In twelve lectures, The Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture corrects the record on a transformative period in world history. With Dr. Jennifer Paxton as your expert guide, you will use archeological, textual, and literature evidence to unpack the scope and scale of Viking exploits in Europe. You’ll examine what it meant to be a Viking, get to know the Viking women who broke out of their ascribed gender roles and affected change, investigate whether Vikings deserve their bloodthirsty reputation, and look at how the Norse religion and Christianity alike informed politics, society, and everyday life across the Viking world.
The Viking Age: New Perspectives on History and Culture
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.
Overview
About
Jennifer Paxton is a Clinical Associate Professor of History at The Catholic University of America. She is also the director of the University Honors Program. She received her PhD in History from Harvard University, where she also taught and earned a Certificate of Distinction in Teaching. She is a widely published, award-winning writer and a highly regarded scholar, earning both a Mellon Fellowship in the Humanities and a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship.
Trailer
01: The Viking Age Begins
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?
36 min
02: The Viking Homelands
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.
36 min
03: The Vikings at War
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.
32 min
04: Viking Women: Fact and Fiction
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.
29 min
05: Religion and Myth among the Vikings
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.
31 min
06: The Viking Way of Death
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.
33 min
07: The Vikings in Eastern Europe
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.
33 min
08: The Vikings in Britain
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?
32 min
09: The Vikings in Ireland and France
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.
35 min
10: Vikings in Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland
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.
32 min
11: Viking Kings and Christian Conversion
Examine how Christian conversion and state building worked together to produce a Scandinavia we can recognize today. Track the slow and often tedious rise of Christianity within the Viking world—first around European settlements and then within Scandinavia itself. And get to know the Viking kings who used Christianity to unify their respective kingdoms.
35 min
12: The Vikings in Popular Culture
Dive into the convergent political and military forces that pushed marauding Northmen out of Europe and back to Scandinavia around AD 1066. Track the rise of Viking Age scholarship across academic disciplines. And assess the Vikings’ enduring legacy on both high and popular culture today.
38 min
