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Los vikingos en la historia
Ensayo documentado que pretende enmendar el error de pensar que los vikingos fueron unos bárbaros que amenazaron a la Europa continental. Con pruebas se destaca el papel protagónico que desempeñaron en el mapa histórico de la Edad Media.
346 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1983
13 people are currently reading
170 people want to read
About the author
F. Donald Logan
9 books7 followersFrancis Donald Logan, American historian and educator. Recipient Fulbright scholar, London University, 1960-1962, Guggenheim fellow, 1969-1970. Fellow Royal History Society, Society Antiquaries.
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January 4, 2021This isn't a bad short book on the Vikings, but it falls far short of the author's ambitions and really doesn't stand out from the shieldwall of books written about the Vikings.
On the plus side it is modular - you can dip in, read a chapter, and then sail off Viking style. Each chapter even has its own suggested further reading. There are plenty of maps.
I assume that the author had a North-American audience in mind when writing this book. Of the ten plates six show objects and places with an American connection and there is a whole chapter on the Vikings and the new world including discussion of the Kensington rune stone and the Vinland map . These things are interesting but this accounts for about 15% of the total text yet probably involved only a couple of handfuls of Vikings. Slightly less text is given over to the Vikings in Russia where they had an active role in founding an entire country, which does suggest a mild imbalance of focus, though no doubt the mention of the discovery of a single Viking coin in New England might justify that for some readers.
Aside from that there are chapters on the Viking raids in France, Britain, Ireland and some discussion of settlement on the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and in the Danelaw of England.
The problem is that the book doesn't marry with its author's stated ambitions to show the Vikings as having "significant influences" (p.208) over the institutions of many peoples and to move the discussion away from Viking violence to consideration of non-violent aspects of the Vikings in history.
Simply writing a book about the Vikings as settlers and traders would have been a better way to shift the discussion away from violent Vikings than what Donald Logan has written, which comes across as delighting in the ability of the Vikings in France and England to avoid defeat and dominate the countryside. A glaring absence from this book is a discussion of daily life which for most Viking age people presumably involved more of what isn't dealt with in this book - farming, fishing, trading and making, rather than taking things and killing people .
Apart from the "the Viking civilisation of the north, vibrant, untamed, and raw" (p.16) having a slightly Übermensch flavour, his assertion of a "strong and unmistakable impact on much of the rest of Europe and on lands across seas and oceans" (ibid) and that because of this "the traditional focus is misplaced: if there is to be a single focus, it should not be centred on the Carolingians and their successors but, rather, on the Scandinavian peoples of northern Europe, and on the peninsulas of the north where the dynamic forces of Europe were to be found" (ibid) doesn't marry up with what is described in the text - that the Vikings fairly quickly and quietly, merged, mingled and blended into the Irish, French, and (proto-)Russian societies where they settled. Franklin and Shepard in The Emergence of Rus make a case for the emergent Russia as a hybrid arising from Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian influences, but the author's case needs to be made rather than just asserted in the closing pages of the book.
I'm not sure in any case that it is particularly useful to get into some kind of axe throwing contest over whether Scandinavian or Carolingian influences were more important in the development of Europe, any answer will depend on which region and what elements of the culture you look at. In any case it is mostly a both/and issue rather than an either/or. Although admittedly that doesn't sound very Viking and presumably was not quite the sword waving attitude Donald Logan wanted to convey.
I thought that his statement "To describe [the Icelandic Althing] as Europe's oldest democratic parliament is to misunderstand the essentially aristocratic non-democratic nature of the althing" (p.68) was to misunderstand the essentially aristocratic non-democratic history of our own democratic institutions. The dominance of the althing by a particular group of people (the major landowners) seems pretty much par for the course, and not just in European history.
There's a lengthy section discussing the Vikings on horseback, speculating on how they used Roman roads in Britain to move from place to place that opens out into a fairly funny attack on the reputation of Alfred the Great (and on his biographer "the fawning Asser" (p.139)) as a military leader and strategist, arguing that the fortified towns that Alfred founded were designed to protect Wessex from attack from the sea or rivers while the Vikings could attack by land too (p.155). This seems to overstate a case, as the forts on the rivers would have controlled land crossings too. Still, it is a nice change to see a berserk attack on the reputation of the allegedly greatest king of Wessex instead of the usual homage.
