Best scandinavian history books according to redditors
We found 315 Reddit comments discussing the best scandinavian history books. We ranked the 95 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
We found 315 Reddit comments discussing the best scandinavian history books. We ranked the 95 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the top 20.
![Viking: The Norse Warrior's [Unofficial] Manual](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/517Wx8HBVYL.jpg)
Bear with me here, I swear I will get to the food stuff, but first a bit of background.
The sources we have for these voyages (a collection of sagas and two other works known as "The Book of the Icelanders" and "The Book of Settlement") are all at least 2-4 centuries later than the supposed dates of exploration. This is a fairly typical problem in Scandinavian history. These are oral tales handed down for several generations and then written. The info in them is thus problematic. All that being said, archaeological evidence and our understanding that just because something is "fantastic" doesn't make it "fantastical" all point to a Scandinavian presence at the very northernmost areas of Canada.
North Atlantic travel and exploration consists of four major locations: Iceland, Greenland, Helluland (likely the island of Baffin in far northern Canada) and Vinland (modern Newfoundland).
Travelers to North America would have been coming from Iceland (the major North Atlantic settlement area) and Greenland (much less well settled and abandoned by the 14th century).
And now on to the food. Fish, fish, and fish would have been a primary food source. Some fresh, much of it salted and preserved. Blubber and whale meat are a possibility as well (though they probably would not have actively whaled during their voyages). Meat (seal and caribou especially if coming from Greenland), salted or even fresh. Also sea-birds. For a particularly amusing glimpse of what things might have looked like, check out this (admittedly very blurry) video of a reenactment of a voyage from Ireland to America, in which a fellow is picked up solely for his ability to catch birds and fish.
They would also have had livestock, pigs, sheep, and perhaps even cattle, that could be fresh slaughtered but would ideally have been kept for secondary production (cheese, milk, wool etc.). We know from archaeological remains and from patterns of settlement westward that these voyages would have included both men and women and thus probably were supplied with the necessary goods (including farm animals) to at least begin settlement. This means that they might also have had cereal for planting and cultivation.
It is best to think of the voyagers to America and the North Atlantic as rather distinct from the "Vikings" most famous for raiding England, Ireland and Francia in the 9th century. These are not bands of warriors looking to make money and head back home to Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. They are explorers and above all settlers, looking for new lands and new opportunities.
Sources: The first and best place to go is The absurdly large edited volume, The Viking World which has several articles on North Atlantic settlement and travel, all of which have bibliographies.
Happy reading!
Well, they did have a technological advantage in the form of viking longships. These ships were long, shallow bottomed, flexible ships that were both graceful as well as being some of the fastest ships in the viking's geological sphere of influence. They were highly efficient in the sea as well as in the small rivers and fjords of Scandinavia and their shallow hulls allowed them to travel up mainland rivers, even reaching as far as Paris, France before the end of the viking age. The ships also allowed for long, fast voyages along coasts carrying vikings as far from Scandinavia as Italy, Turkey, Russia, North Africa and Canada.
Another piece of the reason they were so successful was that they often targeted under-manned monasteries, churches and small villages. 8th to 12th century England was not united by any means; you had North Umbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Wessex and all the smaller states within those areas that were not always at peace with each other, requiring fighting forces that were not seen to be as needed on the north and northeast coasts of England and modern Scotland.
Now we come to combining these two factors in viking tactics. Vikings were raiders, at least in the beginning, and were not setting out to conquer lands and steal fortifications as in your typical medieval battle. They use a hit-and-run style of raiding that left their victims little to no time to call for aid. They would spend their winters at home preparing their ships, weapons and bodies for the summer raids and after the spring crops had been planted they were off in search of the most plunder they could bring back with the smallest amount of risk involved. To a viking, it didn't matter if you were a soldier or a monk, if they engaged you in a fight and you lost, they were entitled to what you owned as they considered this a fair fight. So, in that way, they may have also had a psychological advantage as well. Other monks and god-fearing men heard account of these ruthless demons (some letters from monks who escaped the vikings survive these encounters) and fear and infamy about them spread through the British isles.
If you’re interested in further reading I highly recommend “The Viking World” https://www.amazon.com/Viking-World-Routledge-Worlds/dp/0415692628
If you’re interested in reading a letter written about the vikings by a monk whose monastery was attacked by vikings, Yale has an online transcription available here: https://classesv2.yale.edu/access/content/user/haw6/Vikings/higbald.html
There are a few books, they are mainly in Swedish and concern forensic examinations of wounds and armor from the battle of Visby in 1361.
Expensive- https://www.amazon.com/Armour-Battle-Wisby-Bengt-Thordeman/dp/1891448056/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1474986196&sr=1-1&keywords=Battle+of+Visby
The book has some very good analysis on how fighters died, i.e. being struck a disabling blow and then repeatedly hit after they had fallen, based on post mortem damage to their bones and armor. Visby was several skirmishes, not a packed formation battle. Melees happened, which were a looser type of combat.
Since I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the questions right now, I'm going to copy and paste two answers I've given to similar question in earlier threads. (One of which is a copy-and-paste job itself.)
1. General books:
I'm going to copy and paste an answer I once gave to someone who asked me for book recommendations via private message.
>Hi there!
>No Problem! Always glad to help. If you need a quick overview over the topic or are rather unfamiliar with it The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Vikings gives a good first impression. Else Roesdahl's The Vikings is a bit more in depth but with less pictures. There's also Peter Sawyer's Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings. All three of those are slightly outdated but they give a great first impression of the Age. If money's thight, start with Sawyer, then Roesdahl, then the atlas.
>If you want to go more in depth there's The Viking World by Stefan Brink and Neil Price. Do not confuse it with the book of the same name by Graham-Campbell and Wilson, which is rather outdated. This "Viking World" is a collection of essays by the world's leading experts on the period an the de facto standard of the discipline at the moment. It's well worth the price.
>If you are (or at least read) German (which is possible from your username) try to get the current catalogue of the Haithabu museum. It gives a good overview over that important trading settlement. Or even better: visit there! (Or any of the large Scandinavian National Museums (Moesgård, Statens Historiska museet, or the Viking ship museums in Roskilde and Oslo, respectively).
>If you are interested in the world of the sagas you can't go wrong with Jesse Byock's Viking Age Iceland.
>If you are looking for a quick ressource or if you have a specific question there's the site of The Viking Answer Lady. She appears to be a reenactor not a scholar but her answers are very well sourced and I have yet to find a major error on her site. Or you can always ask me/post to AskHistorians...
