The Hammer and the Cross

Book Description

865 A.D. Warring kings rule over the British Isles, but the Church rules over the kings, threatening all who oppose them with damnation. Only the dreaded Vikings of Scandinavia do not fear the priests.Shef, the bastard son of a Norse raider and a captive English lady, is torn by divided loyalties and driven by strange visions that seem to come from Odin himself. A smith and warrior, he alone dares to imagine new weapons and tactics with which to carve out a kingdom--and launch an all-out war between......The Hammer and the Cross.

Customer Reviews:

Great, Excellent, Fantasic.......2005-01-20

I normally dislike alternate history. But this proved that people can pull this genre off. If you come to this book looking for stories about the Norse gods you won't find them. Instead, you find an Englishman who falls in among Viking raiders . He meets a Way-man(i.e. Asatruar) who tells him about the Asier and Vanir (Norse gods). His life from that point is then touched by his patron god (can't say who, it will spoil the book).
This is a grand story, filled with romance, action, adventure, mystery, and one suprise after another. I'm currently reading the sequel and so far it is proving to be just as impressive. You will not be disappointed if you buy this book.

Fun Book.......2004-11-16

This was a fun book-I enjoyed it so much that I slogged through the end of the series, which I thought was pretty crappy, because I liked this one so much.

It's sort of sad that people say 'It's great history' or 'It changed my life', though. It's not that hard to write a history that makes one people look evil and another saintly, especially if you use 'alternate history' to do it, and Harrison is far from an un-biased observer in matters of religion.

Big disappointment.......2003-03-17

This book was terrible. I stuck with it, always hoping it would get better. I didn't care an ounce about the main character. It was really just one battle scene after another, throwing in a new weapon each time. The story wasn't very interesting either. Good concept, but not enough was said about the gods and their roles.

I've lost count of how many times I've read this book.......2002-10-17

From the beginning you are caught up in the viking age, and the story of Shef, who changes the course of history through the help he recives from the Norse Gods in the form of visions. As an ametuer historian, I found this novel exceptional, and as someone who personally followes the old norse gods, I was not dissapointed. The Gods and Goddesses are portraied truly, I get the feeling the author has had experience with them himself, or at least the input of someone else who does.

This is a long book by itself, full of action. The two books which follow it only get better.

One of My Old Favorites.......2002-04-05

I love this trilogy, from the start of book one to the end of book three, the historical aspects are pointed out in a way that fits as part of the story and they don't overthrow the plot, lending the books a very authoritative tone. The Characters are great, (Brand is one of my favorites) and there's plenty of action. What I like best about these books is that Harrison really makes you feel inside the story, the way he handles the characters attitudes towards each other and their surroundings really makes you feel like you're right with them weather it's Anglo-Saxon England, Scandinavia, The Frankish Empire, Muslum Spain or what's left of Rome. As for character development, Harrison has a great way of using the third-person point of view in a way that can convey things unknown to the characters yet at the same time the tone of the narrative is flavored with the particular character's personality, culture and view of their surroundings, helping the reader understand more fully the motives and inhibitions of the people he describes. I read these back in high school and loved them then as much I still do now.

Average customer rating:

Historically inacurate, innapropriate for young readers
A Great Read!
"historical"???

Raven Of The Waves
Cadnum
Manufacturer: Orchard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Book of the Lion

ASIN: 0531303349

Amazon.com

Slash, chop, stab, kill with swords and axes--and yell for joy! In this rousing, historically authentic and appropriately gory novel about the Vikings, Michael Cadnum continues his exploration of cultures of violence (his other books include Redhanded, a contemporary novella about the brutal world of amateur boxing, and The Book of the Lion, set during the crusades). Cadnum, one of our finest young adult writers, vividly recreates not only the outer trappings of Viking society, but the psychological mindset of a people whose values, myths, songs, and sagas centered on murderous seafaring raids.

