Audio Books : Misc. Educational : Other quality : English


To understand the Vikings is to conquer a paradox. From 790-1066, virtually invincible Viking fleets fanned out across Europe, raiding, plundering, and overwhelming every army that opposed them. 

As explorers and traders, the Vikings sailed from Newfoundland to Baghdad, across raging seas and swift rivers, extending trade and prosperity in voyages of creative destruction. They played a decisive role in the formation of Latin Christendom and particularly of Western Europe, which was forged in the crucible of Viking fire. 

By 1100, however, the Vikings had disappeared, having willingly shed their identity and dissolved into the mists of myth and legend, their ancient gods unheralded, their distinctive culture gone. How did this happen, and how should we remember this formidable civilization that, for being so formative, proved so transient?

Who were the Vikings? Many more things, perhaps, than you may have thought: raiders, seafarers, kings, and writers, a people who truly defined the history of Europe, and whose brave, adventurous, and creative spirit still survives today.

In 36 fascinating, fact-packed lectures, Dr. Kenneth W. Harl rediscovers these warriors, artists, merchants, poets, and kings, explaining their role on the world stage.




Course Lecture Titles

1. The Vikings in Medieval History
2. Land and People of Medieval Scandinavia
3. Scandinavian Society in the Bronze Age
4. Scandinavia in the Celtic and Roman Ages
5. The Age of Migrations
6. The Norse Gods
7. Runes, Poetry, and Visual Arts
8. Legendary Kings and Heroes
9. A Revolution in Shipbuilding
10. Warfare and Society in the Viking Age
11. Merchants and Commerce in the Viking Age
12. Christendom on the Eve of the Viking Age
13. Viking Raids on the Carolingian Empire
14. The Duchy of Normandy
15. Viking Assault on England
16. The Danelaw
17. Viking Assault on Ireland
18. Norse Kings of Dublin and Ireland
19. The Settlement of Iceland
20. Iceland - A Frontier Republic
21. Skaldic Poetry and Sagas
22. Western Voyages to Greenland and Vinland
23. Swedes in the Baltic Sea and Russia
24. The Road to Byzantium
25. From Varangians into Russians
26. Transformation of Scandinavian Society
27. St. Anskar and the First Christian Missions
28. Formation of the Kingdom of Denmark
29. Cnut the Great
30. Collapse of Cnut's Empire
31. Jarls and Sea Kings of Norway
32. St. Olaf of Norway
33. Kings of the Swedes and Goths
34. Christianization and Economic Change
35. From Vikings to Crusaders
36. The Viking Legacy


UPDATE: The Course Guidebook should be a .pdf file, playable with Adobe Acrobat Reader. Just add the .pdf extension to the file and it should work beautifully.