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A review by christophehermans
The Age of the Vikings by Anders Winroth
5.0
With "The Age of the Vikings" Anders Winroth wrote a succinct but gripping summary of the Scandinavian culture between the 8th and 11th centuries CE.
The author does not dwell on conjecture, and where he briefly touches upon it he is quick to point out either the flimsiness or the bias of the sources we have. (Most often both.) Nor does he get lost in the droning of dates and lineages of various leaders and kings, unless the subject matter requires it.
And that is exactly how the book is divided up by the way: themes and subject matters. This is no timeline or atlas of the Vikings, rather it is a thematic and very humanizing overview of their entire culture, insofar as we can tell with a degree of certainty.
That is probably the cause for the rather low score on Goodreads. This book is written to be understood by the layman, but its foundations are academic. The Norse culture is lifted entirely out of myth and "Hollywoodification" by the time you've finished reading this book. No doubt this will have disappointed several readers who had a grander, more romanticized idea of what the Norse were like.
Below I will briefly summarize each of the 10 chapters.
Chapter 1, the introduction, gives us a taste of the following chapters, briefly touching upon every subject matter in a tiny little piece of historical fiction. The chapter concludes that Norse culture revolved around the chieftains and their halls, around prestige of the chieftains, and that the main way of increasing prestige and loyalty is to share their wealth with their followers.
Chapter 2 focuses on violence. Winroth dismantles the idea that the Vikings were any more violent than their Christian contemporaries or that they were amazing on the battlefield. In an open battle, the mainland armies of Europe would likely mop the floor with (especially early) Viking age raiders. Their weapons, equipment, and training were simply inferior. Rather they struck hard and fast with their longships in rich areas that were poorly defended, and left before there was any chance of retaliation. The reason for their fierce and devilish reputation is because they were pagans who attacked Christians, and the vast majority of surviving sources were of course written by Christian clergymen.
Chapter 3 focuses on emigration and gives an overview of the settling of Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and more. Winroth's main point in this chapter is that these emigrations were not entire peoples packing and moving. Instead they were what you could call Viking "entrepreneurs". They did not leave because things were horrible in Scandinavia necessarily, as was often believed in the past, but because they thought elsewhere simply better provided better opportunities. There was no emigration pressure in Scandinavia, there was immigration pressure in all these various other places! And so these chieftains and leaders tried their luck, with some ventures being more successful than others, and with the Norse often quickly assimilating into the local culture.
Chapter 4 delves into technical details and the importance of the Viking longships, not just for trading and warfare but also in burial practices. Needless to say, there would not have been a Viking age to speak of without these incredible vessels. Modern reproductions are still very seaworthy, as the author points out with various examples.
Chapter 5 is where Winroth firmly starts to place the Vikings within the broader European, almost global context. The chapter deals with economy and was my favorite in the entire book. The Norse main exports were furs, walrus ivory, and slaves. With remarkable clarity the author points out that the Viking raids and trading of goods in fact boosted European economy.
Chapter 6 deals with the beginnings of the three Scandinavian kingdoms around the turn of the millennium. Through what is essentially a long period of political darwinism, more and more power ended up in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The line is vague but at a certain point it became proper to speak of kings rather than chieftains. Later on they adopted certain European practices for fee and tax collecting (essentially, feudalism) that turned these large swathes of land from barely governable and unstable, to stable kingdoms that laid the foundations for modern day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Chapter 7 deals with the daily life of the Viking age. Some time is spent on clothing and food, but mostly the chapter deals with the role of women. The chapter concludes that while raiding was a dangerous venture, staying at and tending to the farm might not have been much better. Life was hard back then, not idyllic, no matter what path you might take.
Chapter 8 focuses on religion. Winroth points out how little we know of the old pagan beliefs, and how much of the sources are likely fictitious. Again, some readers might have been turned off by this. The conclusion here is that the conversion of Scandinavia to christendom was driven by its chieftains and kings, not missionaries. The leaders of chieftains were always looking for power, prestige, and wealth, as through redistributing it is how their social and economic culture worked. Mainland Europe projected a lot of power, and it had a lot of riches, and the Christian clergy (next to feudal tax systems) provided many ways to fill the coffers.
At first, conversions were likely pragmatic. The Norse likely took on traditions and rites of Christianity bit by bit. Over time and after a few generations, these beliefs grew stronger and stronger until in fact, all of Scandinavia had become Christian.
Chapter 9 deals with the arts. A good deal is spent on futhark, the runic alphabet. Sadly the author can only draw a solemn conclusion: that we only have the tip of the iceberg and that we will never know much of their culture. But without a doubt there was much more to the Norse than raiding and plunder.
Chapter 10 is very brief and talks about the end of the Viking age. Traditionally 1066 CE is chosen as the end date, with the battle of Stamford Bridge. Winroth suggests that this date is rather symbolic. The age of the Vikings ended when the old Norse beliefs were making way for Christianity and when they started to adopt much of the European mainland's customs, traditions, ways of trading and governing. Just like with the chieftains and the kings, the line is vague. But at a certain time in the European Middle Ages it is no longer appropriate to speak of the Vikings. What set them apart had slowly eroded and they had assimilated into Europe, driven over time more by pragmatism than anything else.
