126-068 Viking Studies A: Culture and Influence

European studies students wishing to enrol in this subject would normally have completed first-year European studies, see Prerequisites.

Conventional portrayals of viking destruction and violence do not adequately represent the complex, vibrant and undoubtedly expansionist Scandinavian culture of the middle ages. This subject examines the dynamic relationship between Scandinavia and the rest of Europe in the Viking Age (c750-1100), and places the vikings within the context of their own culture and of the social changes and developments of medieval Europe. Students will explore principal themes in viking historiography, such as: Are vikings 'mad, bad and dangerous to know'? How extensive was viking influence outside Scandinavia, in regions ranging from the British Isles to Constantinople? What features of their own societies might have encouraged or necessitated expansion? And is a viking necessarily a male Scandinavian warrior, or should this image be mediated by gender, ethnicity and activity? Through the evaluation of various, sometimes contradictory written accounts, of archaeological evidence and of modern scholarship, students will be encouraged to form their own opinions of the historical realities that may underlie the image of vikings. Medieval texts will be studied in translation and some selections will be encountered in the original Old Norse, although no prior knowledge of Old Norse is assumed. Text-based study will introduce vocabulary and syntax whilst incorporating discussion of the cultural content and context of the material, and students should acquire a basic level of Old Norse language comprehension.

Written work totalling 4000 words.

A course reader and language materials will be made available in class.

• M Magnusson & H Palsson (trans), Njal's Saga. Penguin, 1960.