>cheers, wee_little_puppetman
Also, you might want to check out this huge annotated Viking movie list.
There's also a rather good three part BBC series on the Vikings on Youtube.
And for some quick Viking fun there's the animated short The Saga of Biorn.
Oh, one more thing: You might also enjoy Viking Empires by Angelo Forte, Richard Oram and Frederik Pedersen. It goes beyond the traditional end of the Viking Age into the Middle Ages and should therefore tie in nicely to your main interest in the crusades.
2. Sagas
Egils saga and Njáls saga are usually the ones that are recomennded for first time readers. They feel very modern in their narrative structures. Grettis saga is also quite good for a start. And then maybe Laxdæla saga. If you aren't specifically interested in Iceland and want to start with something that conforms more to the public picture of "Vikings" try Eiriks saga rauða, Jómsvíkinga saga or Sverris saga. But afterwards you have to read at least one Icelander saga (i.e. one of the ones I mentioned first)!
Icelandic sagas are fascinating but you have to commit to them. Don't be disappointed if a chapter begins with two pages of the family tree of a minor character! And always keep in mind that this is medieval literature: although it might look like it it is not history. These things were written in the 12th to 14th centuries, even if the take place much earlier!
I do a Danish Viking from Hedeby, circa current year minus 1000, so 1014 currently.
What do you want to know?
For research, I've read the following:
http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Clothing-Thor-Ewing/dp/0752435876
http://www.amazon.com/Viking-Hersir-793-1066-AD-Warrior/dp/1855323184
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vikings-Elite-Ian-Heath/dp/0850455650
http://www.amazon.com/Saxon-Viking-Norman-Arms-Series/dp/0850453011
http://www.amazon.com/The-Varangian-Guard-988-1453-Men-at-Arms/dp/1849081794
The Osprey books are pretty low-level stuff, but have pretty pictures. You could do a hell of a lot worse than just trying to look like one of those.
These sites are also good for reading:
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/clothing.shtml
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=43165
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46922
Good luck!
There is a book the covers the archaeological dig with drawing of the armor with theories of how it was constructed.
Here is a pretty amazing website that has reconstructions of the body armor.
Scandinavia is going through the same stuff that we are. Everyone knows about Sweden: mass immigration, refugees, no-go-zones, car bombings, grenade attacks, highest school arson rate of any OECD country, highest rape rate in Europe, increasingly totalitarian government, zero border controls, Barbara spectre, a huge drug epidemic, insolvent cities, insane amounts of white guilt and diversity propaganda, entire mass media apparatus controlled by two dual citizen Israeli oligarchs. Finland and Iceland are marginally better, but the entire western world is going through the same thing.
Red Ice has lots of interesting content about the situation in Sweden specifically:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=red+ice+sweden
Also, a good book about the activism that got them to where they are:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Sweden-Became-Multicultural-Eckehart/dp/9188667146
There's lots! Of course, that means it's sometimes hard to pick out highly specialized articles from more general updates on the state of the field, which I suspect is what you're going for. Don't get daunted if this seems too dense; sometimes it's just good to know a bit about what's out there.
As a starting point, I'd recommend taking a look at Brink and Price, eds., The Viking World (2008) [Amazon link so you can preview the table of contents]. I'd start with the introduction (it's short), then technology and trade, and then urbanism or any other sections that seem necessary for you.
An older book, but one that's still very influential is Hodges and Whitehouse's Muhammad, Charlemagne, and the Origins of Europe (1983). It will give you a good idea of what scholars think was happening, but there's been a lot of research and updates to it over the last 30 years. Before you cite Hodges and Whitehouse, I'd cross reference it with a more recent work, using the table of contents or index to focus your reading. In particular, I'd look at Skre's Means of Exchange (2007) (see especially Skre's intro and conclusion as well as Kilger's "Kaupang from Afar") and McCormick's Origins of the European Economy (2001). They're both great works, but based on how you described your project, I wouldn't risk getting stuck in a quagmire trying to read them both all the way through.
Finally, there's a few terrific articles that should be read if you can:
You will get more out of them without question, but is that "more" worth the effort? I don't think so, unless you want to really nerd out and/or pursue the subject academically. Get some good, recent translations by folks like Jackson Crawford or Carolyne Larrington. And then if you are still looking to squeeze some "more" out of the texts, go get some good, thorough introductive litterature to contextualize the sagas and poems you are reading, like The Vikings, A Handbook to Eddic Poetry, Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs, The Viking World etc.
And this is coming from someone who do know Old Norse.
It's a quite broad question. From my (Swedish-oriented) perspective, it spans the entire recorded history of the countries - and then some. Just to give a short summary (which amounts to a long post): The Vikings/Varangians had extensive travel and trade with Novgorod (Holmgård), the Rus' who came to rule there likely originated in Sweden.
From around a century after the end of the Viking age (mid-12th cent) to the end of the Middle Ages (1500), there were well over a dozen wars (or at least campaigns) between Sweden and Russia's progenitor state Novgorod over Finland and particularly the innermost part of the Gulf of Finland, Karelia and Ladoga. (Traditional Swedish and Finnish historiography held that Finland was conquered in 1150, although that 'crusade' may well never have happened) Although 'Finland' for most intents here didn't stretch much farther inland than Hämeenlinna. But the real Baltic power of the era was the Hanseatic League.
In the late 1400s and early 1500s, both Sweden and Russia gain power as the Hansa diminishes, and consolidate under fairly autocratic rulers (Gustav Vasa and Ivan IV), and you basically have the modern versions of both states (or at least prior to the USSR). Soon enough these two get into the Russo-Swedish war of 1554, followed by the Livonian War.
The period from the late 16th century until 1809 could, for Sweden's part, be largely summarized as conquering the entire Baltic coast - Dominium maris Baltici. Primarily waging war against Denmark and Russia, who of course had a goal in stopping Sweden's efforts.
