Viking World, The (Routledge Worlds)

Description: Filling a gap in the literature for an academically oriented volume on the Viking period, this unique book is a one-stop authoritative introduction to all the latest research in the field. Bringing together today's leading scholars, both established seniors and younger, cutting-edge academics, Stefan Brink and Neil Price have constructed the first single work to gather innovative research from a spectrum of disciplines (including archaeology, history, philology, comparative religion, numismatics and cultural geography) to create the most comprehensive Viking Age book of its kind ever attempted. Consisting of longer articles providing overviews of important themes, supported by shorter papers focusing on material of particular interest, this comprehensive volume covers such wide-ranging topics as social institutions, spatial issues, the Viking Age economy, warfare, beliefs, language, voyages, and links with medieval and Christian Europe. This original work, specifically oriented towards a university audience and the educated public, will have a self-evident place as an undergraduate course book and will be a standard work of reference for all those in the field. Review: 'Editors Brink and Price are to be commended for coordinating this impressive volume. The book is large and learned, intended as a reference work for scholars and serious students of Scandinavia in the Viking Age. Lay readers with a keen interest in the Vikings will also wish to have this reference work, not only for the wealth of information, but also because the articles are well written by noted scholars. The articles are often wide-ranging, and the breadth given to the various topics covered is impressive ! Indispensable for scholars of the Middle Ages who wish to expand their course offerings by teaching courses on the Viking age, or for scholars and students who wish to do research in this field.' -- CHOICE Table of Contents: Part 1: Viking Age Scandinavia People, Society and Social Institutions. Living Space. Technology and Trade. Warfare and Weaponry. Pre-Christian Religion and Belief. Language, Literature and Art Part 2: The Viking Expansion The British Isles. Continental Europe and the Mediterranean. The Baltic. Russia and the East. The North Atlantic Part 3: Scandinavia Enters the European Stage The Coming of Christianity. The Development of Nation States (riki) Author Biography: Stefan Brink is Professor of Scandinavian Studies and Director of Centre for Scandinavian Studies at the University of Aberdeen. Neil Price is Associate Professor of Archaeology, Conservation, and Historical Studies at Oslo University, and Docent in Archaeology at The University of Uppsala, Sweden.