Viking Raids: Did you mean...?

The Viking Age helmet pictured here is known as the Gjermundbu helmet, named after the farm it was found at near Haugsbygd, Norway, in 1943 CE. It was located inside a Viking Age burial chamber. Although at the time of discovery...

The Völuspá (Old Norse: Vǫluspá) is a medieval poem of the Poetic Edda that describes how the world might have come into shape and would end according to Norse mythology. The story of about 60 stanzas...

From the sagas, the most famous type of female Viking warrior was the shield maiden who took up arms and fought side by side in battle with the men. Mirroring them in the spiritual world...

Queen Anne’s War (1702-1713) was the second major colonial conflict in North America, fought between the colonies of England – Great Britain after 1707 – and those of France and...

There are few more iconic images than that of a mighty Viking warrior, a hulking berserker with a horned helmet cleaving foes in two with a mighty axe. But history actually paints a different picture of Vikings...

Egbert of Wessex (l. c. 770-839 CE, r. 802-839 CE; also given as Ecgberht, Ecbert) was the most powerful and influential king of Wessex prior to the reign of Alfred the Great (r. 871-899 CE). Egbert came to the throne at a...

Hedeby (Old Norse: Heiðabýr; German: Haithabu) was an important stronghold in Viking Age Denmark from the 8th-11th centuries CE and, along with Birka in present-day Sweden, it was the most important Viking trading center in Europe. During...

Birka, located on the island of Björkö in present-day Sweden, was an important trading center and strongly fortified town in the Viking Age which flourished from the 8th through the 10th centuries CE. Along with the town of Hedeby which...

Ancient Britain was a landmass on the northwest of the continent of Europe first occupied by humans c. 800,000 years ago prior to it becoming an island c. 6000 BCE due to flooding which separated it from the mainland. Agriculture...

Norse-Viking culture is frequently misrepresented in popular media which emphasizes the rugged, militaristic aspect of the people. In reality, Norse culture placed a high value on appearance, personal hygiene, and religious...