Viking

Viking Tide: Alfred the Great during the Danish Invasions

By Eric Niderost

It was the custom for King Alfred of Wessex to celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas at his royal palace at Dorchester, in the county of Dorset. Read more

Viking

Harald “Land Waster” Hardradi

by Kenneth Cline

For many history buffs, the date 1066 conjures up an image of Norman knights breaking through the shield wall of the ax-wielding Anglo-Saxons at Senlac Hill. Read more

Viking

The Viking Longship

By John Spindler

In the first week of October 844, Emir Abd ar-Rahman II of Cordoba learned disturbing news: Vikings had captured Seville. Read more

Viking

The Great Viking Siege of Paris

By Victor Kamenir

Well before the great Viking siege of Paris, more than 300 islands dotted the length of the Seine River, reduced over the centuries by human impact and natural changes to slightly more than 100. Read more

Viking

The Wars of the Roses: The Weapons That Defined the English Civil Wars

By William F. Floyd, Jr.

The men of Bridport on the coast of southwestern England kept extra weapons on hand to deal with the raids endemic during the Hundred Years War that preceded the Wars of the Roses. Read more

Viking

Norse Viking Warriors vs. Anglo-Saxon Thegns

By Eric Niderost

It can indeed be rather difficult to understand the differences between Anglo-Saxon thegns and the Norse Viking warriors. Read more

Viking

King Harold and the Battle of Hastings

by Frederick Grant

On December 25, 1065, King Edward the Confessor presided over a spectacular Christmas banquet at his palace on Thorney Island in the Thames River, just two miles upstream from London. Read more

Viking

Viking Father & Son: Erik the Red & Leif Eriksson

by Michael Haskew

While they are primarily remembered as fierce warriors, who raided far and wide from their homes in Scandinavia, the Vikings were also some of the earliest European explorers who ventured across miles of trackless ocean to previously unknown corners of the world. Read more

Viking

The Spear, Axe & Sword: Viking Weapons

by Michael Haskew

The fearsome Vikings who pillaged and colonized throughout Western Europe and much of the known world from the Eighth to the 11th centuries were armed with weaponry that served them well in combat. Read more

Viking

Bastogne Must Fall

By Mike Phifer

In the early morning of December 16, 1944, 80-man German shock companies from the 5th Panzer Army slipped toward the American lines in the Ardennes region under the cover of heavy fog. Read more

Viking

The Battle of Civitate (Civitella del Fortore)

by Terry Gore

It is true that the Normans were greatly outnumbered at the Battle of Civitate, likely by as much as two to one or more. Read more