lgrunwald's review against another edition
4.0
4/5
If you are looking for a academic but easily understandable rundown on many aspects of the Viking age this is definitely the book you are looking for. Andre Winroths vast knowledge and research on the era is both informative and incredibly fascinating from start to finish. One of my biggest compliments was his acknowledgements on the many misconceptions of the era and the people in it due to mass misinformation and the media at large and giving many alternative perspectives and ideas as to what a misconception would be in reality when it's not already presented with archeological evidence. I also love that he is willing to admit that we don't have all the answers to the Viking age and how many things have been lost to time but he makes it fun to speculate about anyway.
The book is sectioned off into different topics in each chapter such as the actual Viking attacks and weaponry, to farm culture, travel and ship making, trade, religion and eventual conversion of Scandinavia, and art and runic inscriptions. It's all very organised and if you were interested in a particular topic it would be easy to skip to if you wished to do so. My personal favourite sections were about farm life, ship building, and religious aspects to the text which were all so insightful and painted a unique picture of mediaeval Scandinavia that I now want to study in even more detail. I also am absolutely fascinated by Winroths descriptions of bodies found in the ship burials and archeologist being able to tell if they had certain diseases or if they had broken bones are battle wounds in their lives. It was so amazing! I'm going to try and find more resources on it as soon as possible.
My only complaint is that the trade chapter of the novel along with a few other places seemed to drag on and on and Winroth tended to repeat himself quite a few times on things that I felt were unnecessary. I also didn't tend to agree with every speculation he made about migration from Scandinavia to other places and his reasoning behind it due to previous reading but it's only encouraged me to educate myself further and look into more of the sources which Winroth readily gives you in the back of his novel.
All in all absolutely worth the read if you are interested in the Viking age as a whole or mediaeval Scandinavians as people and a small glimpse at their lives. It has also vastly encouraged me to look further into other resources of study around mediaeval life in general.
If you are looking for a academic but easily understandable rundown on many aspects of the Viking age this is definitely the book you are looking for. Andre Winroths vast knowledge and research on the era is both informative and incredibly fascinating from start to finish. One of my biggest compliments was his acknowledgements on the many misconceptions of the era and the people in it due to mass misinformation and the media at large and giving many alternative perspectives and ideas as to what a misconception would be in reality when it's not already presented with archeological evidence. I also love that he is willing to admit that we don't have all the answers to the Viking age and how many things have been lost to time but he makes it fun to speculate about anyway.
The book is sectioned off into different topics in each chapter such as the actual Viking attacks and weaponry, to farm culture, travel and ship making, trade, religion and eventual conversion of Scandinavia, and art and runic inscriptions. It's all very organised and if you were interested in a particular topic it would be easy to skip to if you wished to do so. My personal favourite sections were about farm life, ship building, and religious aspects to the text which were all so insightful and painted a unique picture of mediaeval Scandinavia that I now want to study in even more detail. I also am absolutely fascinated by Winroths descriptions of bodies found in the ship burials and archeologist being able to tell if they had certain diseases or if they had broken bones are battle wounds in their lives. It was so amazing! I'm going to try and find more resources on it as soon as possible.
My only complaint is that the trade chapter of the novel along with a few other places seemed to drag on and on and Winroth tended to repeat himself quite a few times on things that I felt were unnecessary. I also didn't tend to agree with every speculation he made about migration from Scandinavia to other places and his reasoning behind it due to previous reading but it's only encouraged me to educate myself further and look into more of the sources which Winroth readily gives you in the back of his novel.
All in all absolutely worth the read if you are interested in the Viking age as a whole or mediaeval Scandinavians as people and a small glimpse at their lives. It has also vastly encouraged me to look further into other resources of study around mediaeval life in general.
siria's review against another edition
4.0
A solid overview of the Viking period which presents a synthesis of the most recent scholarly understandings of the history and archaeology. Anders Winroth organises The Age of the Vikings thematically and then uses a series of vignettes to illustrate his point. His prose is brisk and his explanations are clear. Recommended for someone looking for a quick but comprehensive introduction to this period of early medieval history.
books17's review against another edition
2.0
Fairly disappointing. Reads very dryly, like a sequence of Year 12 students' essays back to back. Each chapter has a subject, begins with a vaguely interesting introductory paragraph, then many random pieces of information from various different sources slapped together, and the chapter finishes with a conclusion which goes over what we've learned. And then it begins again.
