Viking WARRIORS: Raiders, Weapons, Battles and the Art of Norse Warfare (The World Book 2)

The longship has reached the shore. Now discover how Norse warfare really worked. Viking Warriors follows a campaign from its first promise of silver to the violent struggle for land, tribute and kingship. See how war bands were raised, why the spear mattered more than the sword, how round shields and mail protected fighters, and how longships turned coasts and rivers into roads of conquest. Travel from Lindisfarne and the Great Army's winter camps to the battles for England, the siege of Paris and Cnut's North Sea kingdom. Along the way, Jonathan R. Alderwick tests shield walls, berserkers, the blood eagle and other famous claims against archaeology, contemporary accounts, poetry and later sagas. Clear, vivid and grounded in surviving evidence, this second volume of THE VIKING WORLD reveals the households behind the fleets, the victims waiting ashore and the hard calculations concealed beneath the warrior legend. For readers who want Viking history with the drama intact and the myths examined, the next voyage begins here.