Viking Longship

Osprey New Vanguard #47

by Keith Durham, Steve Noon (Illustrator)

Viking longships evolved from one-man canoes of the Scandinavian Stone Age, through wood-built-ships of c. 200 BC into the recognisable longboats of the 4th century AD. From this point, the Viking Longship developed into the pre-eminent raider and trader in the North Sea and Baltic, venturing as far afield as the Mediterranean, North Atlantic and modern-day Russia. Keith Durham uses reconstructions, original sources, translations and archaeological evidence to render a vivid picture of the vessels that dominated the seaways of Scandinavia, founded colonies on Iceland, Greenland and the New World and terrorised the coastlines of northern Europe. Also covered are Norman vessels, including the invasion fleet of William the Conqueror.

Genres: History, Medieval, Nonfiction, Military History, Nautical

48 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2002

Reviews

[Sarah Schanze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really great illustrations of the ships and boats used by Vikings. Very detailed, but not too crowded or hard to read (unlike the Varangian book). The information was also a good balance between detailed and general. Had some great references about how these ships are built.

[Sceadugenga · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume in the Osprey New Vanguard series details the construction of the various categories of Viking longships in chronological order based on archeological evidence. Although relatively short it is full of information regarding Scandinavian/Norman ships and ship-building in the high middle ages. Luckily there is a glossary for those like me who don't have the appropriate background in nautical and shipwright terminology. The color plates are well drawn and help to understand the various descriptions given in the text of how the ships were constructed. Osprey volumes are often quite useful as introductory sources for most military subjects, unfortunately the lack of a bibliography made this one a little less so, although perhaps given the strict 48 page limit it is more a question of editing rather than the the author's omission. I would also have liked a little more exposition as to how the ships were utilized in battle, but again space restraint was probably the issue. Overall I would recommend this volume as an accompaniment to history or historical fiction works dealing with Vikings.

[Dimitri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Only the nuts and bolts, but all the nuts and bolts. That's what Vanguard's about.

[Jennifer Zartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pirates for a fantasy novel I'm currently writing spurred my interest in Viking ships. The details in this book stretched my vocabulary and fired my imagination. Short but full of facts and great illustrations, it gave me just what I needed, and I really enjoyed the challenges of learning a little about ship building.

[Cort Ockfen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short.