Generally this is a fairly short, easy to read introduction to the Vikings and the their impact on surrounding countries. It doesn't have the detail of Gwyn Jones' book A History of the Vikings nor the focus on Scandinavian society of Else Roesdahl's book The Vikings, but is a reasonable introduction to the Vikings, primarily as raiders, with some attention paid to their role as settlers.
On the plus side it is modular - you can dip in, read a chapter, and then sail off Viking style. Each chapter even has its own suggested further reading. There are plenty of maps.
I assume that the author had a North-American audience in mind when writing this book. Of the ten plates six show objects and places with an American connection and there is a whole chapter on the Vikings and the new world including discussion of the Kensington rune stone and the Vinland map . These things are interesting but this accounts for about 15% of the total text yet probably involved only a couple of handfuls of Vikings. Slightly less text is given over to the Vikings in Russia where they had an active role in founding an entire country, which does suggest a mild imbalance of focus, though no doubt the mention of the discovery of a single Viking coin in New England might justify that for some readers.
Aside from that there are chapters on the Viking raids in France, Britain, Ireland and some discussion of settlement on the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland and in the Danelaw of England.
The problem is that the book doesn't marry with its author's stated ambitions to show the Vikings as having "significant influences" (p.208) over the institutions of many peoples and to move the discussion away from Viking violence to consideration of non-violent aspects of the Vikings in history.
Simply writing a book about the Vikings as settlers and traders would have been a better way to shift the discussion away from violent Vikings than what Donald Logan has written, which comes across as delighting in the ability of the Vikings in France and England to avoid defeat and dominate the countryside. A glaring absence from this book is a discussion of daily life which for most Viking age people presumably involved more of what isn't dealt with in this book - farming, fishing, trading and making, rather than taking things and killing people .
Apart from the "the Viking civilisation of the north, vibrant, untamed, and raw" (p.16) having a slightly Übermensch flavour, his assertion of a "strong and unmistakable impact on much of the rest of Europe and on lands across seas and oceans" (ibid) and that because of this "the traditional focus is misplaced: if there is to be a single focus, it should not be centred on the Carolingians and their successors but, rather, on the Scandinavian peoples of northern Europe, and on the peninsulas of the north where the dynamic forces of Europe were to be found" (ibid) doesn't marry up with what is described in the text - that the Vikings fairly quickly and quietly, merged, mingled and blended into the Irish, French, and (proto-)Russian societies where they settled. Franklin and Shepard in The Emergence of Rus make a case for the emergent Russia as a hybrid arising from Scandinavian and non-Scandinavian influences, but the author's case needs to be made rather than just asserted in the closing pages of the book.
I'm not sure in any case that it is particularly useful to get into some kind of axe throwing contest over whether Scandinavian or Carolingian influences were more important in the development of Europe, any answer will depend on which region and what elements of the culture you look at. In any case it is mostly a both/and issue rather than an either/or. Although admittedly that doesn't sound very Viking and presumably was not quite the sword waving attitude Donald Logan wanted to convey.
I thought that his statement "To describe [the Icelandic Althing] as Europe's oldest democratic parliament is to misunderstand the essentially aristocratic non-democratic nature of the althing" (p.68) was to misunderstand the essentially aristocratic non-democratic history of our own democratic institutions. The dominance of the althing by a particular group of people (the major landowners) seems pretty much par for the course, and not just in European history.
There's a lengthy section discussing the Vikings on horseback, speculating on how they used Roman roads in Britain to move from place to place that opens out into a fairly funny attack on the reputation of Alfred the Great (and on his biographer "the fawning Asser" (p.139)) as a military leader and strategist, arguing that the fortified towns that Alfred founded were designed to protect Wessex from attack from the sea or rivers while the Vikings could attack by land too (p.155). This seems to overstate a case, as the forts on the rivers would have controlled land crossings too. Still, it is a nice change to see a berserk attack on the reputation of the allegedly greatest king of Wessex instead of the usual homage.
Generally this is a fairly short, easy to read introduction to the Vikings and the their impact on surrounding countries. It doesn't have the detail of Gwyn Jones' book A History of the Vikings nor the focus on Scandinavian society of Else Roesdahl's book The Vikings, but is a reasonable introduction to the Vikings, primarily as raiders, with some attention paid to their role as settlers.
