The Oseberg ship -- The culture of northern Heathendom -- The causes of the Viking Age -- 'The devastation of all the islands of Britain by the Heathens' -- The Vikings in the Carolingian empire -- Across the Baltic -- The Danelaw I: occupation -- The settlement of Iceland -- Rollo and the Norman colony -- The master-builder: Harald Bluetooth and the Jelling Stone -- The Danelaw II: assimilation -- When Allah met Odin -- A piece of horse's liver: the pragmatic Christianity of Håkon the Good -- Greenland and North America -- Ragnarök in Iceland -- St Brice, St Alphege and the wolf: the fall of Anglo-Saxon England -- The Viking saint -- Heathendom's last bastion

Presents a history of the Nordic warriors and explorers who plundered and traded their way across Europe, and discusses how their conquests helped spread and enhance accomplishments in the arts, culture, and government