During the Time of Troubles (1598-1613) when Russia was without an heir to the throne, there was a lot of triangulation between Russia, Sweden and Poland. Sweden attacked (the de la Gardie campaign) in an attempt to prop up their supported candidate to the throne, Vasili IV - in exchange for perpetual recognition of the Swedish claim to Kexholm/Käkisalmi (north Ladoga). Poland, in turn succeeded at getting their candidate - Władysław IV Vasa briefly onto the Russian throne. He was Gustav's great-grandson and pretender to the Swedish throne (although without much hope of claiming it, not least because of the Catholic-Protestant schism). The Romanovs ended up winning the throne in 1613, although the Swedish efforts hadn't stopped then - and you had the Ingrian War ending in 1617, which put Ingria under Swedish control (denying the Russians), and the start of the 'Swedish Empire'. (referred to a bit more humbly in Swedish as the 'era of great power')
You had the Thirty Years War starting in 1618, where Sweden, lead by Gustavus Adolphus successfully capitalized on the continental wars. To make a long (and well-documented) story short, Sweden ended up with great territorial gains and was at the zenith of its power after that. Besides present-day Finland and the area around the Gulf of Finland, it held Estonia, parts of Latvia (including Riga) as well as Pomerania and some other bits of North Germany.
Russia, having lost its access to the Baltic in 1617, took advantage of the weakness of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in order to gain access (as well as other factors like controlling Ukraine). Which quickly lead to Sweden mounting a large-scale invasion as well (The 'Swedish Deluge') - in part to deal with those throne-pretenders. Russia then tried to take advantage of Sweden's armies being tied up in Poland, and you had the Russo-Swedish War of 1656, which didn't result in any territorial changes. The late 17th century saw Russia put the Polish-Lithuanian under her control, while Sweden fought several wars against Denmark for Scania and several other provinces.
Which leads to 1700 and the outbreak of the Great Northern War - 'everyone' against Sweden, more or less. That was the beginning of the end of the Empire. Although Sweden had some initial successes, the great blow was Charles XII's failed invasion, often compared to Napoleon and Hitler's later invasions, and just as unsuccessful. Peter the Great succeeded in reclaiming Livonia, Ingria and the innermost part of the Gulf of Finland. Before the war had ended, he'd started construction of a fort and city there to keep the Swedes out forever - Saint Petersburg.
After the war (and concurrent famines), it took almost a generation before Sweden made an attempt to reclaim the territories it'd lost in the Great Northern War. The first attempt was 1741, which only lead to more losses. Gustav III seized power from parliament (1772) and made himself an 'enlightened' absolute monarch. After trying to convince Catherine the Great (his cousin) to allow him to take Norway from Russia's ally Denmark, he went to war against Russia in 1788 in another attempt, to no avail.
When the Napoleonic wars came around, Sweden wasn't about to stay out if it then, either. But they picked the wrong side, allying with Prussia and Britain - which prior to the Battle of Jena, looked like they had a good chance of bringing down Napoleon. Having defeated Prussia, France had no problems occupying Pomerania. Which was returned to Sweden on condition that they stop trade with Britain. Which Sweden agreed to, but didn't actually do. So in the Treaties of Tilsit, Napoleon got Russia to attack and force Sweden into the Continental Blockade. Sweden did have a plan for defending Finland, although it failed - in no small part because Denmark was also threatening an invasion in the south to reclaim Scania.
Then you had 1812 and Sweden jumped into the Sixth Coalition, now allied with Russia, and ultimately managed to swap Pomerania for Norway as a consolation prize of sorts. It was after all a union where Norway had far-reaching autonomy, although still quite unpopular with the Norwegians. Militarily it did make sense, being easier to defend a peninsula, but the loss of Finland was a huge psychological shock to Sweden. People were outraged; the king was forced to abdicate and go into exile, and the absolute monarchy that Gustav III was abolished, restoring power to parliament and giving Sweden what's counted as its first democratic constitution. And of course, Sweden has not fought a war in the 200 years since the end of the Napoleonic Wars. So perhaps it's for the best - not least for Finnish-Swedish relations.
Aside from a general-history book, I can't really name ones that'd cover the whole gamut of Russo-Swedish relations, except for general-Swedish-history. There are many books on Charles XII and the Great Northern War in particular, from Voltaire, to Hatton, to Englund. That's certainly the most well-documented one, apart from works on the Thirty Years War and Gustavus. I can't come up with many good books on the Finnish War in particular that exist in translation (there's a whole bibliography here, though)
There's a very famous fictional work about it, though: The Tales of Ensign Stål by Runeberg - perhaps the only book considered a classic of both Finnish and Swedish literature.
TL;DR: Russia and Denmark are the only countries you'd refer to in Swedish as an arvsfiende (hereditary enemy).
I found The Viking Spirit: An Introduction to Norse Mythology and Religion by Daniel McCoy very easy to read as well as being factual and interesting, I'd highly recommend it as an introductory guide to Norse mythology.
Okay, let me break this down for you in very simple terms:
Every single book I have bought on Viking history goes to extensive lengths IN THE FUCKING INTRODUCTION to detail how Women were treated vastly different to modern day societies (even books written in the 1930s acknowledge this) and that they were warriors. Every. Single. Fucking. Book.
But no, you, who have obviously never read into the subject, know better. You want a list of books? I can provide that.
Book one
Book two
Book three
>Hell's Angels podcast, I don't care
And that's your ignorance showing once again. The podcast is fully sourced and it's done by a guy who majored in History. I'm not sure if he has a Bachelors or a Masters, but he has a degree specifically in History, and he fully sources everything for his podcast. It's not at all some "feminist agenda" podcast, it's actually good history.
LINK
I'm fucking done dude. You are ignorant, and instead of learning about it you arrogantly rant about this stuff.
>Iona Abbey, perhaps the most important Christian site in all of Britain
If there is a site to compete with Iona, it's Lindisfarne, which was attacked and destroyed by the Vikings in 793. This was a major blow to the English.
About the uniting of England, it's not that the Heptarchy joined forces to fight, but rather all the kingdoms had been overrun with the sole exception of the West Saxons. When King Alfred defeated the Vikings he established himself as overking of all England. His grandson Athelstan was the one who beat the Vikings back once and for all. The Vikings of Dublin (a town they had founded) had united with the Scots and these were defeated by Athelstan in 937. (There really was no uniting with Scotland at this point).
As for sources, pretty much any history of the Vikings will have this information. This one and this one are both good. The basic histories of Anglo-Saxon England will also have the information.
This is the best one I've found
Definitely more broad than you sound like you are looking for but I really enjoyed Byron Nordstrom's Scandinavia since 1500. There is so much in English about the Viking era, this had a lot of value to me just for excluding that era and focusing on how the modern Scandinavia came to be. It looks like it is available on questia (a single month sub is a bit cheaper than buying the book from Amazon).
I've been reading The Viking Spirit off and on. It's a pretty easy read and each "chapter" is a different story, so you can skip to pretty much anywhere in the book.
