Magnus Barefoot, King of Norway, 341
Magnússon, Eiríkr, 106
Malcolm, King of Scotland, 290–1
Malcolm of Strathclyde, 309
Maldon, battle of (991), 22, 313–18
Maldon, Essex, 226, 227
Mallett, Lynda, 220
Malmesbury, 197
Malmesbury, William of, 133, 309
Mandara, Bonaventura (Venge), 36
Manna, Jarl, 226
maps: and ‘Danelaw’, 188; early medieval, 20–1, 24; Hereford Mappa Mundi, 21; later medieval, 21; northern world as absent, 24; T-O map, 20–1, 24
McAlpin, Kenneth (Cinaed son of Alpín), 247, 254
Mercia, kingdom of, 8, 9, 10, 82, 119, 120–1, 145–8; burhs (defensible settlements), 199; carving up of (877), 166, 189; as earldom of Cnut, 336; Edmund ‘liberates’ north of, 288–9; Edward’s dominance in post-910 period, 225–8; ‘Five Boroughs’, 288–9; rump of (post-877), 166, 189, 191, 223; subservience to Alfred, 189–90; Viking conquest of (873), 148–9, 165
metal-detectorists, xxii, 200–1
Micklethwaite, Yorkshire and Cumbria, 230
Mímir, 115, 263, 264
monasteries, 12, 24, 52–4, 56–8, 75–6, 79, 85–6, 97, 146
monsters, demons and diabolical hordes, xx, 21–2, 23, 24, 25, 26–7; dragons, 102–8, 109, 265; serpents, 99–108, 109, 265
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, 120
Monymusk reliquary, 60
Morris, William, xix, 106, 217, 218; The Story of Sigurd the Volsung, 106–7
Mosley, Oswald, 47
Mount Badon, 212
Muiredach Cross, Co. Louth, 251
Museum of London, 334
Myhre, Bjørn, 76
Nasjonal Samling (Norwegian fascist movement), 45, 46–7
National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh, 54
Nazi Germany, 47–8, 49–50
Nibelungenlied (Old High German epic), 105
Niðhöggr (‘spite-striker’), 103
Norfolk, 8, 121–2, 231
Norman Conquest (1066), 232, 342
Normandy, Duke Richard of, 324
Norse mythology, xx, 33, 44, 103–4, 150–3; and Christian world-view, 269–71, 277–8; the einherjar (glorious dead), 299, 300, 301, 302; the end of the world, 263–5, 268–9, 270–1; Gosforth Cross, 267–8, 269, 269, 278; Ragnar Loðbrók tale, 98–102, 108–9, 110; Ragnarök (‘doom of the gods’), 104, 264, 265, 268, 270–1, 299; Ragnarssona þáttr, 110–11; rite of the blood-eagle, 110–11, 112–13, 114–15; Valhöll, ‘the hall of the slain’, 300, 301–2; valkyrjur, the ‘choosers of the slain’, 105, 302; Völsung legend, 104–8, 109
the North: Anglo-Saxon heritage, 33–4, 43; apparent paradox of, 35; Hitler’s perverting of spirit of, 47–8; and myth of British origins, 42–4; Pictish origins, 34; terrors/diabolical nature of, 23, 24–6, 29, 31; Tolkien and ‘true myth’, 176; Welsh traditions, 34–5; see also pagan peoples of Northern Europe
North Stoke, Somerset, 16–19
Northampton, 226, 227
Northumbria, 6, 7–8, 12, 92, 245; Æthelwold received as king (899), 212; Athelstan intervenes in (927), 281–2, 283; bishops of, 272, 275, 276–7, 290, 297; campaigns against Wessex (909–10), 223–5, 278; as earldom of Cnut, 336; Eric Bloodaxe’s reign, 291, 292–4, 295, 297; King Edmund in (944), 290–1; Olaf Guthfrithsson’s rule (940–1), 288–9; post-Athelstan insecurity (940s), 287, 289, 290–1; settlement and rule (866–920), 272–8, 289–90; Viking conquest of (867), 96–8, 165, 248, 272; Viking settlement in, 161, 229–30
