Njals saga: Did you mean...?

The Battle of Brunanburh, fought in the autumn of 937 at an unknown location, saw the English king, Aethelstan (r. 924-939), defeat a coalition of invading armies led by Constantine II of Scotland (r. 900-943) and Olaf Guthfrithson of Dublin...

Her name echoes down the corridors, in classrooms and in books, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt was a great French Egyptologist and, in the opinion of the writer, a woman strong and determined enough to have been the first female to direct...

Most of our sources for Norse myth tell of gods and great heroes, but constant references in the sagas also reveal a belief in spirits called dís (plural dísir) and fylgja (plural fylgjur) that we only vaguely understand today. This is a...

Krákumál is a long (29-stanza) skaldic poem in Old Norse about a dying warrior's great exploits and death in a snake-pit, composed in the voice of Ragnar Lothbrok but dating to centuries after his death. This video features a reading from...

A presentation on some aspects of Norse religion such as the importance of sorcery, its meanings and practitioners, as well as the role of gender. Important terms in the "lesson": seiðr - sorcery seiðmaðr - sorcerer seiðkona - sorceress...

A look at some interesting scenes in the Eddas where someone goes to, or from, Hel, and how. Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the University of Colorado Boulder (formerly UC Berkeley...

The women known as Valkyries (Old Norse 'Valkyrja') feature in countless stories of the Norse gods and heroes. Dr. Jackson Crawford is a historical linguist and an experienced teacher of both Old Norse and Modern Icelandic. He currently...

The sagas tell us that the Vikings believed in an undead creature much like the zombie or traditional Eastern European portrayals of the vampire. Dr. Jackson Crawford is Instructor of Nordic Studies and Nordic Program Coordinator at the...

The History Channel's Vikings (2013-present) is historical fiction drawing on characters and events from the Viking Age (c. 790 - c. 1100 CE) and focusing primarily on the legendary Viking leader Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons. Created and...

Map showing the reconstructed route Norse Vikings sailed in the Vinland sagas on their way to Vinland (Newfoundland, Canada), where they founded a settlement at the site of L'Anse aux Meadows. The sagas describe the Vikings first coming across...