The Viking reputation is of bloodthirsty seafaring warriors, repeatedly plundering the British Isles and the North Atlantic throughout the early Middle Ages. Yet Vikings were also traders, settlers, and farmers, with a complex artistic and linguistic culture, whose expansion overseas led them to cross the Atlantic for the first time in European history. Highlighting the latest archaeological evidence, Julian Richards reveals the whole Viking world: their history, society and culture, and their expansion overseas for trade, colonization, and plunder. We also look at the Viking identity, through their artistic expression, rune stones, their ships, and their religion. The Viking story is also brought up to date, by examining their legacy from the medieval Icelandic sagas to 19th Century nationalism, Wagner, and the Nazis. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

From shortly before AD 800 until the Norman Conquest, England was subject to raids from seafaring peoples from Scandinavia - the Vikings. However, they were not only raiders but also traders and settlers. During this period, the English state was unified under a single ruler for the first time and Anglo-Saxon society underwent great changes. Using the latest archaeological evidence from places such as London, Lincoln and York, the author reassesses the Viking contribution to Late Anglo-Saxon England and examines the creation of a new Anglo-Scandinavian identity.

This volume examines the Scandinavian impact on England in the ninth and tenth centuries, with particular reference to Scandinavian settlement and the diverse ways in which the Scandinavians and the native populations responded to each other. Many previous studies have described the settlement as involving a rapid assimilation of the settlers with native society and culture, and a swift process of integration. This volume challenges that view and shows that the processes of assimilation, integration and accommodation were gradual and complex, displaying important regional variations. Where did the Scandinavians come from? What type of society did they eventually settle into? What were the implications of the drawing of different cultures in contact, and how is this portrayed in the surviving material? An important aim of this volume is to open up new interdisciplinary dialogue in Viking Studies, and it analyses documentary, archaeological, artefactual and linguistic evidence. The volume also seeks to develop more theoretically sophisticated accounts of Scandinavian settlement, and brings the study of this subject up-to-date in terms of developments in other branches of history, archaeology and linguistics. Recent discussion in other fields concerning, for example, material culture and language have shown that they did not simply reflect changes in society but were also active, constituent elements in creating and re-creating social and cultural identities. The volume focuses on the creation of local and regional identities and affinities, and moves on from the traditional depiction of the issues in terms of a simple dichotomy of 'Scandinavian' and 'English'. It takes a more rigorously contextual approach than has hitherto been the case in the study of Scandinavian settlement, and seeks to throw new light on the consequences of cultures in contact.