Norway, 20, 32, 38, 41, 44, 46–7, 60, 67, 325, 338; Borre national park cemetery, 46, 50; Christianity in, 117; eleventh century invasions of Britain, 324; Eric Bloodaxe’s reign, 292; Gulathing law, 153; Hordaland, 14; house at Borg on Vestvågøy, 72–5, 77; myth of Harald Finehair, 242–3; ‘Norwegian Legion’ (Second World War), 49; Quisling’s puppet regime, 45, 46–7, 49–50; Yngling dynasty, 46
Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, 259–60
Norwegian sagas and histories, 13
Nottingham, 227; siege of (868), 119, 120, 128, 197
Odda, ealdorman of Somerset, 167–8
Odin, 33, 104, 105, 114–16, 126, 150, 154, 159, 263–5, 267, 299–300
Odo of Metz, 70
Oengus, Pictish king, 12
Offa, King of Mercia, 8, 9, 10
Offa’s Dyke, 8
Olaf (‘Amlaíb’), Viking raider, 247–8
Olaf Guthfrithsson, 283–7, 288–90
Olaf Sihtricsson, Viking king of Northumbria, 290, 297
Olaf Tryggvason, 313–14
Orchard, Andy, 152–3
Oronsay, 261
Orwell, George, Animal Farm (1945), 323
Osberht, King of Northumbria, 97–8, 119
Osburh, mother of Alfred, 183
Oscetel, Viking chieftain, 158, 165
Oseberg ship burial, 32, 257, 258–61, 262
Osred II, King of Northumbria, 7
Osric, ealdorman of Dorset, 93
Oswulf, Earl, 299
Otford, battle at (1016), 330
Overton Hill, near Avebury, 306–7
Owain, king of Gwent, 282
Owain, king of Strathclyde, 283
Oxford, 226, 320–2, 324
Padstow, Cornwall, 313
pagan peoples of Northern Europe: and Anglo-Saxon heritage, 33–4, 43; Baltic and Slavic tribes, 67, 68–9; burial rites, 158–60, 258–62; Charlemagne’s conquests in Saxony, 67–8, 69, 75–6; hall as home for the dead, 251–2; Irminsul (holy tree or pillar), 68; mid-winter festival (jol/yule), 116–18; Obodrites, 68–9; rite of the blood-eagle, 110–11, 112–13, 114–15; sacrifice rituals, 113–16, 117, 257–8
Page, R.I., 150
Parker, Charles Arundel, 233, 267
Parrett, River, battle at (848), 93
Peake, Mervyn, 89
Penselwood, battle at (1016), 330
personal names, 230, 232–3, 243
philology, German revolution in, 42
Picts and Pictavia, 11–12, 53–4, 244, 245; cross-slabs, 54–7, 76; end of kingdom (c.900), 254–5, 341–2; and Gaels, 247; Halfdan’s occupation (874), 273; harassing of by Halfdan, 161; line of Wrguist broken (839), 246–7; Olaf’s raid (865/6), 247–8; origins in ‘Scythia’, 34; ‘Pictish symbols’, 11–12, 54–5; raid on Fortriu (839), 246–7
Piggott, Stuart, 138
Pitney, Somerset, 337
place-names, 7, 161, 162, 219–20, 230–1, 233; Celtic-Old Norse mix, 243; Gaelic elements, 243; hybrid Old Norse-English, 231; and seaways of Britain, 244
political, social, legal and economic systems, 2–3, 77–8; Anglo-Saxon ‘hundreds’, 221–2, 310; Anglo-Viking models, 187–9; burhs (defensible settlements), 198–200; Carolingian Empire, 67–72, 73, 75–6; and coinage, 185–7; ealdormen, 85; economic growth following Viking arrival, 208; Edgar’s legal reforms, 310, 311–12, 338; and gift-giving in early Middle Ages, 77–8, 184; hundred and shire assembly places, 2, 168, 169, 171, 212, 303–4; reeves, 1, 2–3, 169; role of monarch/warlord, 77–8; things, 217–21; title of earl introduced by Cnut, 336–7; Viking Age political geography, 5–12, 33, 34–5, 82, 87, 244–7, 280; wealth and loyalty, 72; see also ‘Danelaw’
Porlock, Somerset, 226
Portland, Dorset, 1, 2, 3, 4–5, 10, 12–13, 14–15, 313
Portmahomack monastery, Easter Ross, 12, 52–4, 56–8, 76
Powys, 10
Price, Neil, 142