Seventeen-year-old Lidsmod, however, is not so sure about this business of spectacular killing, although he does his best not to show it. He is on his first sea raid, aboard the new ship Raven, on the way with the other men of the village of Spjothof to plunder the English coast. Rumors have led them to a "gold fortress" or abbey, where 13-year-old Wiglaf is learning the healing arts under the protection of the good abbot Aethelwulf. Tension builds through the alternating perspectives of the two boys, as the attackers draw near and the victims huddle in dread, only to be cut down and chopped like meat by the wild Torsten and the other Vikings. Wiglaf is taken captive, and his compassionate healing of the Vikings' wounds plants a seed of understanding in Lidsmod's mind that leads to another compassionate but costly deed. Young teens, especially boys, will relish this thrilling and exquisitely crafted story. (Ages 10 to 14) --Patty Campbell

Book Description

Like all the men in his Norse village, seventeen-year-old Lidsmod was trained to be a warrior. Without their voyages to distant lands‹and without their battles for treasure‹the people of his village could not survive. Fighting men, Lidsmod knows, must show no feelings. But something stirs in him when he is assigned to watch over Wiglaf, a thirteen-year-old captive with a withered arm. Wiglaf can¹t stop the slaughter of his Anglish people, and yet he still has the power to heal. Brilliantly combining scenes of bloody frenzy with poignant moments of keen introspection, this splendid historical novel poses haunting questions: What is the full cost of battle? What is the true test of courage. In this beautifully crafted novel, Michael Cadnum has vividly captured the richly textured world of the Norse peoples of long ago.

Customer Reviews:

Historically inacurate, innapropriate for young readers.......2002-04-21

This book purports to be an accurate description of viking raiders in, attempting to show their thoughts and feelings, and give us insight into their culture. Unfortunately the author has not done his research. He merely reinforced old stereotypes and borrowed heavily from common misconceptions of vikings in order to write a book that misrepresents the norse tradition. For example, he graphically describes the making of a "bloody eagle", a horrible mutilation of a man. Todays scholars have now proved "bloody eagles" to be a complete fiction invented by a couple of Christian writers (who must have had sick sadistic imaginations).
Rape is also a common topic of the book, and this too is an old innacurate stereotype. What viking has time to rape a woman when hes fighting for his life? In addition, vikings abucted people to hold them ransom, so is it likely he would rape a ransom victim, thereby making his prisoner worthless to her family? No. Furthermore, when the vikings kept prisoners as slaves, they did not see them as expendable, and did not rape them with impunity as many believe. Viking tels even tell of Free men, Norsemen, wooing and courting slave women in their villages.
Women even went on raids with the men, were sometimes leaders in the raids, and participated in the all aspects of Norse life.
So near as we can tell, the fortunate Norse simply were allowed by their culture to live such uninhibited lives that they didn't need to be sadistic, and did not tie together sex and violence. The men did not hate and fear women, and so had no need to either rape them, or keep them in weaponless subjection.
Despite his historically innacuracy, the book simply is not appropriate for young readers, boys or girls. It is given from the perspective of the men in the story, and makes no distinction between what is approriate behavior and what is not. It speaks of young boys getting drunk on a regular basis, as just a part of life. It makes mention of sex and young men "mounting" girls, women, etc., and raping other villagewomen. It is violent and perverse, and gives no context for the not yet discerning young reader to be able to sort through the behaviors of these people, and make a distinction between what is right and wrong.
In short, THIS BOOK [STINKS]!

A Great Read!.......2001-08-08

What a great read for anyone of any age! Author Cadnum works magic with his words in this realistic coming of age story. Brought together by a Norse raid on England in 794 AD, two sympathetic boys learn grim adult truths about "heroic" warriors. This impressive novel offers accurate historical detail, sensitive pyschological insight and compassionate consideration of good people trapped by traditional expectations. Cadnum enriches our perceptions of both the Viking and the Anglo-Saxon worlds by his range of characters. We learn with 17 year old Lidsmod via the voices of his fellow sailors -- sensible leader Gunnar, veteran steersman Njord, comic Opir the Boaster and saga-singer Eirik. Even extremely violent men like Gorm or the Berserker Torsten are shown acting from different motives. Similarly, the author balances the impressions of the 13 year old English captive Wiglaf with the mature views of Christian abbot Aethelwulf and the local political lord Redwald. This work is a delightful combination of echoes of ancient myths and foreshadowing of cultural change for both the Norse and the English.

