The Vikings and Their Origins

by David M. Wilson

Great book about the Vikings

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Research

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1970

About the author

Sir David Mackenzie Wilson is an English archaeologist, art historian, and museum curator, specialising in Anglo-Saxon art and the Viking Age. He lives on the Isle of Man.

Wilson was the director of the British Museum from 1977 to 1992, and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1985 he was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Cambridge.

Reviews

[Bertie Brady · Rating 2 out of 5]

The problem with this book is that it attempts to condense the history of the Vikings spanning a millennium into one hundred pages, a task usually destined to result in both a hollow and unrefined account.

In relation to the Vikings, writing a neat linear history of any sort is made more challenging by the Vikings' sparse literary footprint, which is limited almost exclusively to sepulchral and religious inscriptions. Additionally, the alternative approach of focusing on archaeological remains (which Wilson relies on greatly) also poses its own challenges due to the lack of archaeological remains, especially in art, housing and religious temples. A great deal of this can be traced to the Christianisation of Scandinavia from the 10th century onwards, when pagan monuments and temples were destroyed. For example, the great temple of Uppsala in Sweden was destroyed in the 12th century for this reason.

The archaeological remains that have been found in some abundance, such as ships, weapons and Runic inscriptions, do give some limited access to the Vikings' rich Norse Pagan mythology and show a high degree of realism in some of their artistic designs. Elsewhere, Wilson gives brief accounts of Viking explorers' discovery of the American continent, going over contentious debates among historians and tracing the scant archaeological evidence that has been found on the continent.

Overall, an ambitious but ill-conceived account of Scandinavia in the first millennium. I was not surprised that the book was mostly composed of a few chapters from a larger volume on the Dark Ages.

[Lee Hutchinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is called The Vikings *and Their Origins* - I learnt a lot about Viking domestic life and Nordic military and mercantile expansion, but very little about the Vikings' Germanic origins. I was hoping (perhaps unfairly given when it was written) that the author would have attempted to trace their ancestry back to Proto-Indo-European times. There is no mention, for example, of Scandinavian Battle Axe Culture, nor the Corded Ware culture that preceded it, nor the Yamnaya culture of the Pontic-Caspian steppe. It is also thin on Old Norse religion, and Viking activity during the Roman Iron Age and in the British Isles during the Early Middle Ages. On the plus side, the chapters are clear, concise and well-organized, and the book contains a wealth of well-chosen illustrations. I would recommend it as an introductory text.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reading old books is always interesting because you can see what information is true. If the information stays the same. At the same time, the reader can understand what theories or hypotheses were proven wrong years later. This book was written in 1975. I studied Medieval literature in college. I also have Scandinavian ancestry and am Pagan. For those reasons, I am critical of this book. For a beginner it is fine. But if you're doing research find a more current book about Viking society.

[belacqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Church landed pen in hand and, as the North became part of the literate European Christian community, its vitality was strangely sapped and the Viking Age came to an end." <- disappointed but not surprised... "strangely", riiiiight... lol

[Frida Dillenbeck · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn’t know anything about Vikings and their explorations. This book lines out their routes and influences over hundreds of years. A well done summary for general knowledge.

[Selim Karagöz]

It gives information not only about the Viking age, but also before the Viking age and thus we are able to learn about the Roman existence in Scandinavia, the effect of the age of the migrations in Scandinavia, The Vendel Age and of course the Viking Age. The book is written in 1970, so it is a good choice to start reading about the Vikings.