psychology, xx–xxi; impact of Viking raids, 29–30; terrors of the North, 23, 24–6, 29, 31; the world ‘outside’, 21–3
Pucklechurch, Gloucestershire, 291
Quisling, Vidkun, 45, 46–7, 49–50
race and ethnicity, xxi, 38–9, 161, 208, 244, 254, 289, 343; Æthelred orders murder of all ‘Danish’ men (1002), 320–2; and Alfred the Great, 178, 190, 193, 211; British Empire, 42–4; ‘culture-historical paradigm’, 42–4, 238; as indicators of popul
ation movements, 238; Nazi racist nationalism, 47–8
Rackham, Arthur, 44, 105
Ragnall, grandson of Ivar, 278, 279–80
Ragnall Guthfrithsson, 290
Ragnar Loðbrók, 98–102, 108–9, 110
Rathlin Island, Co. Antrim, 51
Ravenna, 70
Rawnsley, Hardwicke, 238
Reading, 127–9, 197, 200
Reddish, Stuart C., 220
Repton, Derbyshire, 145–7, 148, 149–50, 155–8, 160–1, 200
Rheged, 7
Ribblehead, north Yorkshire, 230
Richard I, the Lionheart, 232–3
Ripon Minster, 293
river routes, 145, 147–9
Robinson, Thomas Heath, 44
Roger of Wendover, 299, 312
Roman world, xviii, 5, 11, 43, 76, 207; and Alfred’s building programmes, 197, 198; decline of Roman Empire, 6; maps in, 21
Rome, 196–7
Romsey Abbey, 173
Runcorn, Cheshire, 226
runestones, xxi, 39, 40, 107–8, 265–7, 326–7, 333–4, 337
Ruskin, John, 235, 237, 240, 241
Russia, 38
sacrifice rituals, 113–16, 117, 126, 257–8
Salisbury Plain, 170–1
Sandwich, 313, 316, 323, 330
Sawyer, Peter, 48
Saxo Grammaticus (Danish cleric), 99, 101, 111, 112
Saxons, 32–3
Scandinavia: burial rites, 160; fashions and style, 296; hybridized Norse–Gaelic culture, 252–4; influences as part of mainstream English culture, 337–8; Islamic silver coins in, 201; legal concepts, 216–17, 218–19, 230; pre-Christian belief, 150–1; and seaways of Britain, 242–4; slave ‘plantations’ in, 63–4; tenth century enhanced political stability, 325–8; things, 217–21, 219; see also Denmark; Norway; Sweden
Scar boat burial, Orkney, 261–2
Scotland, xix, 10, 52–7, 242, 245; Athelstan’s war with (934), 282–3; Britons of Strathclyde, 161, 248, 250, 255, 273, 283; hybridized Norse–Gaelic culture, 252–4; lack of detailed historical record, 245–6; raid on Fortriu (839), 246–7; seventeenth-century religious conflict, 55–6; shipyards of the Clyde, 249; Viking Age changes, 254–5; Viking raids in the west (847), 247; see also entries for regions, peoples, kingdoms
sculpture: Anglo-Scandinavian style, 236–7; Bibury monument, 337; and Collingwood, 235–6; cross-slabs, 54–7, 76, 149, 266; found at Repton, 160; Jelling runestone, 326, 326–7; Gosforth Cross, 267–8, 269, 269, 278; at Govan Old Church, 250, 251, 252; hogbacks, 250–1, 251, 252, 254, 262; Irish/Scandanavian style, 265–7; at Ramsund and Gök, 107–8; Ringerike style, 334, 337; runestones, xxi, 39, 40, 107–8, 265–7, 326–7, 333–4, 337; Stora Hammars picture stone, 114; symbol stones, 11–12, 54–5, 266, 267; ‘Thorwald’s Cross’, Isle of Man, 266–7, 269, 270, 278
Scyld (legendary progenitor of the Danes), 33
Sennacherib, Assyrian king, 119
serpents, 99–108, 109, 265; see also dragons
