"Introduction. Heathen men. Birth of a Viking Myth. Charting new waters. Viking place-names. The native kingdoms. The first coming. The battle of Buttington. A siege at Chester. The second phase. Ongul's Isle. The later raids. The Viking warriors. Masters of wide seas. Traders. Breaking new ground. Llanbedrgoch: from farm to trading centre. House and home. Dress. Craft processes. Viking ornamental style. Pagan Viking belief. Death and burial. Vikings and Christians. The end in Wales. The legacy. Museums and monuments to visit. Summary list of silver hoards found in Wales. Glossary. Acknowledgements. Main sources. Time chart.
Dr Mark Redknap is Curator of Medieval Arcaheology at Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales. His PhD is in Roman and medieval ceramics. He has directed several excavations, including maritime, most recently Llangorse Lake in Powys and the Viking site at Llanbedrgoch on Anglesey.
Vikings in Wales is the best book Ive seen on the Viking culture
and historical evidence but it is not the easiest to access! It
has a definitive Time line, an impressive list of museums,
monuments and silver hoards to be seen in Wales, a glossary of
fascinating terms (I never knew the phrase hack-silver, but now
that I do its meaning is obvious) and a bibliography to seriously
pillage for but it hasnt got an index! This limits its use as a
reference resource by younger readers, who will certainly need
adult guidance if they are to benefit fully from the wealth of
minutiae and historical detail hidden within the text, just waiting
to be unearthed, like those items of Viking treasure described with
such enthusiasm by Mark Redknap, curator of Medieval and Later
Archaeology at the National Museums & Galleries of Wales. Personal
names like Ivar the Boneless and Halfden of the Wide Embrace leap
from the page into the readers imagination, names not from some
Tolkein fantasy of the wide screen, but from real Viking raids to
the coast of Dyfed in 878. The explanation of Norse place names
across the Principality had me reaching for my Ordnance Survey
maps, searching for as many -holms, -wicks and -eys as I could
possibly find in Pembrokeshire, and there were plenty to prove that
the tourist trade began here early! The scholarly approach to the
subject matter is well-balanced by a feast of photographs of
people, places and artefacts and by detailed drawings, maps and
diagrams to engage the browsing reader. These are clearly labelled
and captioned. The book even has its own series of Yellow Pages
specific entries on items of specialist interest The Swordsmith,
The Small Reef Viking shipwreck, and even Viking Blood!
*Chris S. Stephens @ www.gwales.com*
|
Ask a Question About this Product More... |
|
