It focuses on historical Norse paganism of the Viking Age as described in the Eddas, but proponents also take a more inclusive approach, defining it as " Northern European Heathenry " not limited to a specific historical period.

Kiernan argues against an 8th-century provenance because this would still require that the poem be transmitted by Anglo-Saxons through the Viking Age, holds that the paleographic and codicological evidence encourages the belief that Beowulf is an 11th-century composite poem, and states that Scribe A and Scribe B are the authors and that Scribe B is the more poignant of the two.

During the Viking Age, Birka ( Birca in medieval sources ), on the island of Björkö ( literally: " Birch Island ") in Sweden, was an important trading center which handled goods from Scandinavia as well as Central and Eastern Europe and the Orient.

Category: Viking Age museums

The dominant kingdom in eastern Scotland before the Viking Age was the northern Pictish kingdom of Fortriu on the shores of the Moray Firth.

The term Edda ( Old Norse Edda, plural Eddur ) applies to the Old Norse Poetic Edda and Prose Edda, both of which were written down in Iceland during the 13th century in Icelandic, although they contain material from earlier traditional sources, reaching into the Viking Age.

The Faroese at Junkarinsfløtti remained dependent upon bird resources, especially puffins, far longer, and to a greater degree than any of the other Viking Age settlers of the North Atlantic islands.

Category: Viking Age

The Viking Age, a period of migrations of Scandinavian peoples, dominated the period from the late 700s to the middle 1000s.

As the Viking Age drew to a close, the period known as the Crusades began.

Migration Period golden bracteates, Vendel era helmet plates, a pair of identical Germanic Iron Age bird-shaped brooches, Viking Age objects depicting a moustached man wearing a helmet, and a portion of the 10th or 11th century Thorwald's Cross may depict Odin with one of the ravens.

Hedeby (, Old Norse Heiðabýr, German Haithabu ) was an important trading settlement in the Danish-northern German borderland during the Viking Age.

Hedeby was the largest Nordic city during the Viking Age and used to be the oldest city in Denmark until the site became part of Germany.

Category: Viking Age

Longships were sea vessels made and used by the Vikings from the Nordic countries for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age although scientific analysis of the oak timber shows at least one well known ship was built in Dublin, Ireland.

In 793, a Viking raid on Lindisfarne caused much consternation throughout the Christian west, and is now often taken as the beginning of the Viking Age.

The Viking Age settlements Birka on the island of Björkö and Hovgården on the neighbouring island Adelsö have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993, as has Drottningholm Palace on the island of Lovön.

Although most surviving instances of the word refer to spiritual matters, it was also used in more mundane situations, as in the Viking Age runestone poem from the inscription Sö 56 from Fyrby:

Category: Viking Age sites in Scotland

The island has evidence from every stage in the history of Orkney, with a Neolithic settlement at Rinyo, Bronze Age burnt mounds, Iron Age crannogs and brochs ( the highest density anywhere in Scotland: three within of coastline ), Viking boat burials, remains of a medieval church and the stately home at Trumland.

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300.

While Birger's direct involvement in the foundation of the city remains speculative, it probably was no accident it was founded on the location at this time, as there were alternative passages into Mälaren during the preceding Viking Era ; as Crusades, a kind of Viking raids in a Christian disguise, had proven increasingly unsuccessful ; and as taking control over the location, traditionally where men supposedly gathered before the ledung, meant old offensive military traditions could be replaced by more " modern " commercial efforts directed towards Lübeck.

During the Viking Age it probably extended from the coast of the Baltic Sea by Norrtälje to the bay which today is the lake Mälaren.

* Around 1010, Thorfinnr Karlsefni led an attempted Viking settlement in North America with 160 settlers, but was later driven off by the natives.

When the Viking raids resumed in 892, Alfred was better prepared to confront them with a standing, mobile field army, a network of garrisons, and a small fleet of ships navigating the rivers and estuaries.

Each element of the system was meant to remedy defects in the West Saxon military establishment exposed by the Viking invasions.

If under the existing system he could not assemble forces quickly enough to intercept mobile Viking raiders, the obvious answer was to have a standing field force.

" It is unknown when Alfred launched this programme, but it may have been during the 880s when Wessex was enjoying a respite from Viking attacks.

He was captured by Viking raiders in 1011 and killed by them the following year after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed.

Following a Viking raid in 994, a peace treaty was agreed with one of the raiders, Olaf Tryggvason.

Kiernan's reasoning has in part to do with the much-discussed political context of the poem: it has been held by most scholars, until recently, that the poem was composed in the 8th century on the assumption that a poem eliciting sympathy for the Danes could not have been composed by Anglo-Saxons during the Viking Ages of the 9th and 10th centuries, and that the poem celebrates the namesakes of 8th Century Mercian Kings.

In 877, shortly after building a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews, Causantín was captured and executed ( or perhaps killed in battle ) after defending against Viking raiders.

His reign, like those of his predecessors, was dominated by the actions of Viking rulers in the British Isles, particularly the Uí Ímair (" the grandsons of Ímar ", or Ivar the Boneless ).

King Æthelstan was successful in securing Constantine's submission in 927 and 934, but the two again fought when Constantine, allied with the Strathclyde Britons and the Viking king of Dublin, invaded Æthelstan's kingdom in 937, only to be defeated at the great battle of Brunanburh.

Wars with the Viking kings in Britain and Ireland continued during Donald's reign and he was probably killed fighting yet more Vikings at Dunnottar in the Mearns in 900.

A meeting at Eamont Bridge on 927 was sealed by an agreement that Constantine, Owen of Strathclyde, Hywel Dda, and Ealdred would " renounce all idolatry ": that is, they would not ally with the Viking kings.

There is speculation that Viking explorers discovered and settled in the Vinland region around 1000 AD, which is when the L ' Anse aux Meadows settlement in Newfoundland and Labrador has been dated, and it is possible that further exploration was made into the present-day Maritimes and northeastern United States.

The city of York was once the Viking settlement of Jorvik.

Dublin was established as a Viking settlement in the 9th century and, despite a number of rebellions by the native

Irish, it remained largely under Viking control until the Norman invasion of Ireland was launched from Wales in 1169.

It was first mentioned as " Ilfing " in The Voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan which was written in Anglo-Saxon in King Alfred's reign using information from a Viking who had visited the area.

Chief among the Viking states was the Empire of Cnut the Great, a Danish leader who would become king of England, Denmark and Norway.

The first navy of the Caliph of Córdoba or Emir was built after the humiliating Viking ascent of the Guadalquivir in 844 when they sacked Seville.

In 845, a fleet of 600 Viking ships sailed up the River Elbe and destroyed Hamburg which, at that time, was a town of around 500 inhabitants.

The first recorded Viking attack in Britain was in 793 at Lindisfarne monastery as given by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.