Not really sure how this sub feels about Daniel McCoy though. I haven't really read much else as far as mythology, that was just one of the first things to pop up on Amazon at a decent price.
The Viking World is about as comprehensive of a volume as you could need. There are plenty of sections dealing with women in the Viking world. The work is scholarly but not unapproachable.
Sweden is genuinely fucked in many ways, but it's not really that different than Germany, France, Britain, Belgium, and lots of other Western European countries. I think people were unnerved about Sweden because it has no reason to feel guilty for colonialism and has no responsibility to the rest of the world. I think a lot of people say: well, what happens to the French or British or Germans is just their comeuppance for colonialism, but Sweden never really did anything wrong. They were just naive and trusting and it backfired. There's a good book about Swedish multiculturalism and the Jewish activism that made it possible. He doesn't dwell on the Jewish aspect in the same way that Kevin MacDonald does in the Culture of Critique series, but he does go right to the heart of exactly who is responsible for setting in motion the massive changes in Sweden.
https://www.amazon.com/How-Sweden-Became-Multicultural-Eckehart/dp/9188667146
Welcome welcome! As this other fella pointed out the longship is great but there are some other books you could get as well. Here's my recommendations for starting material.
This book is mainly about Saxton Pagans. It's a great introduction to alot if the general ideas of Norse Mythology. It's also short, and very easily worded. Super light and easy read.
Travels Through Middle Earth. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0738715360?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
This book is quite a bit of fiction. Neil is an outstanding an accomplished writer and as such even if he makes some stuff up reading the myths through his eyes is amazing and a great way to get your feet wet.
Norse Mythology https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393356183?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Now some people hate McCoy. He sometimes likes to assert his personal opinions as fact. I happen to agree with alot of what he says. This is a more scholarly approach to the myths. Once you have the basic ideas down this can be a great introduction to archaeology and the actual historical fact.
The Viking Spirit: An... https://www.amazon.com/dp/1533393036?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I'm no expert in Medieval or Old-Norse studies, however I've do have an interest in it & from some searching on various different aspects of the Vikings I come across these:
The Cambridge History of Scandinavia: Volume 1. Prehistory to 1520 it's a anthological survey book consisting of both historiographical and hagiographical (biographies of saints) primary & secondary sources ranging from prehistory ( before historical events were documented) through to medieval history of Scandinavia. It's quite pricey but definitely worth the money if your serious...
>The first part of the volume surveys the prehistoric and historic Scandinavian landscape and its natural resources, and tells how man took possession of this landscape, adapting culturally to changing natural conditions and developing various types of community throughout the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. The rest - and most substantial part of the volume - deals with the history of Scandinavia from the Viking Age to the end of the Scandinavian Middle Ages (c. 1520). The external Viking expansion opened Scandinavia to European influence to a hitherto unknown degree. A Christian church organisation was established, the first towns came into being, and the unification of the three medieval kingdoms of Scandinavia began, coinciding with the formation of the unique Icelandic 'Free State'.
The History of Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Denmark,Finland and Iceland) is similar to Cambridge History yet significantly cheaper
The Viking World by Stefan Brink & Neil Price is a mid-range anthological book compromising of many articles from various scholars.
>I would really appreciate material that covers linguistics.....philology, morphology and the like
As for the other categories, I would really appreciate some introductory material on archaeology.
This book will probably be the best one for you because it includes all of the above.
Myth and Religion of the North: the Religion Ancient Scandinavia this book is a good overview of the different mythologies before the christianisation of the nordics.
Women in the Viking Age is a good book on the niche subject area of Women roles within the viking age nordics & its various colonies (from Greenland to Russia). Jesch uses various pieces of evidence from archaeological finds, runic inscriptions, historical records & Old Norse literature.
I would also recommend you look into the Icelandic sagas & Eddas. I'd use SagaDB because there are many various different icelandic sagas & in a variety of languages including English, Icelandic & Old Norse. If you'd like to go about learning O.N. you check the Viking Society for Northern Research or check out the books: A New Introduction to Old Norse: I Grammar: 1 or Viking Language 1: Learn Old Norse, Runes, and Icelandic Sagas
If you're interested at all in the presence of the Vikings (and later scandinavians) in Eastern Europe check out Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe
Hopefully this helps if you have any more specific questions don't be afraid to ask :)
The Viking World edited by Stefan Brink in collaboration with Niel Price.
The book is made up of small chapters and articles usually just a few pages long each (all written by respected academics), each of which introduces and explains the main themes you encounter in the study of the Vikings and their world, with bibliographies for further reading.
I can't recommend it enough, it has helped me out even now I am reading for an MA on the Vikings.
Check out the contents page on the preview Amazon offers.
"the only country"... You get that Canada, America, Australia, and every European country allowed the same thing, right? Read these two books and try to figure out what the common denominator is:
https://www.amazon.com/Culture-Critique-Evolutionary-Twentieth-Century-Intellectual/dp/0759672229
https://www.amazon.com/How-Sweden-Became-Multicultural-Eckehart/dp/9188667146/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1550359129&sr=1-1&keywords=how+Sweden+became+multicultural
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga is a good read on Viking history. For a more indepth study of Viking culture i'd recommend The Vikings by Else Roesdahl
A few resources for anyone wanting to learn more about crafting Viking-age swords:
Edit: Further reading (tried to find free, online sources)...
> that makes his works fundamentally a scholarly endeavor in the way that most other fantasy works aren't.
I'd say that's accurate. I mean he was literally filling in a gap in English history where he felt there should be recorded myths in the way that they existed for Germanic and Viking cultures. And considering that Scandinavian and Anglo Saxon tribes were closely related to the Germanic tribes of mainland Europe, they would have very similar traditions and stories. The Norse/Vikings even occupied portions of England at one point, so their ideas were well-propagated.
I recommend checking out The Viking Spirit by Daniel McCoy. There are a ton of great reads on Norse history out there, and this one is a great and entertaining amalgamation of many of those sources.
Hvis du vil have det nyeste forskning på området, så vil jeg anbefale The Viking World. Den giver et ganske godt indblik i, hvor lidt vi egentlig ved om vikingetiden og hvor meget det hele er omdiskuteret. Den forholder sig ikke kun til Skandinavien, men også deres virke i Europa og andre steder i verden.
This book gives a great survey over what has been found and where and would answer some of your questions.