Wouldn't recommend - that coverart is nice though.
Wouldn't recommend - that coverart is nice though.
shannasbookshelf's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very quick read for me.
I loved reading this book and learning more about the Vikings other than just the details that they were raiders and plunderers.
Winroth does a fantastic job in painting a more complete picture of the Vikings for the reader; he includes their raids and plunders, but he also shows a few other things about the Vikings: (1) how the Vikings would settle in places they raided, (2) how the Vikings in their original homes were, and (3) how much the Vikings actually traveled to gain knowledge.
I personally had always avoided Viking history because the main - and pretty basic - picture we get of them is wild, barbaric warriors who only raided, pillaged, raped and burned.
However, after reading this book, I am willing to read more Viking related history books!
I loved reading this book and learning more about the Vikings other than just the details that they were raiders and plunderers.
Winroth does a fantastic job in painting a more complete picture of the Vikings for the reader; he includes their raids and plunders, but he also shows a few other things about the Vikings: (1) how the Vikings would settle in places they raided, (2) how the Vikings in their original homes were, and (3) how much the Vikings actually traveled to gain knowledge.
I personally had always avoided Viking history because the main - and pretty basic - picture we get of them is wild, barbaric warriors who only raided, pillaged, raped and burned.
However, after reading this book, I am willing to read more Viking related history books!
kiwi_fruit's review against another edition
3.0
This book a nice serious scholarly work, with great attention to the sources but not great as an introduction. The content is not organised chronologically, but by theme. The information is presented as discursive essays, with each chapter spanning decades or even centuries, sometimes covering more than one topic. Some chapters are better than others.
Winroth often challenges the veracity of long-held views of the Vikings and their practices putting them down as “creations of a vivid imagination of the high medieval writers”.
He presents interesting theories based on the latest archaeological evidence; the sections on the “Farm beneath the sand” and Osberg burial site were fascinating. I also found the chapter on economy and commerce well explained with the parallels between East and West carefully analysed.
Though the content is extremely interesting and well researched, the author’s style is somewhat dry. I overall enjoyed reading this book but I would not recommend it on its own to someone who is not already familiar with the subject. 3.5 stars.
Favourite quotes:
Viking Age emigration from Scandinavia was not driven primarily by population pressures at home, as is often imagined. Populations always tend to grow, but such growth is typically balanced by famine, war, and disease, as Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) postulated. People may always feel pressured by the lack of opportunity at home; what made the Viking Age different was not exceptionally great pressures at home but the appearance of real opportunities elsewhere.
It mattered that the Vikings brought into circulation silver and gold that had been hidden away in ecclesiastical treasure-houses, but we must not exaggerate the impact. Church plate had always been taken to mints and melted down when a bishop, an abbot, or a king needed cash, so it was never permanently withdrawn from the economy when placed in a treasury. More important for the early medieval resurgence of commerce in western Europe was the central Asian silver that Scandinavian merchants brought to Europe.
Although no exact statistics are available, it seems that Scandinavians and others who exported slaves, fur, and other articles to the Arab Caliphate and Byzantium rectified for some time the lopsided trade balance between western Europe and the East, stopping or perhaps even reversing the flow of silver and gold that had been leaving the western economy. The influx strengthened the European stock of silver, the coinage, and thus commerce. It was during the Viking Age that the European economy slowly began to grow again, eventually, in the modern era, leading to Europe’s economic, political, and cultural hegemony.
Their power over people extended so far that they could no longer maintain the kind of personal friendships that the gift economy of previous centuries promoted. Instead, they needed military and administrative structures to run what increasingly looked like older European kingdoms. The Church was the best organized institution in Europe at the time, and kings received help from clerics to build up their royal administration. Chieftaincy based on charisma and friendships yielded to organized and administrative kingship, although for a long time both “systems” existed in parallel.
Winroth often challenges the veracity of long-held views of the Vikings and their practices putting them down as “creations of a vivid imagination of the high medieval writers”.
He presents interesting theories based on the latest archaeological evidence; the sections on the “Farm beneath the sand” and Osberg burial site were fascinating. I also found the chapter on economy and commerce well explained with the parallels between East and West carefully analysed.
