The Battle of Hastings in the year 1066 is probably the most famous date in British history, but less well known is the fact that just before Hastings, King Harold had conquered the Viking King of Norway, Harald Hardrada, in the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Hardrada, like William the Conqueror, had his eye on the kingdom of Britain, and his defeat effectively brought to an end two and a half centuries of Viking invasions and settlements in the British Isles. The first recorded Viking incursion, described in the Domesday Book, took place in 789 AD when invaders settled on the Isle of Portland in Dorset and started to impose taxes and seize the local women. When King Beorhtric of Wessex sent his bailiff to protest, the whole company was slaughtered. In 793 the invasion of Lindisfarne took place, and the Viking era had begun. This big, superbly illustrated book is in two parts, the first giving details of how the Vikings waged war and the second giving a history of their conquests throughout Europe and beyond, with numerous maps and timelines. The Vikings were an agricultural society in which the bonds of kinship and social hierarchy were all-important. Although violent, they were probably no more inclined to rape than other peoples, and a woman was able to initiate divorce. Viking ships had a very shallow draught, enabling them to navigate inland up rivers. Experts consider that there is no single cause of the great Viking invasions of the ninth century, but population growth and religious wars played their part. They made their way to north Africa, north America, Russia and Iran, and were only expelled from Kiev by the Mongols in 1240. Nearer to home, they assisted the Frankish King Lothar I in his power struggles with his brother Charles the Bald, resulting in the devastation of much of northern France. 400pp. With over 380 colour illustrations including beautiful reconstruction drawings, maps, cross-section drawings of ships, line-drawings of fortifications, battle plan reconstructions and photos of surviving artefacts including weapons and jewellery. 21.6 x 25cm.
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