In terms of how swords were perceived you would have to understand the work that goes into making a suitable steel weapon. Since the Norseman during the Viking Age got their iron from processing bog material and making billets from what they could gather from blooms, iron was very high priced and was worth it's weight in gold. So if you obtained iron for your own uses in the home, you would be more likely to prioritize it for a cauldron for cooking, knives/seaxes that can be used for cooking or utility reasons, an axe which could also be used for cutting down trees and shaping/cutting wood, arrows for hunting, and even a spear that could be used for hunting boars. Iron that was obtained was also used for nails/rivets, chains, and other tools that could help out with farm functions. As I have listed: seaxes, axes, spears and arrows have utility outside of war and thus are something that is considered more necessary. A sword on the other hand, what other utility does it have besides for war? None. The other part of a sword is that to be able to properly use one you need to train constantly because swords are way more unwieldy than an axe or spear which are two weapons that can used without much training at all. Thus the status of a sword is because it is solely used for war and thus exemplifies the owner's status of a warrior because in Norse society the main way to elevate your status is bravery and willingness to war.
Swords came from a few places. There were of course swords that were made in Scandinavia that could be of poor quality to good quality because of how they processed the steel. There were also swords that were made by the Franks that were much sought after to the point that the Frankish kings such as Charlemagne and Charles the Bald put serious restrictions (on pain of death) on trading swords and even chain-mail to the Northmen. During the Viking Age the best steel actually came from Arabian Peninsula and around the Persia. Since the Norsemen made trips to the Middle East for trade they did get steel and possibly swords that would be remade to suit Norse styles and aesthetics. The other place swords could of been obtained (although debated) is off of the dead after battles. While it sounds logical that you could just get a free sword off a dead opponent, the argument against it is: the Norse were very superstitious and they saw swords as having supernatural abilities, a sword that was used by a slain opponent (Frank, Saxon, etc) may be perceived as bad luck because it didn't serve the person to protect them why would it serve the new owner any better? That said, I believe there may of been people that were superstitious that would have left the sword with their unlucky owner but also there might have been some people that were not effected by superstition and the idea of getting a free sword would of appealed to them.
Swords varied in quality and some swords were more expensive than others. In the book I linked above you will see swords that are essentially only made of poor-middle grade steel and some that are higher quality pattern-welded steel with copper/silver embellishments in the cross-guard, pommel, and even the blade. Steel quality and how the sword was made would dictate how it would hold up in battle and thus swords that were pattern welded and folded enough would have the rigidity to not bend but also enough flexibility so it wouldn't snap in half. Swords that were made from poorer and less worked steel could end up having too many impurities or to much carbon making it so they could break or bend easier. Thus in some battles it was possible that some higher quality swords could cut though other lower quality swords. If you didn't understand the properties that went into a steel sword back then I could see how people could see some swords as being more "magical" than others.
So who owned these swords? Well, many types of people. Obviously kings and jarls would own swords that were beautifully embellished. Kings and Jarls also had a hird (personal retinue) that had freemen of important status that might of had a sword or even a broad axe (also known as a Dane-axe). Another type of person that might of had a sword would be a hersir who was a military leader of a hundred (county subdivision) who aspired to be a land owner. Goði who were chieftains and religious leader may of had a sword too. But swords did not have limited ownership by class, the only limit was the ability to carry them on their person. As such only kings, jarls, and karls (freemen) could carry around a sword. Women and thralls were restricted from carrying a sword but there were cases of women and thralls that did own a sword, although rare.
There is much, much, much more but having to type out everything is tiring. I would suggest reading the book I linked but also another tip is to understand that the "Vikings" were not a single cultural entity. There are micro cultures that existed in the Norse world that can be seen by the regional variances in sword and axe design as well funerary practices. As such there are practices that would of been different in Iceland compared to Sweden.
I hope this helps.
Hi all, I thought this Kindle ebook on Ragnar Lothbrok might be interesting to members of the community, it's free to download until April 8th.
If you enjoy it, an honest review on Amazon would be appreciated. But if you have any criticism, I would prefer you let me know via PM or leave a message here instead of leaving a negative review, so I can get it corrected right away for future readers.
Thanks!
The link above is for the US Amazon site, for your country's regional equivalent, you can change the URL suffix such as:
Canada - https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XXWMXRR
UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XXWMXRR
Peirce, "Swords of the Viking Age": https://www.amazon.com/Swords-Viking-Age-Ian-Peirce/dp/1843830892
Petersen, "De Norske Vikingesverd": https://archive.org/details/DeNorskeVikingesverdEnTypologisk-kronologiskStudieOverVikingetidens_105
... partial translation into English at http://www.vikingsword.com/petersen/
I would recommend The Viking Age: A Reader, it's pretty much the book about the vikings, also includes a lot of information on both early viking religion/myth as well as how it evolved with the introduction of Christianity. Also: Vikings. So that's cool.
Here's two off the top of my head that are pretty great:
Viking Age Iceland is a GREAT primer on, well, Viking Age Iceland :)
The Sagas of Icelanders is a nice entry level compilation of sagas and thaettir (excluding the amazing Njal's Saga unfortunately) that got me into the Icelandic sagas.
> Please elaborate on this. I fail to see how occupying a geographic space entitles you to deny others access to it?
Occupying the space in of itself does not, mixing your labor with the property does. For instance if I stand on a plot of land and claim ownership of it I have no valid grounds for doing so. On the other hand if I build a home on that unused land I have mixed a part of myself, my labor, with the land and thus put it to use in the process.
All ownership derives from your right of self-ownership. That is property ownership isn't an arbitrary claim but an incorporation of yourself with the property. Think of property as being a part of yourself. Chapter 6 of The Ethics of Liberty goes into greater detail regarding this principle.
> I agree with the current system of private property enforced through government. I do not think people have an inherent right to the property they occupy, because in most cases it was unjustly acquired. Therefore, I see no moral problem with property taxes.
Read my above clarification regarding what gives you right of ownership and reply again if you have questions or criticisms regarding that reasoning.
> I think that I should be the defacto owner and I should pay property taxes for the right to exclude others to this property.
Who are you going to pay property tax to? Remember I'm discussing this through an anarcho-capitalist viewpoint and thus there is no state involved. Do you believe there is no way property ownership could occur without a state to enforce it? If that is your belief I urge you to read The Not So Wild, Wild West, which discusses how American Indians developed property ownership without the need of a state and Viking Age Iceland, which discusses Iceland between the years 1000 and 1300. That span of time was a peaceful three centuries in which no state existed and all property was entirely privately owned (there was no concept of public property).