settlement, xviii, xix, xxi; Burghal Hidage, 198; burhs (defensible settlements), 198–200; ‘emporia’, 32, 79; English villages, 137–8; first phases of Viking presence, 160–1; first Viking ‘over-wintering’ (850), 92, 93, 200; Halfdan in Northumbria, 161, 167, 273; permanent Viking communities, 200, 207–8, 217; scholarly debate over Vikings, 229–33; Viking development of towns, 207–8; Viking winter camps (from early 850s), 93–4, 200–3, 207; Vikings in France and Low Countries, 185; see also ‘Danelaw’
sexuality, 152–4
Shaw, George Bernard, 106–7
Sherston, battle at (1016), 330, 331
Shetland islands, 11, 230, 242, 245, 341
ship burials, xxi, 8–9, 32, 46, 96, 114, 122, 257, 258–62
Siefred, Viking king of Northumbria, 273, 276
Sigurd the Völsung, 104–8, 109
Sihtric Cáech, Viking king of Northumbria, 277, 279, 280, 281, 290
Silk Road, 63
Simy Folds, Co. Durham, 230
Skallagrimsson, Egil, 40
slavery: and British Empire, 44; inter-kingdom warfare, 64; Old Norse þrælar (‘thralls’), 63–4; Viking trade, 44, 62–5, 79, 201
Snorri Sturluson, 117–18, 118, 150–1, 159, 264, 265, 268, 292, 300
Society of Antiquaries, 88
Somerset, 93, 163, 337
Southampton, 32, 79, 93, 199, 313
St Anthony, 26
St Augustine’s soliloquies, 140
St Brendan, 25
St Columba, 245
St Comgall, 61
St Cuthbert, 26, 27–8, 167, 273–5
St George, 125
St Guthlac, 24, 26–7, 146
St John’s College, Oxford, 320–2
St Patrick’s Isle, Co. Dublin, 51
St Paul, vision of, 23
St Sebastian, 124
St Thomas’ Church, Brompton, Yorkshire, 250–1, 251
St Wystan, Church of, Repton, 146–7, 149–50, 155–8, 160
Stainmore, 298, 299
Stamford, Lincolnshire, 227
standing stones, 11, 107–8, 220, 251, 306–7
Stiklestad battle-site, Norway, 46–7
Stockholm Codex Aureus (‘the Golden Book’), 206–7
Stora Hammars picture stone, Gotland, 114
Strathclyde Britons, 161, 248, 250, 255, 273, 283
Suffolk, 8–9, 32, 121–2, 231
Sussex, 8, 9, 226
Sutton Hoo ship burial, 8–9, 32, 85, 122, 232
Svein Estridsson, King of Denmark, 342
Svein Forkbeard, King of England, xviii, 323–4, 328–9
Sweden, 9, 32, 40, 41, 67, 325; early eleventh century runestones, 333–4; Gautland (realm of the Geats), 4, 21–2, 33, 99, 102, 172; Hednalagen (‘the heathen law’), 216–17; standing stones at Ramsund and Gök, 107–8; temple at Uppsala, 113, 154; Vendel and Valsgärde cemeteries, 32, 85
Tamworth, Staffordshire, 199, 288
Tempsford, Bedfordshire, 226
Tennyson, Alfred, 286
Tettenhall (Wednesfield), battle of (910), 224, 225, 278
Thanet, 207, 312, 313
Thelwall, Cheshire, 227
Theoderic the Monk, 292
Thetford, 199
Thinghou, Lincolnshire, 219
Thingoe, Suffolk, 219
Thingwall, Lancashire, 219
Thingwall, the Wirral, 219
Thor, 104, 150–2, 154–5, 264, 265, 270, 277, 278
Þórðarson, Sigvatr, 111–12
Thorkell the Tall, 323, 328, 333, 336
‘Thorwald’s Cross’, Andreas Church, Isle of Man, 266–7, 269, 270, 278
Thurcytel, Jarl, 226
Thurferth, Jarl, 227
Thynghowe, Sherwood Forest, 219–20
Tingwall, Orkney, 219
Tingwall, Shetland, 219, 220
Tinwald, Dumfries, 219
Tinwhil, Skye, 219
Tiongal, Lewis, 219
Toglos, Jarl, 226
Tolkien, J. R. R., xix, 22, 47, 104, 105–6, 176, 178, 315
Torksey, Lincolnshire, 147–8, 200–1, 202–3, 207
Tottenham Wood, near Edington, 171, 173
Towcester, Northamptonshire, 226
Townend, Matthew, 235
trade, xviii, xix, 6, 31–2, 72, 78–9; bullion economy, 201–2, 208, 244, 253; ‘emporia’, 32, 79; evidence for peaceful trading, 79; and permanent Viking settlement, 208; and Viking raiding parties, 204; Viking trade routes, 44, 63, 64–5, 201; Vikings and local populations, 203–7; weights and measures, 202–3; in York, 295
