Children of the Vikings by Jonathan Rumbold

I will kill you Fjölnir,' an aphorism that captures the classically savage view of the Vikings. As well as Vikings: Valhalla, this spring sees the big-screen release of Robert Eggers' The Northman, a revenge tale in which the film's lead Amleth (Alexander Skarsgård) ominously promises: 'I will avenge you father. From the horn-helmeted raiders of Richard Wagner's 1874 opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen to the bloodthirsty men of the 1958 epic historical film The Vikings and Bernard Cornwell's recent novel series The Last Kingdom, the image of fierce, adventurous Norsemen has seeped into our collective consciousness. While the impact of lockdowns across the world may have been a factor in its success, it also reflects an ongoing fascination with the heady mix of violence and pagan mysticism that have come to define the Viking era. The Vikings were here in all their terrifying, pagan glory, and would remain key to the history of western Europe until the late 11th Century (even if the name 'Viking' itself was not coined until well into the 19th Century, likely drawing upon the Old Norse word Víkingr and the Anglo-Saxon word Wicing).Įchoes of the Sagas are also felt throughout Assassins' Creed: Valhalla (2020), a counterfactual spin on the 'Great Heathen Army', which has become the biggest selling instalment in the long-running videogame series. As the Chronicle continues, soon after, 'the harrowing inroads of heathen men made lamentable havoc in the church of God in Holy-island, by rapine and slaughter'. The image of the Vikings that would continue in the popular imagination was established then. The ancient figure challenging China's history The buried ship found on an English estate Reflecting on the year, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle – a compendium of historical documents that underpins our understanding of medieval England – notes: 'This year came dreadful fore-warnings… terrifying the people most woefully: these were immense sheets of light rushing through the air, and whirlwinds, and fiery dragons flying across the firmament.' The year is 793 AD and the Vikings are about to explode onto the historical stage. Yet soon, according to lore, that tranquillity will be replaced by blood and thunder. It's the late 8th Century, and just off the coast of Northumbria in England, Lindisfarne Priory acts as a beacon of Christianity peering into the North Sea.

Children of the Vikings by Jonathan Rumbold