THE FOLIO SOCIETY

From 780 to 1070 the Vikings founded an empire that spread from Arabia to Newfoundland. Gwyn Jones’s admirable account is packed with stories of sea journeys, plunder and pillage, culled from the Vikings’ own records and the writings of their contemporaries.

Sifting the historical evidence from centuries of speculation, Jones presents the authentic facts of the Viking discovery of America, Svein Forkbeard and his conquest of England, and the trade in silks, weapons and slaves that extended through the whole of mainland Europe. Best of all, he shows the significance of Norse art and culture: their comprehensive myth-system and its influence on the Viking world-view; the beliefs that encouraged them to cross the oceans and risk their lives with such abandon.