The Prologue opens with the attack on the monastery on the island of Lindisfarne, off the Northumbrian coast on June 8, 793. The monastery held the remains of St. Cuthbert. The attackers killed and enslaved the monks, destroyed exquisitely crafted Bibles, and plundered the treasures of the monastery. It was the beginning of three hundred years of Viking raids that saw pirates from Denmark, Norway and Sweden loot and pillage their way across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland as well as France, Southern Spain and North Africa. In the East, they established a new kingdom at Kyiv which eventually became Russia and Ukraine. The Vikings traveled as far east as the Holy Land, Turkey and the deserts of Asia. They even attempted to destroyed Constantinople. They founded new settlements on Iceland and Greenland as well as travelling further west to North America. But the Vikings never called themselves that. Instead the label comes from the voyage to go "viking" or plundering. But the name became synonymous with the people who raided the coasts of Britain and Europe.
No story of Viking history would be complete without beginning with the Norse myths, with the kingdom of fire - Muspelheim, with Buri the forefather of the gods, his son Bor who had three sons, Odin, Vili and Ve. The Norse people believed the world consisted of nine realms spread over three levels and that Midgard or Middle Earth was one. There was Asgard, the kingdom of Odin and the Aesir. Vanaheim was another dynasty of gods, the Vanir. Alfheim was the land of light-elves connecting Asgard to the middle level - the fourth kingdom Midgard or Middle Earth.
In Midgard, the ice covering the land finally melted and humans came to live there. "From hunters they became farmers living in wooden longhouses." As they built up their own society, they heard fantastic stories of the Romans to the south who lived lives in wealth and comfort. During the sixth century B.C., there was a three year period without spring or summer, cold and with frequent snows. As the harvests failed, people starved. By the seventh century, the Western Roman Empire had collapsed, leaving the world to the south in disarray. Meanwhile, the men of Denmark, Norway and Sweden began to rebuild, sailing east and west, trading furs, cloth and tools, fishing and farming.
By the eighth century, some of the North chieftains would sail along the fjords of Norway to attack settlements along the coast. The loot they obtained from these raids made them wealthy and able to build great wooden halls and earn loyal followers called housecarls. The existence of these wealthy chieftains or sea kings was unknown to the people of northern France, the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (now England), western Germany or the Low countries.
The raids first began in the East, in the Baltic where Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are located. They took furs, slaves and amber. The Norsemen explored south along the rivers that traversed the forests of Europe to Lake Ladoga, in what is now Russia.
But on a summer day in 789 B.C., the people of England had their first encounter with the people who came to be knowns as "Vikings". The attack on Lindisfarne signalled the beginning of a new era of raids, plundering and death. Further attacks on monasteries along the coast and in Scotland and Ireland only further enticed the Norsemen who saw the Christians as weak and afraid.
While the Franks had dominated western Europe for the past three centuries, in the 800's, civil unrest and war saw them become vulnerable, and the Norsemen took advantage. The next three hundred years would see the Norsemen ravage the Anglo-Saxons in England, taking huge hauls of silver and enslaving the women, destroying the Christian culture and eventually ruling a large part of the country.
The Norsemen's voyages would eventually traverse a large part of the known world. They would travel to Constantinople or Miklagard as they called it, in an attempt to conquer the city. They would establish river towns in what is now eastern Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. They would attack towns and cities throughout Christendom, including France, Italy, Spain, Morocco, Ibiza and Majorca, returning home with huge hauls of gold and silver. They would settle Iceland and Greenland and travel west to Vinland, now called Canada. There is evidence their voyages extended as far east as Afghanistan and Baghdad and that they had fought for the Emperor Basil II in Israel, Turkey, Greece, Georgia and Armenia. Their influence on European culture would be significant and lasting.
Discussion
Fury of the Vikings is a fascinating, detailed and enjoyable account of the Viking Age. Fury of the Vikings sets the stage for the Viking era with details about Norse mythology, offering young readers insight into how the Norse people viewed the world around them and their place in it. From this point on, the author chronicles the rise of the Norsemen, beginning with the rebuilding of their society after three years of devastating cold, likely brought on by volcanic eruptions. They moved from raiding their own villages and settlements to those of their richer Christian neighbours to the south. They quickly discovered the Christians were rich, weak and afraid and thus began centuries of pillaging, plundering and murder.
It's impossible to write about the Viking era without including a wide cast of characters, some courageous, but many cruel and ruthless. In England, there was King Aethelred who valiantly defended Wessex, the last holdout in the country from the Danes. His son, Alfred of Wessex saved his corner of England from the invaders, thus keeping alive the dream of a united England some day. Edward, Alfred's heir, his older sister Aethelflaed and his son Athelstan, were formidable adversaries of the Danes, reclaiming occupied English lands and uniting Angles and Saxons under one king.
Other characters include the well known Erik the Red, a Norseman brought to Iceland by his father and whose fiery temper led him to settle Greenland. There is St. Olga, the cruel widow of Igor, Grand Prince of Kyiv, who supposedly buried alive the Derevlians, but who came to be baptized and ruled until her son could take over. Others like Eric Bloodaxe, a warrior and a killer, son of the first sea-king to rule Norway, are less well known.
Sandbrook descriptions of various battles and confrontations between rival Vikings, and between the Vikings and the leaders of lands they were bent on pillaging, demonstrate the cruelty of this era. The Norsemen not only murdered entire villages and towns, enslaving women and children, but also plundered and desecrated many Christian monasteries and relics.
Sandbrook, describing the plundering of the city of Canterbury by Sweyn Forkbeard's chief warlord, Thorkell the Tall, writes, "What happened next was like a scene from the last days of mankind. 'Some were slaughtered with the sword, some destroyed by the flames,' wrote one chronicler. 'Many were also thrown from the walls, while some were killed by being hung up by their private parts. The women were dragged by their hair through the streets of the city, and then, being thrown into the flames, were thus put to death; infants were torn from their mother's breasts and were either caught on the points of spears, or ground to pieces under the wheels of vehicles." It was a brutal revenge for the English massacring of Danes in the St. Brice's Day Massacre.
Fury of Vikings portrays how extensive the Viking presence was throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, through northern and western Europe and extending well into Asia and how this presence influenced the local culture. For example, Sandbrook points out that in the United Kingdom today, many words, surnames and places names are derived directly from Dane influence.
Like the other books in the Adventures in Time series, Fury of the Vikings is filled with tidbits of interesting information. Sandbrook, in his Author's Note, writes, "To weave all these tales together, I read as many Viking books as I could, mercilessly looting their most dazzling treasures."
Fury of the Vikings will definitely satisfy young readers who are familiar with Norse mythology and who have a strong interest in Viking history and culture. It is another strong and fascinating installment in Sandbrook's books on history for young people.
Book Details:
Fury of the Vikings by Dominic Sandbrook
Canada: Particular Books 2022
341 pp.
Fury of the Vikings by Dominic Sandbrook
Canada: Particular Books 2022
341 pp.
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