Daily Life of the Vikings

by Kirsten Wolf

Though infamous for their violent marauding, Vikings were but one part of the complex Scandinavian culture from which they emerged. This excellent and intimate study goes beyond the rumors of the fury of the Northmen, into the prosaic realities of the greater Scandinavian community, and is ideal for readers who want to discover the everyday details of living in this dynamic time and place. What were Viking families like? How were slaves treated? Were older people treated well, or regarded with contempt? Exactly how did they manage to travel from Baghdad to Greenland? Author Kirsten Wolf answers all of these questions and many more in this highly readable and informative resource volume, which will be a benefit and pleasure to the student and the general reader alike.

For the reader's convenience, the work is organized into chapters covering all aspects domestic, economic, intellectual, material, political, recreational, and religious. It includes a historical timeline of Viking history, complementary pictures, illustrations, and maps, and a bibliography.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Historical, World History, Academic, Research, Archaeology

208 pages, Hardcover

First published November 30, 2004

Reviews

[Sarah - All The Book Blog Names Are Taken · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wavered back and forth between three stars and four. There's a ton of information, yet it seemed every paragraph included some kind of phrase about not knowing for sure about this or that. There were also grammar errors and issues with the writing that one would not expect from a university professor. It's a decent first attempt, but the book just kind of ends at an odd place. There's no summary or wrap-up of this great era, it simply ends with a few paragraphs under a heading about the first century of Christianity. Still, it's worth a read for those interested in this topic who don't know a great deal about Vikings, Norsemen, and Scandinavians.

[Lisa Landreth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my first nonfiction book I have read in a long time. “Viking Age” by Kirsten Wolf is a book not only about Viking history but also about Viking culture. Topics include technology, types of food, and crime and punishment to name a few. In fact, I found the range of topics to be the most helpful. This book is a fair to good resource for someone who only needs surface information on the culture of Vikings.

I will say some of the information in the book seemed a little off like the statement on page 153 that discussed “weapon-taking” but then later on it’s mentioned that weapons weren’t allowed out in the open during a Thing. Also, didn’t understand the statement on page 16 where it claimed only men fought when it’s well known that shield maidens existed.

I think the book could use some work and I’d like a broader explanation on the history of the Vikings because it read one-sided. Lots of Viking history is debatable because there are very few records on the subject. However, the author should continue to write books like these. The writing shows promise and is destined only to improve.

Chapters
Domestic Life
Economic Life
Intellectual Life
Material Life
Political Life
Recreational Life
Religious Life

[Evy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was ok. I was bothered most by the pictures chosen for it. Many were victorian fantasy of Vikings rather than using pictures of artifacts, standing stones, or other extant pieces. The factual aspect was not bad however in trying to cover so many topics in such a short book it did a disservice to the material. So if you are going to read this for a basics to the life nad culture please do not use the pictures as a basis for facts about the people or culture.

[Susan Abernethy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Link to my review of this book: http://flhwnotesandreviews.com/2014/0...

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read as part of novel research; very helpful introduction to life during the Viking Age!

[Autumn Slaght]

Okay, so I was going to give this book a higher rating until the last chapter. The book is 7 chapters long and breaks each part of the Vikings' life down into bite-sized details. The book is FILLED with useful information and I will return back to it again and again in my research for my writing. There really wasn't anything left out as the book covered how they lived on a day-to-day basis, their language, their trade routes, who the Vikings were and what countries they were from, how the countries were settled and political and religious life.
Religious life is the final chapter and the reason I'm not giving the book a star rating because the details are informative and good, but I didn't care for the language used about Christians in the last chapter. The author seemed to be more leaning toward the fake gods the Vikings worshiped, Odin, Thor, etc and made comments such as "...the majority of the Scandinavians shared the system of beliefs and mythology that Christians derogatorily labeled heathenism or paganism." And "Unlike Christianity, the pagan Scandinavian religion was fluid and forbearing, and it never appears to have undergone the processes of open codification that characterized Christianity from its earliest stages onward." The book also referred to the "Christian God" with a lowercase g as if He were just among the countless deities worshiped throughout the ages. Yes, I could get into that Christianity in this region was, more specifically, Catholicism, however the elevation of the pagan religion compared to the spread of "Christianity" was pretty obvious and bothersome.
Other than this little bit, I was pleased with the information garnered from the book. Some of the chapters were so long that I had to digest them in smaller bites because they contained so much information but almost too much at one time. But it was comprehensive and very, very useful for medieval research and there were amazing things that I did not know. Such as where our word "beserk" comes from or what a "thing" was. (That made me laugh. "Thing" is one of my most commonly used words.)

[Isca Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I suppose I expected from it's smaller stature and amount of pictures and photos of primary sources to be more easy to read, approaching Viking lifestyle and culture with a more story-telling style while presenting facts. This book is a true non-fiction however, dense with information, facts, and evidence. If you are accustomed to reading academic material you will find this easier to read, but if you prefer something more easy-going you will find this dry. I found it a comfortable middle of tbe road for me, lots of facts but plenty of pictures and visuals to look at that made the reading more pleasant. I would recommend if you like to learn more about the Vikings but don't want a purely academic, dry read. You will still need to push yourself to get through some dryer sections, but the visuals will make up for it.

[Inge Pietjouw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aardig overzicht van het Viking-tijdperk. Wel wat kort door de bocht soms, mis hier en daar nuance. Leuk boek voor mensen die nieuw zijn in de materie: veel info, van de tochten over de wereld tot het leven thuis.

[Debi Emerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the book's blurb says, only a tiny fraction of Scandinavians aka Viking were the plundering pirates they were reputed to be. This book gives an excellent insight into the lives of those who weren't out plundering.

[Mike Lloyd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this makes me grateful that I live in modern times and not the medieval era. I have Viking heritage via Norwegian ancestry which I think is kind of cool. But thank heavens I'm never called on to participate in frequent plundering and pillaging as were my ancestors.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction for all things vikings. Very much reads like a text book so some parts are harder to get through than others.

[clancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

i got tired of reading facts so i skimmed the end. i really think the religion section should have been upfront bc it was referenced so much it felt redundant

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful resource for history!

[Ashley Cunningham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book had some interesting facts and gave me a good idea of what the Vikings were like. However, it was not well-written. Chapters and sections ended abruptly, and the book itself has no conclusion or anything at the end to tie everything together. The chapters themselves could be a bit dull and were not well-organized. Sometimes, the author got into technical details about ships, weapons, and architecture that left me scratching my head saying "Uh... what does that mean?"

Otherwise, it was a decent book.

[Katherine Cowley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This text on the Vikings goes in-depth, with detailed explanations of everything from housing to recreational life to runes to rituals. Yet while the book has a scholarly feel, it's written in such a way to be accessible to the non-expert. It's an interesting and engaging read, well worth the read if you want a sense of what Viking life was like.

I found the sections on women's roles interesting. Viking women had more autonomy than many other women in Europe at the time. They could own property, easily get a divorce, and rape often received capital punishment.

[Dave Hoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every thing you need to know about the Vikings, and was afraid to ask. Book easier to read than expected. Time was roughly 800 thru year 1000. Greenland,and Iceland inhabited in 800s. Vikings discovered North America by accident, having missed Greenland on one trip from Iceland. Did not use charts, it was seat of their pants the whole way. Vikings ruled Ireland (think potatoes-lefsa) Scotland, and most of England at times.

[Signe Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is nothing very new or groundbreaking in this book, but it's a very straightforward, readable introduction.

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting. It's quite technical in parts particularly the language section. Glimpses of daily life plus the Norse religion, Viking warfare etc.