The author does not dwell on conjecture, and where he briefly touches upon it he is quick to point out either the flimsiness or the bias of the sources we have. (Most often both.) Nor does he get lost in the droning of dates and lineages of various leaders and kings, unless the subject matter requires it.
And that is exactly how the book is divided up by the way: themes and subject matters. This is no timeline or atlas of the Vikings, rather it is a thematic and very humanizing overview of their entire culture, insofar as we can tell with a degree of certainty.
That is probably the cause for the rather low score on Goodreads. This book is written to be understood by the layman, but its foundations are academic. The Norse culture is lifted entirely out of myth and "Hollywoodification" by the time you've finished reading this book. No doubt this will have disappointed several readers who had a grander, more romanticized idea of what the Norse were like.
Below I will briefly summarize each of the 10 chapters.
Chapter 1, the introduction, gives us a taste of the following chapters, briefly touching upon every subject matter in a tiny little piece of historical fiction. The chapter concludes that Norse culture revolved around the chieftains and their halls, around prestige of the chieftains, and that the main way of increasing prestige and loyalty is to share their wealth with their followers.
Chapter 2 focuses on violence. Winroth dismantles the idea that the Vikings were any more violent than their Christian contemporaries or that they were amazing on the battlefield. In an open battle, the mainland armies of Europe would likely mop the floor with (especially early) Viking age raiders. Their weapons, equipment, and training were simply inferior. Rather they struck hard and fast with their longships in rich areas that were poorly defended, and left before there was any chance of retaliation. The reason for their fierce and devilish reputation is because they were pagans who attacked Christians, and the vast majority of surviving sources were of course written by Christian clergymen.
Chapter 3 focuses on emigration and gives an overview of the settling of Britain, Iceland, Greenland, and more. Winroth's main point in this chapter is that these emigrations were not entire peoples packing and moving. Instead they were what you could call Viking "entrepreneurs". They did not leave because things were horrible in Scandinavia necessarily, as was often believed in the past, but because they thought elsewhere simply better provided better opportunities. There was no emigration pressure in Scandinavia, there was immigration pressure in all these various other places! And so these chieftains and leaders tried their luck, with some ventures being more successful than others, and with the Norse often quickly assimilating into the local culture.
Chapter 4 delves into technical details and the importance of the Viking longships, not just for trading and warfare but also in burial practices. Needless to say, there would not have been a Viking age to speak of without these incredible vessels. Modern reproductions are still very seaworthy, as the author points out with various examples.
Chapter 5 is where Winroth firmly starts to place the Vikings within the broader European, almost global context. The chapter deals with economy and was my favorite in the entire book. The Norse main exports were furs, walrus ivory, and slaves. With remarkable clarity the author points out that the Viking raids and trading of goods in fact boosted European economy.
Chapter 6 deals with the beginnings of the three Scandinavian kingdoms around the turn of the millennium. Through what is essentially a long period of political darwinism, more and more power ended up in the hands of fewer and fewer people. The line is vague but at a certain point it became proper to speak of kings rather than chieftains. Later on they adopted certain European practices for fee and tax collecting (essentially, feudalism) that turned these large swathes of land from barely governable and unstable, to stable kingdoms that laid the foundations for modern day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.
Chapter 7 deals with the daily life of the Viking age. Some time is spent on clothing and food, but mostly the chapter deals with the role of women. The chapter concludes that while raiding was a dangerous venture, staying at and tending to the farm might not have been much better. Life was hard back then, not idyllic, no matter what path you might take.
Chapter 8 focuses on religion. Winroth points out how little we know of the old pagan beliefs, and how much of the sources are likely fictitious. Again, some readers might have been turned off by this. The conclusion here is that the conversion of Scandinavia to christendom was driven by its chieftains and kings, not missionaries. The leaders of chieftains were always looking for power, prestige, and wealth, as through redistributing it is how their social and economic culture worked. Mainland Europe projected a lot of power, and it had a lot of riches, and the Christian clergy (next to feudal tax systems) provided many ways to fill the coffers.
At first, conversions were likely pragmatic. The Norse likely took on traditions and rites of Christianity bit by bit. Over time and after a few generations, these beliefs grew stronger and stronger until in fact, all of Scandinavia had become Christian.
Chapter 9 deals with the arts. A good deal is spent on futhark, the runic alphabet. Sadly the author can only draw a solemn conclusion: that we only have the tip of the iceberg and that we will never know much of their culture. But without a doubt there was much more to the Norse than raiding and plunder.
Chapter 10 is very brief and talks about the end of the Viking age. Traditionally 1066 CE is chosen as the end date, with the battle of Stamford Bridge. Winroth suggests that this date is rather symbolic. The age of the Vikings ended when the old Norse beliefs were making way for Christianity and when they started to adopt much of the European mainland's customs, traditions, ways of trading and governing. Just like with the chieftains and the kings, the line is vague. But at a certain time in the European Middle Ages it is no longer appropriate to speak of the Vikings. What set them apart had slowly eroded and they had assimilated into Europe, driven over time more by pragmatism than anything else.