January 21, 2025
Me pareció una lectura aunque un tanto compleja muy ilustrativa sobre los territorios visitados y conquistados por los vikingos. Esperaba encontrar más información sobre el estilo de vida y la cultura del nórdico pero claramente este no es el libro adecuado para ello
May 24, 2021
Bastante amena esta lectura, el autor hace un recorrido por diferentes etapas históricas de las exploraciones Vikingas así como por las diferentes zonas geográficas por donde se extendieron sus asaltos. Brinda en cada apartado las referencias con algún comentario sobre las mismas. Sobre todo destaca que mantiene un sentido crítico y bien fundamentado de los hechos históricos que revisa, para los lectores que no somos expertos en historia nos permite tomar en cuenta varios aspectos decisivos que en ocasiones se pasan por alto, no todo se centra en las decisiones de los gobernantes, sino que hay elementos del clima (sequías) o eventos que suceden en países vecinos que influyen. Agregaría que las imágenes y los mapas guían muy bien lo relatado.
August 2, 2022
Pros:
✅El autor es consciente de las limitaciones del libro y de la información disponible (las fuentes y los hallazgos arqueológicos). Pero el libro cumple con su objetivo: Hacer una muy breve introducción del tema. Pienso que el planteamiento está bien delimitado, la contextualización y la conceptualización son acordes.
✅Perfecto para los amantes de los vikingos que quieren comprender un poco más acerca de esta fascinante civilización o que se están introduciendo en ella, con cada página los iba amando más 💖
✅La prosa es genial, el autor la hace amena y parece que estuviera en una conferencia o como si me estuvieran contando una anécdota.
Cons:
❌No la clasificaría como una lectura fácil o de difusión, me pareció muy muuuuy densa en algunas partes, sobretodo por algunas referencias y...
❌Es demasiado descriptivo, me atrevo a decir que hay más descripción que interpretación histórica. Por ejemplo, el capítulo 6, fue super aburrido.
Para tener en cuenta:
📌Como ya lo mencioné, a pesar de que la interpretación histórica es muy limitada, el autor deja bibliografía sugerida para profundizar en las temáticas de la preferencia del lector, a su vez que plantea preguntas interesantes para alentar la discusión de los temas del libro.
📌El autor desmiente los mitos no solo de los vikingos sino de algunas figuras relevantes para la historiografía de la época, tales como Alfredo el Grande.
📌Leí en algunas reseñas en la web que el libro se dedicaba a hablar de todo, menos de los vikingos, y por eso les parecía aburrida pero no es cierto, al inicio del libro el autor es claro en lo que quiere exponer: El impacto de los vikingos en las regiones que habitaron (fuera de su tierra natal). No esperen encontrar algo que hable de la civilización nórdica directamente.
✅El autor es consciente de las limitaciones del libro y de la información disponible (las fuentes y los hallazgos arqueológicos). Pero el libro cumple con su objetivo: Hacer una muy breve introducción del tema. Pienso que el planteamiento está bien delimitado, la contextualización y la conceptualización son acordes.
✅Perfecto para los amantes de los vikingos que quieren comprender un poco más acerca de esta fascinante civilización o que se están introduciendo en ella, con cada página los iba amando más 💖
✅La prosa es genial, el autor la hace amena y parece que estuviera en una conferencia o como si me estuvieran contando una anécdota.
Cons:
❌No la clasificaría como una lectura fácil o de difusión, me pareció muy muuuuy densa en algunas partes, sobretodo por algunas referencias y...
❌Es demasiado descriptivo, me atrevo a decir que hay más descripción que interpretación histórica. Por ejemplo, el capítulo 6, fue super aburrido.
Para tener en cuenta:
📌Como ya lo mencioné, a pesar de que la interpretación histórica es muy limitada, el autor deja bibliografía sugerida para profundizar en las temáticas de la preferencia del lector, a su vez que plantea preguntas interesantes para alentar la discusión de los temas del libro.
📌El autor desmiente los mitos no solo de los vikingos sino de algunas figuras relevantes para la historiografía de la época, tales como Alfredo el Grande.
📌Leí en algunas reseñas en la web que el libro se dedicaba a hablar de todo, menos de los vikingos, y por eso les parecía aburrida pero no es cierto, al inicio del libro el autor es claro en lo que quiere exponer: El impacto de los vikingos en las regiones que habitaron (fuera de su tierra natal). No esperen encontrar algo que hable de la civilización nórdica directamente.
March 25, 2016
jajaja 11 mese para leerlo, pero bueno, otros de mis libros están peor.
