HIS 240 The Medieval World

The Arena Chapel is a building in Padua whose interior is entirely covered with frescoes by Giotto, painted shortly after 1300 and still miraculously intact. In 1961-64 the thirty-six large panels and their setting were cleaned and restored, but they are still threatened by their environment. As part of a continuing conservation campaign, between 1988 and 1991 they were thoroughly examined and recorded in minute detail. The results of this recording are now made available for the first time in their entirety.

This history of the Nordic peoples in the period 750-1050 focuses on their homelands and colonies, demonstrating the fluidity and incoherence of the world in which they lived. Considers the Nordic peoples in Viking times without undue recourse to developmental theories. Guides readers through some of the scholarly controversies surrounding these peoples. Illustrated by reference to runic, poetic and archaeological evidence.

Viking Empires is a definitive new history of five hundred years of Viking civilization and the first study of the global implications of the expansion, integration, and reorientation of the Viking World. It shows that it is no longer possible to understand much of Viking history without integrating the internal history of Scandinavia. The book concludes with a new account of the end of the Viking era, arguing that there was no sudden decline but only the gradual absorption of the Scandinavian kingdoms into the larger project of the crusades and a refocusing of imperial ambitions on the Baltic States and Eastern Europe.

One moment the Vikings were a mere speck on the sea; the next, a murderous force slashing its way into unprotected monasteries and villages; and, pillaging villages and kidnapping innocents. For three centuries, they rained terror on Europe. This work chronicles the Norse invasions of the British Isles and the European mainland.

Though infamous for their violent marauding, Vikings were but one part of the complex Scandinavian culture from which they emerged. This excellent and intimate study goes beyond the rumors of the fury of the Northmen, into the prosaic realities of the greater Scandinavian community, and is ideal for readers who want to discover the everyday details of living in this dynamic time and place.

Enthralling, well-documented, and vivid account by a leading authority on the subject chronicles the activities of those bold sea raiders of the North who terrorized Europe from the 8th to the 11th centuries. Abundantly illustrated, the volume will be invaluable to scholars and students of Nordic history. 12 plates and 40 black-and-white illustrations.