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Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture

Series: Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture

(8)

Episodes

Rating

TVPG

Year

2024

Language

English

Publisher

The Great Courses

About

Get to know the real Vikings, focusing not only on their famous raids and bloody conquests but also on their settlements, societies, spiritual beliefs, and more.

Related Subjects

Episodes

1. The Viking Age Begins

36m

The raid on the British island of Lindisfarne marks the beginning of the Viking Age. But should the story really start there? How did the Vikings engage with the world around them prior to and during the late 8th century? And do written sources reveal how the Vikings are remembered today?

2. The Viking Homelands

36m

It is impossible to understand the Vikings without understanding the climate, geography, and society that produced them. Trace the history of the term "Scandinavia" before surveying the region's early topography, dialectal development, and social and legal organization. And explore the influence of Rome on Scandinavian culture before the dawn of the Viking period.

3. The Vikings at War

32m

Today, the Vikings have exceedingly violent reputations, remembered in history and popular culture for terrorizing Christian Europe through raiding, pillaging, and conquest. Investigate the enduring but misguided trope that has for centuries characterized Viking activities around Europe. Then, examine the weapons, armor, and ideas that propped up violence at home.

4. Viking Women: Fact and Fiction

29m

For centuries, women have been excluded from scholarship on the Vikings despite their profound impact within local society and politics, at the market, and on the battlefield. Correct the record with a lecture focused on how women warriors, weavers, queens, goddesses, and priestesses made waves in what was otherwise a rigidly patriarchal society.

5. Religion and Myth Among the Vikings

31m

Norse religion shaped the comic books, films, and even operas we know and love today. Become acquainted with the gods and giants at the center of it all. Dig into Norse cosmology and beliefs about the afterlife. And survey the purpose and power of common religious practices like feasting and sacrifice.

6. The Viking Way of Death

33m

Continue your exploration of Norse religion with a focus on death and dying. Examine how burials and afterlife trajectories differed based on class, gender, and even battlefield experience. See how researchers use stable isotope analysis and ground penetrating radar to not only locate gravesites but to also study their contents-bones, booty, and all.

7. The Vikings in Eastern Europe

33m

Go global by examining Viking activities in Eastern Europe, Byzantium, and Asia. Get to know the Rus people-the eastern descendants of Vikings, depending on who you ask-and the powerful polities they built through trade and military might. Investigate the powerful trade connections that bound Viking merchants to Constantinople, Syria, and even China.

8. The Vikings in Britain

32m

Turn your attention toward the British Isles. What spurred Vikings to invade and subsequently settle England-children, livestock, and wives in tow? How did the Viking threat shape culture, language, and politics in Britain, transforming what was once a spattering of kingdoms into a formidable world power for centuries to follow?

9. The Vikings in Ireland and France

35m

The Vikings raided the Irish and French coastlines ferociously, but their involvement with the polities of both nations was complicated. Explore how the Vikings successfully integrated themselves in Ireland through political alliances, wealth, warfare, and marriage. And study the history of the French province of Normandy, from its Viking roots to its dominance in the region.

10. Vikings in Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland

32m

Turn west, focusing on Viking exploits in Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. Study the history of Viking settlement in Iceland, from Náttfari the slave's arrival to the rise of proto-democratic government. And evaluate why Northmen-famous for their global reach-could not stick it out for long in North America.

Extended Details

SeriesViking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture

Closed CaptionsEnglish

Artists

The Great CoursesDirector

The Great CoursesProducer

Jennifer PaxtonActor

Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture

Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture

About

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