tumuli (Bronze Age burial mounds), 2, 306
Tyninghame, Lothian, 288
Tynwald, Isle of Man, 219, 220–1
Ubbe (son of Ragnar Loðbrók), 110, 118, 123, 158, 167–8
Udal, North Uist, 244
Uffington, White Horse of, 134, 178
Ukraine, 38
Ulster, 12
United States of America, xx
Valsgärde, Sweden, 32, 85
Vendel, Sweden, 32, 85
Vidar, son of Odin, 268, 269, 269
Vikings: abduction for slave trade, 44, 62–5, 79, 201; academic debates of 1970s/80s, 79; army at Cirencester (879–80), 184–5; army moves to France and Low Countries (880), 185; and British myths of origin, 43–4; burials at Repton, 149–50, 155–8, 160; capture of Reading (870), 127–9, 197; capture of York (866–7), 96, 97–9, 109, 111–12, 116–17, 118–19, 272; ceremonies of king-making, 275; classic image of, 43–4, 291–2, 342–3; Collingwood’s specific conclusions, 236; colonization in British Isles, xviii, 161–2, 167, 199, 242–3; concept of wealth, 77–8; conquest of East Anglia (870), 121–5, 248; defeat at Edington (878), 170, 171, 173–5, 176, 177–9, 182, 191–2; direct evidence for violence, 52–4, 56–8; early raids on British Isles, 51, 52–4, 56–62; in eastern Europe (the Rus), 62, 63, 65, 94–5, 159–60, 201–2, 257; ecclesiastical metalwork as plunder, 60–2; evidence for ideological component to raids, 54, 76; exploitation of England’s river routes, 145, 147–9; fascist use of, 47, 49–50; first interactions at Portland, 1, 3, 4–5, 10, 12–13, 14–15; first ‘over-wintering’ (850), 92, 93, 200; ‘free Norse farmers’, 238; geographical origins of, 14–15, 66–7; ‘great heathen horde’ (micel here) (866), 95–9, 109, 119, 120–1, 127–34, 143, 147–50, 155–61, 192, 200–3, 272–3; helmets of, 38, 44, 84–5; hiatus in raids (806–35), 81, 82; increasing volume of raids from 830s, 90–1, 92–3; interconnectedness of maritime world, 242–4; invasion of Wessex (870), 127–31; as Janus-faced figures, 35; longevity in north and west, 341–2; men of British birth in armies of, 192–3; new army in England (879–80), 184–5; new waves of raider armies (890s), 210–11; nineteenth century popularisation of word, 44; as not an ethnic category, 39; payments to go away, 120–1, 143, 147, 148; and politics of Britain, 86–7, 91, 192; post-war reappraisal of, 48; raid on Lindisfarne (793), 26, 28–31, 51; raid on Portmahomack monastery, 52–4, 56–8, 76; ‘raiders’ or ‘traders’ meme, 78–9, 203–7; raids around Britain’s northern shores, 246–8, 253, 254; reasons for earliest raids, 66, 79–80; resumption of raids (830s), 82; semantics (the word ‘Viking’), 38, 39–41, 44, 49; in southern England (980–1016), 303–8, 313–20, 323–4, 328–34; stereotypes, myths, falsehoods, xvii–xviii, xx, 37, 48, 79; strangeness of, 48–9, 343; submission of Wessex (878), 166; transcendental value of self-sacrifice, 115–16, 123–4, 126; tribute paid to by Æthelred, 318–19, 320, 330; ‘unmanly’ behaviour, 152–4; use of word ‘Viking’ during Viking Age, 39–40, 41; Victorian revival, 43–4, 105, 106, 233–4; victory at Overton Hill (1006), 303–8; ‘Viking’ as given/personal name, 39–40; war-bands in northern Britain (early 900s), 280–1; in Wessex (876–7), 165–6; winter camps (from early 850s), 93–4, 200–3, 207