Viking longship: Did you mean...?

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 is...

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 is told by a seeress or völva (Old Norse...

Norse mythology refers to the Scandinavian mythological framework that was upheld during and around the time of the Viking Age (c. 790- c. 1100 CE). Complete with a creation myth that has the first gods slaying a giant and turning his body...

Runes are letters in the runic alphabets of Germanic-speaking peoples, written and read most prominently from at least c. 160 CE onwards in Scandinavia in the Elder Futhark script (until c. 700 CE) and the Younger Futhark - which illuminated...

The Old Norse word saga means 'story', 'tale' or 'history' and normally refers specifically to the epic prose narratives written mainly in Iceland between the 12th- and 15th centuries CE, covering the country's history as well as Scandinavia's...

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 devotion, creating...

The Kingdom of Mercia (c. 527-879 CE) was an Anglo-Saxon political entity located in the midlands of present-day Britain and bordered on the south by the Kingdom of Wessex, on the west by Wales, north by Northumbria, and on the east by East...

Two Viking Age oval brooches - also known as tortoise brooches - which were used in a practical way by women to pin up the straps of their overdresses but were often decorated. They came in pairs - one for each dress strap - and are often...

This map illustrates the sweep of Viking exploration between the late 8th and early 11th centuries, charting longship routes from Scandinavia to the British Isles, Normandy, Iberia, Russia, the Mediterranean, and across the North Atlantic...