Though the content is extremely interesting and well researched, the author’s style is somewhat dry. I overall enjoyed reading this book but I would not recommend it on its own to someone who is not already familiar with the subject. 3.5 stars.
Favourite quotes:
Viking Age emigration from Scandinavia was not driven primarily by population pressures at home, as is often imagined. Populations always tend to grow, but such growth is typically balanced by famine, war, and disease, as Thomas Malthus (1766–1834) postulated. People may always feel pressured by the lack of opportunity at home; what made the Viking Age different was not exceptionally great pressures at home but the appearance of real opportunities elsewhere.
It mattered that the Vikings brought into circulation silver and gold that had been hidden away in ecclesiastical treasure-houses, but we must not exaggerate the impact. Church plate had always been taken to mints and melted down when a bishop, an abbot, or a king needed cash, so it was never permanently withdrawn from the economy when placed in a treasury. More important for the early medieval resurgence of commerce in western Europe was the central Asian silver that Scandinavian merchants brought to Europe.
Although no exact statistics are available, it seems that Scandinavians and others who exported slaves, fur, and other articles to the Arab Caliphate and Byzantium rectified for some time the lopsided trade balance between western Europe and the East, stopping or perhaps even reversing the flow of silver and gold that had been leaving the western economy. The influx strengthened the European stock of silver, the coinage, and thus commerce. It was during the Viking Age that the European economy slowly began to grow again, eventually, in the modern era, leading to Europe’s economic, political, and cultural hegemony.
Their power over people extended so far that they could no longer maintain the kind of personal friendships that the gift economy of previous centuries promoted. Instead, they needed military and administrative structures to run what increasingly looked like older European kingdoms. The Church was the best organized institution in Europe at the time, and kings received help from clerics to build up their royal administration. Chieftaincy based on charisma and friendships yielded to organized and administrative kingship, although for a long time both “systems” existed in parallel.
not_irish_patrick's review against another edition
3.0
This book has a lot of information about the Viking Age, but I found it to be a boring read. To me, it's better used as a reference book, than something to read cover to cover. I also didn't like how it wasn't organized chronologically. I did learn some stuff.
qaphsiel's review against another edition
4.0
This is a very academic text, and I think that's the explanation for the mediocre ratings. Ironically, the popular misconceptions that Winroth seeks to dispel with his book are likely what makes this book disappointing to some.
I welcomed the academic treatment of the subject, though I admit it was a bit dry at times.
He covers the culture and economy as well as the military/political history of this fascinating people and the period of time. They were a fearsome and complicated people, worthy of the respect and fear they inspired. On the other hand, they were not exceptional in their ferocity - they were a violent people in a violent time. They are cast as the "bad guys" because most of the written source material was written by the people they raided and not the Norsemen themselves.
What else is good? His explanations of the various sources and their limitations; the discussion of their poetry and art; and his coverage of religion. The last is particularly difficult given that almost all the material we have on it was recorded by Christians a century and more after nearly all Scandinavia had converted to Christianity. The Christians were more interested in consolidating variations instead of preserving them separately, and, once consolidated, harmonizing them with Christian material.
Overall, a 3.5/5. I'd go with 4 if it was a bit more engaging. Other than that, the factual material is great and it's presented well enough.
I welcomed the academic treatment of the subject, though I admit it was a bit dry at times.
He covers the culture and economy as well as the military/political history of this fascinating people and the period of time. They were a fearsome and complicated people, worthy of the respect and fear they inspired. On the other hand, they were not exceptional in their ferocity - they were a violent people in a violent time. They are cast as the "bad guys" because most of the written source material was written by the people they raided and not the Norsemen themselves.
What else is good? His explanations of the various sources and their limitations; the discussion of their poetry and art; and his coverage of religion. The last is particularly difficult given that almost all the material we have on it was recorded by Christians a century and more after nearly all Scandinavia had converted to Christianity. The Christians were more interested in consolidating variations instead of preserving them separately, and, once consolidated, harmonizing them with Christian material.
Overall, a 3.5/5. I'd go with 4 if it was a bit more engaging. Other than that, the factual material is great and it's presented well enough.