"historical"???.......2001-07-06

This book is a very interesting tale about the vikinggs and definetly a good read. the editorial review says "historical" reffering to the book as educational about history and thetime of the vikings. It is not at all historical but still a good read.

Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend

Average customer rating:

This is a fascinating idea...
Interesting read
Some Interesting Insights but No Overall Unity of Vision
An awesome yet frustrating book.
Earlier roots of the English Founding Myth - in Turkey?

Beowulf & Grendel: The Truth Behind England's Oldest Legend
John Grigsby
Manufacturer: Watkins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Beowulf & Grendel
Beowulf: A New Verse Translation (Bilingual Edition)
A Beowulf Handbook
Grendel
The Hero Beowulf

ASIN: 1842931539

Book Description

The legend of Beowulf and Grendel is one of the founding works of modern Western literature. It tells the story of the monster-slaying hero, Beowulf, who frees the feasting hall of a Danish king from the 12-year tyranny of the hideous creature Grendel. For decades, scholars have assumed that the warrior Beowulf was based on an actual historic person, but that Grendel was the work of imagination. In Beowulf and Grendel, John Grigsby reveals the true basis for Grendel's battle with Beowulf. Grigsby explains how a cult migrated to England from Denmark and Germany, bringing with it a practice of human sacrifice. It is the violent suppression of this cult in the fifth century that underlies Beowulf's fantastic deeds. Fusing historical research with literary study, Grigsby presents a compelling case for the true-life roots of a classic work of art.

Customer Reviews:

This is a fascinating idea..........2007-05-14

I'm a medical researcher with special interests in neuroscience, and Grogsby's thesis is fascinating. Neuroscientists, especially the bench scientists, like to play with historical events. One example was the rise of both flagellation and tarantella, which has been linked to humid warm weather and therefore mold on the rye harvest. So, it's a believable idea.

I am less familiar with the cultures that slew the king on a yearly basis - that sounds as though it wouldn't sustain itself very well. There may be other books on that subject, whether Fraser or others, that I should look into to see how this could work.

Finally, either I missed it or Grigsby didn't mention the dragon part of the Beowulf legend in any depth. One wonders how that links up with the religious shift theme.

Interesting read.......2007-05-13

The book reads a little like a college essay. Some of the author's points are better supported than others. In several cases he assumes the reader must agree with him and no further proof is needed. In some cases no real proof is available because the lack of historical data. However, the author discusses some very interesting topics and writes in an accessible style. If you have any interest in Beowulf or Germanic, Norse, or Celtic cultural roots, this book is certainly worth a look. I enjoyed reading it and was motivated to further explore the topic when I finished the book.

Some Interesting Insights but No Overall Unity of Vision.......2007-04-18

This book makes the interesting case that the Beowulf poem is less a dim recollection of a particular historical incident or of a strictly mythological tale, than it is a veiled recounting of a religious change that overwhelmed the cultural lives of the ancestors of the English. John Grigsby brings archeological and ethnological studies to bear on this effort to reconstruct the actual circumstances and practices of the peoples who were to become the Angles, Saxons and Jutes (who in turn became the Anglo-Saxons who became today's English). In so doing he suggests that the Norse mythos and pantheon, as we have it from later times, was, in fact, relatively late on the scene and that the proto-English, whom he identifies with the Ingaevones of Roman times, were agriculturalists with a religion that reflected agriculturalist predilections long before they worshipped Woden and Thunor (Odin and Thor in later Viking times).

According to Grigsby, the Beowulf myth is a dim echo of the era in which latecomers in the area, worshippers of the sky gods identifiable with large segments of the later Norse pantheon, overthrew the old ways, ways that required the annual sacrifice of a king to a fearsome goddess and her son. Grigsby makes many connections with the triple goddess worshipping neolithic age that apparently once predominated in the Mediterranean and European areas, with the old myths of the Nile valley and with the old faiths which suffused the area in which Rome arose. But in the end his argument boils down to this: that the Beowulf story is a somewhat corrupted and confused recollection of some events which altered forever the older beliefs and practices of these peoples, traditions that the Angles, Saxons et al brought with them out of the old country (today's southern Denmark) when they conquered the British Isles. They were not yet sky god worshippers, not yet Wodenists, Grigsby maintains, but came from a backwater part of Scandia which had remained more primitive than other parts of Germania and Scandinavia in the Dark Ages that followed Rome's fall. Thus, the story of Beowulf is as native to the early Germanic English as to the land from which they hailed.

