The Scandinavian homelands. -- The voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan -- A description of the islands of the North -- Scandinavian society. -- The Lay of Rig -- Politics in Harald Finehair's Norway -- Hoskuld buys a slave -- How the Hersir Erling treated his slaves -- A glimpse of ninth-century Scandinavia. -- The life of Anskar -- Early religion and belief. -- The Norse Creation-myth -- Ragnarok: the doom of the gods -- A prophetess in Greenland -- Odin's wisdom and arts -- Odin welcomes Eirik Bloodax to Valhalla -- Odin hangs on Yggdrasil -- Odin and human sacrifice -- (a) The death of King Vikar -- (b) The deaths of Domaldi and Olaf Tretelgja -- Sigurd, the Earl of Lade, sacrifices to the gods -- The Temple of Uppsala -- The Temple in Iceland -- King Harald Gormosson and the land-spirits -- Norse funeral practices -- (a) An Arab description of a Viking funeral -- (b) Snorri's history of burial practices -- (c) Odin orders cremation and becomes a god -- (d) The death of Baldur the Good -- (e) Gunnar's burial mound -- The living dead -- (a) Gunnar's posthumous poem -- (b) Grettir's fight with Glam -- Women in the Viking age. -- Unn the Deep-minded takes control of her life -- Queen Gunnhild has her way with Hrut -- The Prowess of Freydis, daughter of Eirik the Red -- A warrior-woman -- Gudrun drives her sons to take revenge -- Gudrun Osvifrsdaughter's incitement of her sons -- The goading of Hildigunn -- Betrothals from the sagas -- (a) The betrothal of Olaf Hoskuldsson -- (b) How Unn Mordsdaughter found herself betrothed -- Divorces from the sagas -- (a) How Gundrun divorced Thorvald -- (b) Vigdis divorces Thord Goddi -- (c) How Aud dealt with her humiliating divorce --

Viking warriors and their weapons. -- The accomplishments of a Viking warrior -- (a) Earl Rognvald on being a gentleman -- (b) Gunnar Hamundarson, the ideal warrior -- Olaf Tryggvason, King of Norway -- Berserkers and the Berserk Rage -- (a) Odin's Berserks -- (b) The rage of Skallagrim and Egil -- (c) Egil fights a Beserk -- (d) Grettir fights a Berserk -- Weapons -- (a) King Magnus Bareleggs dresses to kill -- The Sword Skofnung -- Sigmund, Sigurd, and the Sword Gram -- Saint Olaf's sword, Hneitir -- (e) Viking Age swords -- Fjord-serpents: Viking ships. -- King Olaf Tryggvason builds the Long Serpent -- Harald Sigurdarson's Splendid Ship -- King Sverrir's Mariasud -- The great ships of King Hakon IV -- Animal heads on the prow of ships -- Sea-battles in the sagas -- (a) A hard-fought sea-battle at Bute -- (b) Olaf Tryggvason at the Battle of Svold -- (c) Rognvald and Thorfinn the Mighty fight it out in the Orkneys -- (d) Earl Rognvald Kali in the Mediterranean -- (e) The Battle of Fimreite (Norafjord), 1184 -- Sudden and unforseen attacks of Northmen. -- On the causes of the Viking expansion -- Viking raids on England, 789-850/1 -- Alcuin's letter to King Athelred, 793 -- An English gospel book ransomed from the Vikings -- Viking raids on Ireland -- The martyrdom of Blathmac, 825 -- Irish resistance to the Norsemen -- Franks and the Vikings, 800-829 -- The Northmen in France, 843-865 -- The Annals of St-Vast, 882-886 -- An account of the Siege of Paris, 885-886 -- Vikings in the Iberian Peninsula -- (a) Ibn al-Kutia -- (b) Ibn Adhari --

The heathens stayed: from raiding to settlement. -- Viking activities in England, 851-900 -- The Vikings in Ireland, 845-917 -- Ketil Flatnose and his descendants in the Hebrides -- Earl Sigurd and the establishment of the Earldom of Orkney -- Runic inscriptions from Maes Howe, Mainland, Orkney -- Runic inscriptions from the Isle of Man -- Rollo obtains Normandy from the King of the Franks -- Austrveg: the Viking road to the east. -- The Piraeus Lion -- The Rūs -- The Rūs attack Constantinople -- On the arrival of the Varangians -- A Muslim diplomat meets Viking merchants -- River routes to Constantinople -- A Norwegian Soldier of Fortune in the East -- Rūs expeditions to the Middle East -- Into the Western Ocean, the faeroes, Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland. -- The islands in the Northern Ocean, ca 825 -- Sailing directions and distances in the North Atlantic -- The Western Ocean -- Adam of Bremen on Iceland -- Icelandic accounts of the discovery and settlement of Iceland -- (a) The Book of Icelanders -- (b) The Book of Settlements -- (c) The Saga of the People of Eyri -- Skallagrim's landtake in Iceland -- The settlement of Greenland -- (a) The Book of Icelanders -- (b) The Book of Settlements -- The King's Mirror on Greenland -- Adam of Bremen on Vinland -- The Norse discovery of Vinland -- Thorfinn Karlsefni in Vinland -- Viking life and death. -- Advice for sailors and merchants -- Egil in youth and old age -- Svein Asleifarson's Viking life -- The Jomsvikings meet their end -- The death of Gunnar -- The burning of Njal -- The death of Thormod Kolbrunarskald -- From Odin to Christ. -- The conversion of the Danes under Harald Bluetooth -- Olaf Tryggvason and the conversion of Norway -- A poet abandons the old gods -- The Christianization of Norway under Saint Olaf -- The conversion of the Icelanders -- The conversion of Greenland -- The conversion of Orkney -- Christianity in Sweden -- Christianity and the church in Norway -- The travels of King Sigurd, Jerusalem-Farer -- State-building at home and abroad. -- Harald Finehair and the unification of Norway -- State-making in Denmark: the Jelling Stone -- State-making in Denmark: unification and expansion -- Knut the Great and the North Sea Empire -- The Earldom of Orkney at its zenith -- The end of the Viking age. -- The Battle of Clontarf, 1014 -- The Battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066 -- The decline of the Earls of Orkney -- The Battle of Largs, 1263 -- Epilogue: Advice from Odin.