The Vikings in Britain and Ireland

Jayne Carroll is Director of the Institute for Name-Studies and Associate Professor in the History of English at the University of Nottingham. Her main academic interests include place-names and language and literature in Old English and Old Norse. Stephen H. Harrison is an Honorary Research Associate in medieval history at Trinity College Dublin, having previously worked in museums, universities and commercial archaeology. He specializes in the social context of Scandinavian burials in the early Viking Age and has wider interests in Viking Age Britain and Ireland, particularly early settlement activity. Gareth Williams is Curator of early medieval coins at the British Museum. He has worked extensively on warfare, coinage, wealth and exchange, and towns in the Viking Age. Gareth was also lead curator of the British Museum exhibition Vikings: life and legend.

For nearly three hundred years, from the end of the eighth century AD until approximately 1100, the Vikings set out from Scandinavia across the northern world a dramatic time that would change Europe forever. This book explores the Viking conquest and settlement across Britain and Ireland, covering the core period of Viking activity from the first Viking raids to the raids of Magnus Barelegs, king of Norway. This lively history looks at the impact of the Viking forces, the development of societies within their settlements, their trades and beliefs, language and their interactions with native peoples. Drawing on the superb collection of the British Museum, together with other finds, sites and monuments, The Vikings in Britain and Ireland is a richly-illustrated introduction to the culture, daily life and times of the Vikings and their legacy which is still visible today.