I was actually going to take a class on the Vikings this spring for kicks (main area of study is Near Eastern archaeology). While I ended up not being able to take the class due to time, I did keep the books since they did a pretty good job of introducing the topic to someone who never had any exposure to it before; not to mention they were extremely interesting!
A History of the Vikings by Gwyn Jones: Kind of dry, but very informative and helpful.
Medieval Scandinavia: From Conversion to Reformation, circa 800-1500 (Nordic Series) by Birgit and Peter Sawyer: If I recall correctly, the husband and wife who wrote this are both archaeologists. This was a pretty accesible book.
Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga edited by William F. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth Ward: Lots of information with lots of pictures!
Silver Economy in the Viking Age edited by James Graham-Campbell and Gareth Williams: This is also available on Amazon, but I had originally just bought the e-Book rental through this link. This book mostly concentrates on the archaeology of the Viking Age, if that's what you're looking for. I think I might just buy this book soon, haha.
Hopefully that helped a bit!
--edit--
/r/AskHistorians also seems to recommend The Viking World by Stefan Brink (as mentioned by /u/ThrostThrandson) and Exploring the World of the Vikings by Richard Hall. That subreddit has compiled a pretty extensive book list for a wide variety of subjects, if that interests you as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Battle-That-Shook-Europe-Poltava/dp/1860648479/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1301203615&sr=8-2
Highly recommended.
Here is a quick entertaining read to start you out: Viking: The Norse Warrior's [Unofficial] Manual
For a bit deeper reading this one is a decent overview of all things viking: The Vikings: A History by Robert Ferguson
Viking Age Iceland by Prof. Jesse Byock is a good start for this kind of thing.
As far as Mythology is concerned, if you are looking for a good non-fiction place to start, I would reccomend "Norse Mythology: A Guide to the Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs" by John Lindow
If you are interested in the History and Culture from a non-fiction standpoint, I started with "A History of the Vikings" by Gwyn Jones
Correct.
I've been reading The Sea Wolves A History of the Vikings :
It's pretty good and informative. It covers both sides of any kind of "war" the Vikings were involved at any time.
https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Wolves-History-Vikings/dp/1909979120/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486156143&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Sea+Wolves+A+History+of+the+Vikings
Hey man, thank you very much! Only one little thing, the links for Canada and UK you posted are from an Egyptian Mythology book, not this one, the correct ones should end in B06XXWMXRR:
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B06XXWMXRR
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06XXWMXRR
> I never said it was, but it is the suggested bare minimum if you actually want to construct a fact backed statement.
(RE: Google Search).
That is the most delusional statement I have seen in some time. A Google search is not the bare minimum. The bare minimum is engaging your critical faculties. Google is a search engine which has an algorithm which is, to be honest, not perfect. Engage your brain and you actually are capable of making a huge number of fact based statements without Google. Or just regurgitate what the top ten results on Google are. Your choice.
> The very fact that your comment is a tirade about "socialist democracy" and not economics (which is the subject at hand) makes me believe you have 5 tabs of communist memes, rather than a legitimate fact based article or report open whilst you are making your arguments.
You genuinely are attempting to be insulting and failing. Why would I have five tabs of memes when I have copies of Grundrisse, Prison Notebooks, Wealth Of Nations, and so forth in the other room. It is not a tirade. And I do recommend "The Nordic Model: Scandanavia since 1945"
You clearly come from an overly sheltered background where your intellectually
enfeebled guardians - regretting adoping you after your parents discarded you
when you failed to be potty trained at 18 months - pandered to your every
delusional whim and further ensured your critical faculties would never be used
for anything other than choosing which rock to cling to.
That is a bit closer to a tirade. You really need to gather up some skills in rhetoric. As to fact based article: how about a wealth of experience; does the clickbait of the internet truly trump actually putting the effort in to understand issues; I doubt it.
As to Economics: it is nonsense of the highest ordure - or order, take your pick. Not a conclusion come to lightly. You would be best spending your intellectual efforts in improving your own mind. Seriously, you are clearly not prepared to engage in critical thinking or to entertain any idea that is outside your comfort zone.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vikings-A-History-ebook/dp/B002TV07E2/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368241864&sr=1-4&keywords=vikings
Pretty good book, lots of information. A bit dry though, pretty much written for people already immensely interested in the topic and not really designed to capture the attention of a random reader.
http://www.amazon.com/Vikings-Atlantic-William-F-Fitzhugh/dp/1560989955/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368241957&sr=1-7&keywords=vikings
A little bit better in my opinion. Lots of images so you can see what is being referenced instead of trying to imagine it.
As for the figure head, I can't tell you exactly where it's from. All i can say is it's a modern interpretation of a dragon figurehead, with some embellishments, especially with the figures forming the top side rails.
The Nordic Model- Embracing globalization and sharing risks An MIT report.
The Nordic Model: Scandinavia since 1945 (Contemporary Worlds) By senior lecturer in contemporary Scandinavian history at the University College, London.
I’d also consider Viking Economics, more of an advocates take.
I'd recommend Nordstrom's "Scandinavia since 1500" for a broad overview:
https://www.amazon.com/Scandinavia-Since-1500-Byron-Nordstrom/dp/0816620989
Another decent book is Herman Lindqvist's "A History of Sweden" (which obviously focuses on Sweden, not Scandinavia):
https://www.amazon.com/History-Sweden-Herman-Lindqvist/dp/9113014552
Okey dokey, so, lets start from the beginning. First "Medieval Europe" covers about 1000 years of history, across an entire continent, and dozens of different cultures. Where and when are just as important as what. Making generalizations is pretty much impossible. For the purposes of this, I will be sticking to the typical conditions in England and southern France. Northern europe operated on a COMPLETELY different, and MUCH more egalitarian set of rules. I will touch on that later.
Yes, of course there were non-white people in medieval europe. Moors from north africa who invaded what is now southern spain, and parts of italy. They ruled for about 500 years. They were expelled in the early 1200's. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umayyad_conquest_of_Hispania).
In addition, merchants from the middle east were common in some parts of medieval europe. Things were actually pretty shitty for them, due to the legal structure.
Speaking of the legal structure, laws as we think of them today didn't per se exist, and could vary wildly from one town to the next. They were closer to an amalgam of local custom and general policy. A codified legal system was pretty much nonexistent in that period. None of which applied to foreigners (which included simple non-residents in many area), including the aforementioned merchants, who had no recourse. It was pretty much open season on them anywhere outside the major cities and trade routes.