En lo personal, no es lo que esperaba y no me gusto. es un libro de geografía mas que otra cosa, no dice nada (o muy poco) respecto a su cultura y creencias de los vikingos. a lo mas , habla de mitos falsos y estafas lo cual no se a que vienen.
habla de todas las exploraciones y asentamientos, pero no toma en cuenta como terminaron todas, bajo asimilación y conversión, entonces es ilógico que luego de mostrar esto ignore por completo el contexto cultural de ellos. solo a final del libro abre la pregunta (e indica que es la pregunta mas importante) sobre porque fue tan fácil dicha asimilación, siendo que el cambio de religión no es un proceso simple en ninguna ocasion en ninguna otra civilización conocida, y en vez de hacer la pregunta quizás debió ocupar el libro en tratar de responderla.
En lo personal, no es lo que esperaba y no me gusto. es un libro de geografía mas que otra cosa, no dice nada (o muy poco) respecto a su cultura y creencias de los vikingos. a lo mas , habla de mitos falsos y estafas lo cual no se a que vienen.
habla de todas las exploraciones y asentamientos, pero no toma en cuenta como terminaron todas, bajo asimilación y conversión, entonces es ilógico que luego de mostrar esto ignore por completo el contexto cultural de ellos. solo a final del libro abre la pregunta (e indica que es la pregunta mas importante) sobre porque fue tan fácil dicha asimilación, siendo que el cambio de religión no es un proceso simple en ninguna ocasion en ninguna otra civilización conocida, y en vez de hacer la pregunta quizás debió ocupar el libro en tratar de responderla.
May 17, 2025
Logan merge dincolo de clișeele cu „nordici sângeroși” sau „eroi romantici”. Arată că vikingii au fost nu doar războinici, ci și:
-negustori care au conectat nordul Europei cu Bizanțul și Califul de la Bagdad,
-coloniști (Islanda, Groenlanda, Vinland),
-navigatori de geniu,
-factori de schimb în structura politică a Europei (vezi formarea Rusiei kievene sau normanzii din Anglia și Sicilia).
Logan prezintă clar direcțiile expansiunii vikingilor:
➡️vest: Insulele Britanice, Islanda, Groenlanda și America de Nord (Vinland),
➡️est: Rusia, Marea Caspică, Constantinopol,
➡️sud: Franța, Spania, chiar Africa de Nord.
Această lărgire a orizontului medieval este fascinantă — mai ales pentru un cititor interesat de istorie globală, nu doar națională.
-negustori care au conectat nordul Europei cu Bizanțul și Califul de la Bagdad,
-coloniști (Islanda, Groenlanda, Vinland),
-navigatori de geniu,
-factori de schimb în structura politică a Europei (vezi formarea Rusiei kievene sau normanzii din Anglia și Sicilia).
Logan prezintă clar direcțiile expansiunii vikingilor:
➡️vest: Insulele Britanice, Islanda, Groenlanda și America de Nord (Vinland),
➡️est: Rusia, Marea Caspică, Constantinopol,
➡️sud: Franța, Spania, chiar Africa de Nord.
Această lărgire a orizontului medieval este fascinantă — mai ales pentru un cititor interesat de istorie globală, nu doar națională.
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December 30, 2014I am reading the following at the moment:
- F. Donald Logan, The Vikings in History
- Mariken Lenaerts, National Socialist Family Law: The Influence of National Socialism on Marriage and Divorce Law in Germany and the Netherlands
The author of the first is a friend, and I am curious about the various expeditions of the Vikings, having gotten interested in the Viking Ship expedition that came to Chicago from Norway for the Columbian Exposition. The second was sent to me by the publishers, and I have always been curious to discover if there were major changes in private law caused by the Nazi takeover of power. —R. H. Helmholz
- F. Donald Logan, The Vikings in History
- Mariken Lenaerts, National Socialist Family Law: The Influence of National Socialism on Marriage and Divorce Law in Germany and the Netherlands
The author of the first is a friend, and I am curious about the various expeditions of the Vikings, having gotten interested in the Viking Ship expedition that came to Chicago from Norway for the Columbian Exposition. The second was sent to me by the publishers, and I have always been curious to discover if there were major changes in private law caused by the Nazi takeover of power. —R. H. Helmholz
October 25, 2021
Una lectura básica para los interesados en la historia de los nórdicos y su papel dentro de esta. El autor realiza una rigurosa pero accesible investigación sobre los viajes, los mitos, las exploraciones y el desarrollo de este pueblo.
August 26, 2011
Informative but very dry reading.....
August 2, 2013
This updated volume is better than previous. Don't expect entertainment this book is probably considered dry to some. But is very informative.
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