Viking History

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

Traditionally set between the late eighth and late eleventh centuries, the Viking Age was a period of extensive expansion of Scandinavian traders, raiders, and kings across the globe. Alternately cast as history's worst villains or its greatest romantic adventurers, the realities of Scandinavian life, travel, warfare, and literature during the early medieval period are far more interesting than such simple characterizations could imply. This course examines the religious, literary, and cultural traditions of medieval Scandinavia as well as the impact of Viking Age expansion on the various cultures and political entities with which Scandinavian peoples interacted, especially in Ireland, England, France, Russia, and the North Atlantic islands.