The other thing that's very very important to consider, is that the rules the commoners lived by (the overwhelming bulk of the population) were very VERY different from the rules the nobility lived by. But to address your bullet points:
Warning: Most of my resources are in the form of books, scholarly research, basically non-digital format. I will, unfortunately, be making heavy use of wikipedia for this. I will include a bibliography at the end to get you started.
Women joined and formed both craft and merchant guilds (basically, early unions) with regularity. In england, when the wool trade exploded in the late middle ages, many women became quite wealthy as wool merchants.
Medieval custom and commonlaw was based on the family unit. By default, the husband became the head of that family unit. When a woman married into a family, her holdings became part of that family unit, and ownership defaulted to the husband (note the aforementioned lack of divorce). In the event of an annulment, the entire marriage was declared void, including any transfer of property, which was then returned to the wife, who then became an independant unmarried adult, identical to a widow. In the event that the husband died (which was absurdly common), the wife (NOT the eldest male child) was then considered head of household, and assumed ownership and responsibility for all the holdings and the behavior of her family (the exact same rights and responsibilities the husband had).
To better understand this dynamic, take a modern marriage. When people are married, property becomes joint property, and no decisions regarding it may be made without the consent of both parties. Now imagine that there was no such thing as divorce. The dynamic becomes nearly identical to a medieval marriage. The only thing that has changed, functionally, is that the husband is no longer criminally liable for the actions of his wife (actually, a relatively recent development, less than 150 years). It was, effectively, joint property. Misuse of the wife's property was grounds for annulment. If you want to read about a vary famous instance, Elanor of Aquitaine (who I strongly advise picking up a biography or two on) had her marriage annuled.
Grounds for annulment also included: marital rape, adultry, infertility, drunkeness, excessive physical abuse (domestic violence was commonplace and went both ways, all ways really, people just in general beat the hell out of each other, husbands beat wives, wives beat husbands, husbands and wives beat children, everybody beat servants, servants beat each other, really the top of the beatings food chain was the king, who didn't get beaten by anybody, and got to beat everybody. Yay beatings!)
Now, as promised, when you get to northern europe and parts of modern germany, things change completely. Women could divorce at will, for any reason or none, and a wife's property was never considered part of her husbands property. Women could inherit without restriction, and did all the time.
If I may wax a bit wroth for a moment, one of the biggest hurdles to understanding the period is the goddamn fucking !@$%^!#! peice of shit Victorian mother!$%!@ who were VERY invested in revisionist history, and shit all over actual historical scholarship. The second hurdle is fucking hollywood goddamn movies who wouldn't know historically accurate if it bit them on their fat asses. An excellent example of this is the persistient myth of knights being craned onto their horses. This was the direct result of a shitty ass Henry V made in 1944 by Laurence Olivier, where the historical consultant begged him not to put the scene in, but he did it anyway.
Anywho, /rant off.
On to the resources!
If you can find it, and don't have to pay a fortune for it, 'Women and Gender in Medieval Europe' is a fantastic resource, though quite heavy (both in physical and reading weight).
Another good place to start, and significantly more accessable:
http://www.amazon.com/Womens-Lives-Medieval-Europe-Sourcebook/dp/0415466830/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397269083&sr=1-2&keywords=medieval+women
This is a rather basic and trite overview, but not inaccurate, and very accessable:
http://www.amazon.com/Women-Middle-Ages-Joseph-Gies/dp/0060923040/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397269226&sr=1-1&keywords=women+in+the+middle+ages
Some information on Norther Europe, not women specific, but a great read:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Vikings-History-Robert-Ferguson/dp/0143118013/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397269319&sr=8-1&keywords=vikings+ferguson
Aaaaaand here's a light treatment that you can watch while eating popcorn:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wL5CviNAhnk
Feel free to PM me if you want to continue the discussion.
On the rare occasion when I have little to do (cough), I purchase a book on Kindle and read it on my monitor using my browser at http://read.amazon.com . I'm currently reading The Vikings: A History. The last one I read, which I highly recommend, was Letter to a Christian Nation.
The idea of a free, private-propertarian society is not totally unprecedented. The most often cited examples are Midieval Age Iceland and Kowloon Walled City.
The Penguin Atlas of Medieval History - Colin McEvedy 1961 for an overview.
2008, erudite conference output in Chapters 37 to 40
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Viking-World-Routledge-Worlds/dp/0415692628
I found this book on Amazon:http://www.amazon.com/History-Iceland-Gunnar-Karlsson/dp/0816635897
Unless I have the wrong book somehow, it's available on Kindle. Added to my wishlist for some point in the future when I actually get through all the books I've already bought. Or, you know, a few of them.
That's all i need. I don't care if he takes it from others as long as most of the stuff about Vikings are covered
EDIT: Do you know anything about this one? http://www.amazon.com/A-History-Vikings-Gwyn-Jones/dp/0192801341/ref=cm_lmf_tit_1
I'm quite nervous about buying the wrong book xD
You may want to go to reddit history and just ask for books about Early Middle Age Europe or specifically ones about Britain, Cnut the Great and Leif Erikson. Or askhistorians is another great one. You want to focus on the Early Middle Ages (when it starts is debatable but around 600 - 1066 AD) as that is what Vinland is dealing with.
One good one is Millennium by Tom Holland it's around the turn of the 11th century when Vinland Saga takes place so that might be of interest.
Amazon link
For something more related to the Vikings and Norse Scandinavia.
Amazon Link
You also might want to check out historical podcasts like the British History Podcast which is incredibly detailed and they might give you some sources on that. Also there are quite a few on the Vikings. Lots of varied podcasts on a variety of historical topics and they regularly will interact with listeners if you're interested in their sources.
Link
Link 2
I made an audible account a couple months back and I picked up The Age of Vikings by Anders Winroth. It's got a lot of really interesting information on early Scandinavia and the impact of Norsemen during the middle ages. I don't absorb academic and historical texts well as it usually ends up as an impromptu nap. Listening while I work is much easier for me to glean information. There's a couple sagas and Edda's I've got lined up for my next purchases that I'm really looking forward to.
https://www.amazon.com/Age-Vikings-Anders-Winroth/dp/0691169292
I mean I'm mostly interested in investigations of historicity - like historical religious and legendary figures (Jesus, the patriarchs, Ragnar, etc.).
It's very hard to determine if Ragnar was a real person, but, interestingly, all of his 'sons' are - as is Rollo. Not much is known about Rollo before he showed up in France, but that whole arc is completely true - they gave him land in what is now called Normandy (heh) to protect against other Viking invaders. The great heathen army was also real and was led by figures such as Ivar, Bjorn, Ubbe, etc. but it's not likely that they were literally brothers.