It's an interesting claim and there's a lot to chew on in the information Grigsby brings forward. But the book, itself, lacks cohesion or a clearcut thesis as to the actual events which underly the famous Old English poem set in Denmark's Heorot. The parallels he draws with other traditions (including the Hrolf Kraki saga which deals with many of the same personalities, in a roughly comparable time, albeit from the perspective of the much later Norse tradition) are intriguing. But there really isn't that much new here and the failure to offer a firm conclusion or really unravel the story behind the story mar this book. Good for scholars, I think, and for those with a strong interest in the area, but not really right for laymen and not ultimately as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.

An awesome yet frustrating book........2006-10-23

This is an inspiring work. John Grisby has brought a wide array of factors concerning early northern culture together to make his point. His understanding of culture and myth and his obvious enthusiasm for these subjects make this one of the more interesting (and fresh) books to appear on the subject in a long time. Before I go further, I would like to point out that I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Norse/Germanic Mythology. If you are not greatly interested in Germanic and Indo-European linguistics you will enjoy the book greatly, and needn't read the rest of this review. If you are interested in linguistics, please read on.

Be very careful when reading this book. As he is enthusiastic, he is also academically reckless. There are a lot of passages starting with "some have been led to believe..." or "some claim that..." that end with no citation or note - My question to these passages is always "Who believes that, and how do I know that "they" offering an opinion that can be trusted as objective?". Furthermore, he makes it obvious on several occasions that he is no linguist. He offers Indo-European etymologies that don't conform to any known transcription standard, and on several occasions he seems to have trouble discerning Indo-European forms from Proto-Germanic (there is a big difference).

My intention here is not to be harsh, disapproving, or unduly critical. The subject matter of this book resides in a field that has all too often fallen prey to misunderstanding. To exemplify the type of error I am talking about, and to add credence for my objectivity here, I would like to point out two linguistic oversights that can be illustrated without excess circumlocution.

On page 69 Grisby raises the issue of a double meaning in the phrase "beow waes breme blad wide sprang" "Beow was renowned, far and wide his glory spread", arguing that this was a metaphor for the spread of agriculture throughout the north. The indication, he claims, is that the name Beow means "barley". That's true. In Anglo-Saxon the word "beow" does in fact mean barley. But that isn't the name that appears in the manuscript. The sentence he's referring to appears on the first leaf of the manuscript, (which he included as the first photographic plate in the book, just after page 118). The original manuscript reads "Beowulf waes breme blad wide sprang" - The name Beowulf here belonging to another character by the name of Beowulf. The only place that I can recall ever seeing this name appear printed in the poem as "Beow" and not "Beowulf" is in Seamus Heany's translation where he intentionally removes the sequence "-ulf" from the name to avoid confusion between this character and the hero of the poem. Scholars have posited that "Beowulf" was written here due to scribal misunderstanding, and that the name was in fact originally "Beo", but again, that is not what appears in the manuscript, and Grisby makes no mention of the fact that this point is an educated theory and not an attested fact.

Also on p. 156 Grisby makes reference to an Indo-European root "inguz" as the source of Germanic theonym Yngvi/Ingui/Ing. "*Inguz" is a Proto-East-Germanic word not an Indo-European root. Furthermore there is no consensus as to where the early Germanic speakers got this word and what its original meaning was. The name Yngvi, Ingui, Ing, etc. has no universally agreed upon etymology and very few linguists posit an Indo-European origin for the name. Further, the meaning of the word which Grisby offers "son" is not directly attested in any of the languages. The Old Irish name, Oengus/Angus by which Grisby claims an etymological connection to "Yngvi/Ingui", is similar in appearance but it is not related etymologically. The old Irish name is compound form, from Oen-gus; literally "one-strength" the meaning being "having solitary strength" these "-strength" names are very common in Old Irish and Modern Gaelic.

