last Old English kingdom, even
as they allied with, fought against, and married their Irish
neighbors.
Though the families had come to these lands as conquerors, they
soon learned the importance of cooperating with those they had
vanquished. Even as they worshipped pagan gods, the Olafssons and
Haraldssons both became important benefactors to the Christian
church. They also played a crucial role in the economic revival of
northern Europe as trading ships from their ports sailed throughout
theAtlantic and the goods they produced traveled as far west as
Canada. Under their rule, the seas became a connector for a shared
culture, commercially, artistically, and socially.
Challenging traditional views of the Vikings' culture, Benjamin
Hudson shows the role that these two great dynasties played in the
Second Viking age. The rise and transformation of the Olafssons and
Haraldsssons from the tenth to the twelfth centuries highlights a
period and people important for understanding the political,
religious, and cultural development of Europe in the High Middle
Ages.
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