Other real historical characters are sprinkled throughout with varying degrees of importance, like Leif, who was Ragnar's friend in the early seasons, whose father was not so subtly called Erik (ahrm).
If you think about it, though, there was almost certainly a Norse man who spearheaded the first raids to England, the very first of which actually did land at Lindisfarne (you can still visit there, so high on my list!!) - so it's likely that there really was a lauded heroic figure in the culture at that time, and the leaders of the heathen army could have been seen as 'figurative sons' - the last few episodes depicting it showed that the whole society rallied around the idea of avenging Ragnar, even if they weren't related to him, because he was such an important figure. Could be a grain of truth in that.
Anyways, it's mostly speculative. While the show gets a bit magical and tries to tie down mostly legendary tales in real characters, it is remarkably accurate in both major plot points and in the way the world is depicted. After 4 seasons of Vikings I tried to watch Marco Polo on Netflix and couldn't get more than 3 episodes in. I now have an insatiable appetite for seeing things more or less as they were - Marco Polo was NOT trained in kung fu by a fucking blind ninja. There need to be more realistic historical shows.
Bit of a rant, but I hope that if you have interest in it you go and read some of the translations of Ragnar's Sons and Beowulf and stuff like that! I know Michael recommended some books, but I quite like this one.
I'm sorry, but I don't have a specific source for this right now. My knowledge mainly comes from various books, lectures, youtube channels focused on history or articles from the Internet. But as far as literature is concerned, I can certainly recommend to you History of Vikings by Gwyn Jones, imo it's great starting point for learning more about vikings and Norsemen in general, as it covers wide range of topics in Norse culture, but doesn't get deep enough to confuse you.
I was interested in the Vikings and Scandinavian history a few years back. I read a selection of things that were Viking histories and English histories that pertained to the Vikings. As far as Egyptian history I read a few egyptian history book my university has and I also read a book called Religion and Magic in Ancient Egypt by Rosalie David. It traced the history of Egyptian faith practices from the civilization's beginning through its growth into an empire and its later years as a Roman province. And for the Latin American Civilizations and feudal japan i cant help you there. Also, check out the History subreddit's reading list https://www.reddit.com/r/history/wiki/recommendedlist
Vikings: https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Wolves-History-Vikings/dp/1909979120/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1486836520&sr=8-2&keywords=vikings+book
https://www.amazon.com/Penguin-Historical-Atlas-Vikings-Hist/dp/0140513280/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1486836584&sr=8-10&keywords=vikings+book
Egypt: https://www.amazon.com/Religion-Magic-Ancient-Egypt-Rosalie/dp/0140262520
Viking nonfiction:
Want something fun?
Viking: The Norse Warrior's [Unofficial] Manual
Want something a little more academic?
Gods and Myths of Northern Europe
Else Roesdahl's The Vikings is a pretty good place to start.
Others have also mentioned some of the sagas: Njal's Saga, The Saga of the Volsungs. Beowulf takes place in Scandinavia.
Somerville and Mcdonald's The Viking Age: A Reader is a nice collection of translated historical texts and documents. It includes a description of the Lindisfarne raids and some of the subsequent reactions of priests and kings from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.
With English history, I would start with the Romans. The "very short introduction" books have shown up in my old reading lists on multiple occasions at university.
I would then move on to the vikings. Again look at "a very short introduction". I would also look at "The Viking World". This is the textbook I used at Uni.
(Now we get to medieval England, my favourite) Look at the history of the medieval church christianity was central to medieval life. Look at the Black Death King Death: The Black Death and its Aftermath in Late-Medieval England, it is one of my favourite books of all time and an absolute pleasure to read. This book is a very good overview of medieval Europe This book is also a very good, but brief, introduction. I would read that one before the other one.
The Hundred Years war is an important part of English and French history. The Hundred Years War is a good brief book.
Now we get to the War of the Roses (if you like game of thrones, this is what it is based on). Hicks, M. A., The war of the Roses (2003). He wrote another longer book in 2010. Both are very good, but the 2003 book is much much smaller.
I never studied the Tudors or Stuarts at uni but I am sure someone else would be able to direct you to good books. When buying books look for "University Press" books. They are written buy lecturers and professors, world leaders in their field.
The Empire Project is a very good book, but not as small as the others I have suggested (well, except for the viking age one).
Don't be disheartened by the amount of books I have suggested, I promise the majority are tiny and pictures do take up a lot of room. If you were to combine them, they probably would be as many words as 2 big books. Wait for the books to become cheap or call up a university second hand book shop to see if they have them in stock. Again I highly recommend the "a very short introduction" books if you want to get to know an area of history without making the commitment of buying larger more expensive books. If you want my old reading lists I can send them too you if you PM me.
The Viking World edited by Stefan Brink is a great source, filled with up-to-date papers written by some of the best scholars in Viking Age history and archaeology. It has chapters detailing everything from Norse-Sami relations, Scandinavian coinage to a few chapters regarding the impact by Scandinavians on the people they interacted with. I definitely recommend it.
The impact of the Scandinavian Invasions on Celtic Speaking Peoples is a bit dated, but is cool to have as a historiographical piece because so many of their interpretations have been proven wrong by new archaeological evidence and less narrow/literal readings of cherry picked primary sources (Binchy, for example, was a genius in the field of early Irish law tracts, however only reading law tracts will give you a very skewed view of how Irish society functioned). I only bought it because it's on sale and because it includes D A Binchy's classic "Changing of the old order" paper, even though new research has shown his theory of the vikings dragging the Irish out of an "old order" to be wrong.
I'm a little more then half way through The age of the Vikings, so far it's been really good. A decent overview, but also does a good job of digging into the details.
This one is kinda funny but still factual. Viking: The Norse Warrior's [Unofficial] Manual https://www.amazon.com/dp/0500251940/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_AKTLub0VK71KG
Here are some links for the product in the above comment for different countries:
Amazon Smile Link: http://smile.amazon.com/The-Vikings-History-Robert-Ferguson/dp/0143118013/ref=sr_1_1
|Country|Link|
|:-----------|:------------|
|UK|amazon.co.uk|
|Spain|amazon.es|
|France|amazon.fr|
|Germany|amazon.de|
|Japan|amazon.co.jp|
|Canada|amazon.ca|
|Italy|amazon.it|
|China|amazon.cn|
This bot is currently in testing so let me know what you think by voting (or commenting). The thread for feature requests can be found here.