Viking Age Podcast

In this episode we will becovering the period from about 3500 - 2800 BCE, when Agriculturereally took hold in Scandinavia. We will explore what settlementpatterns emerged, how agriculture was practiced and how thenewly-minted Scandinavian farmers formed a relationship with theland they cultivated.

In the process we will learn about the impact of Polished FlintAxes and the Ard, take a tour of a ...

In this episode we are going to do a lightning-tour through the Scandinavian Iron Age - beginning around 500 BCE and ending around 800 CE with the first Viking Raids. This period, spanning over 1000 years, is chocked full of political, technological, economic and cultural change in the North.

The goal of this episode is to provide a baseline understanding of the period which directly preceded ...

That’s right! We have made it to the Dawn of the Viking Age! In this episode we will explore the first Viking Raids on Western Europe - the killing of the King’s Reeve in Portland in Dorset, and the Notorious Sacking of the Monastery of Lindisfarne.

We will talk about the bloody events themselves, the reactions of Western Europeans to the attacks, and set the s...

In this episode we explore the history of landscape and peoples of Western Norway at the Dawn of the Viking Age. We will follow the coast of Norway on a  journey with a Norwegian Chieftain, and discuss slaves, tenant farmers and petty Kings.

Along the way we will determine whether or not overpopulation and lack of arable land were the determining factors behind the initial Viking Raids in the ...

In this episode we explore the politics of Western Norway at the Dawn of The Viking Age.

Our aim is to discover the nature conflict, cooperation and competition between the chiefdoms and petty kingdoms of the area which would later become Norway. To do this we look at the nature of power as expressed by Western Norwegians themselves, in the form of Skaldic poe...

In this episode we get the lay of the political, religious and social landscape of Viking Age Ireland. 

Now, while it might seem excessive to spend an entire episode on Ireland in a Podcast about Vikings, it is essential to understand the nature of Irish politics and culture prior to the arrival of Scandinavians. Spending time on this now will help us put Norse-Irish interaction into perspective, and help to explain the sometimes s...

In this episode we see the Vikings shift their focus north, from Ireland to to the Inner Hebrides and a target which, from the perspective of the Vikings, must have been almost too good to be true. We are speaking of course about the great monastery of Iona.

We'll explore the raids in 795 CE and 802 CE - and then the details and psychological and material impact of the brutal Viking Raid of 806 CE. Along the way we will also meet S...

In this episode we seeking an answer to a simple question: Why on Earth would a Norwegian Farmer join his local lord on a Viking Raid?

In our explorations we will discuss Gold and Silver, Marriage Negotiations and old Icelandic Law Codes. We'll talk about Marriage today and Marriage in the Viking Age. Hopefully, by the end of this episode, we will come away with a better understanding of what motivated young Scandinavians in the Vi...

In today’s episode we try to answer a simple question: While some groups of Vikingar were busy raiding monasteries and fighting pitched battles in Ireland throughout the first half of the ninth century, what was going on to the North in Scotland? In other words, what did the early Viking Age look like in Scotland?

The answer to this question is much more complex than it first seems, as we confront a lack of evidence and conflicting...

If this episode we are going to look at captive taking and slavery in the Viking Age. Buckle your seat belts, this is going to be a dark one. Along the way we’ll mourn the death of King Aed of Tara, introduce the Abbasid Caliphate and tell the story of a monk named Findan.

First though we’ll need to return to Ireland, and catch up on events there during the 8 y...

In this episode we are going to return to the roots of Vikingar activity by following a series of Viking raids on Irish monasteries which were conducted in the early 820s. This will lead us nicely to the main focus of today’s episode - the Martyrdom of the Irish Aristocrat turned Monk Blathmac.  

Along the way we will encounter saintly bones gilded in gold, pos...

In this episode we are once again going to return to Western Norway, and explore what may have motivated young Norwegians to go a Viking.

In the past we have established the material motivations behind going a Viking. Acquiring Gold and Silver allowed the leaders of expeditions to attract followers and cement political power. For the followers, such easily portable, durable wealth was extremely useful when conducting marriage negot...

In this week’s episode we explore the circumstances around the plundering of the great monastery of Armagh by Vikingar in 832 CE. In that year the monastery, which lies 30 miles from the coast, subjected to Viking raids three times in a single month. Things are clearly getting crazy in Ireland.

Along the way we will explore the history of Armagh, we will bring ...