Hopefully without turning this into a term paper my sources are:
Vladimir Orel "A Handbook of Germanic Etymology", Winfred P. Lehman "A Gothic Etymological Dictionary", J.P. Mallory and Douglas Adams "An Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture", and Calvert Watkins "The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots" all works that are available (to my knowledge) from Amazon.com.

There are quite a few more problems, those are just two that I found the hardest to swallow, but by now I hope I've made my point clear: be careful when reading this book and looking for solid answers. The author jumps to a lot of conclusions - linguistically and otherwise.

All that said, I still give it four stars. The book is highly readable, enjoyable and insightful. I wish the author followed through more thoroughly on many of his claims with more citation and less speculation, but it is overall a very inspired work. Despite it's weak details, I still support many of the author's overall conclusions. This could be a seminal work redefining how the general reader, rather than just the scholar, views the Old North. If the author's love of the subject were the only judgement criteria, I would give him ten stars.

I apologise for the lack of brevity.

Earlier roots of the English Founding Myth - in Turkey?.......2006-07-31

Mr. Grigsby's book is supplemental material for me as a historian exploring genealogy. A (fee-based) genealogy website that I use has detailed entries of the "Anglo/Swedes" back to a possibly semi-mythological figure named "Yngvi King In Turkey" b. 193 in Noatun, Sweden. Going further back, his antecedants are in fact listed as originating from Turkey, Macedonia, Persia and Mesopotamia, and many of them closely related to ruling families in those nations. I have been reviewing the history of this region and period, and there certainly were some displacements of large groups of peoples, especially with the expansion of Roman hegemony. Is it possible that some of these peoples migrated north along already known trade routes to Scandinavia, to become the parent group of the Anglo-Saxons?
Mr. Grigsby makes several references to Scandinavian/Anglo-Saxon rituals, e.g. references to a barley god, which he believes shares some similarities to rituals from the Middle East. Another comparison is to the depiction of a solar disk above a boat, which is clearly reminiscent of Egyptian artwork.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the earliest known history of the English-speaking peoples, and possibly a few others as well.

The Warrior's Way: England in the Viking Age

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The Warrior's Way

The Warrior's Way: England in the Viking Age
Stephen Pollington
Manufacturer: Blandford
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0713721200

Customer Reviews:

The Warrior's Way.......2007-06-15

Good general history of Anglo-Saxon England with an emphasis on the warrior culture of both the English and the invading Vikings. Pollington is the best writer that I can think of on anything to do with the Anglo-Saxon warrior or the old English culture. Other books he has written, The English Warrior, The Mead Hall and Leechcraft are amazing works. This one is not as good as those but is still one to read.

Average customer rating:

Kay's Ray of Light
Where's the sequel??
Wonderful book
Best GGK book yet
Peerless Fantasy

The Last Light of the Sun
Guy Gavriel Kay
Manufacturer: Roc Hardcover
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books

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A Song for Arbonne
Ysabel
The Lions of al-Rassan
Lord of Emperors (Sarantine Mosaic, Book 2)
Tigana: 10th Anniversary Edition

ASIN: 0451459652
Release Date: 2004-03-02

Book Description

From award-winning author Guy Gavriel Kay, who "stands among the world's finest fantasy authors" (Montreal Gazette), comes a sweeping tale evocative of the Celtic and Norse cultures of the ninth and tenth centuries, filled with the human passion and epic adventure he is noted for.

Customer Reviews:

Kay's Ray of Light.......2007-10-02

In "The Last Light of the Sun", Guy Gavriel Kay returns to the world he started with "The Lions of al-Rassan" and his series The Sarantine Mosaic. However, as he has done previously, he shoulders the challenge of writing different material, creating another historically based fantasy involving different cultures, geography, and characters than he used in the previously mentioned stories. That is an order too tall for most fantasy authors, and Kay re-establishes his eminent position at the head of the table of fantasy fiction by doing so with grace.

"The Last Light of the Sun" is a story about three different peoples similar to peoples in our own history, the norse, celtic(gaelic), and anglo-saxon people. Again Mr. Kay tells a story steeped in the traditions of these ancient cultures while interweaving the political and diplomatic tensions that exist between them. Through elegant storytelling, the book brings to light the violence that plagued the people of the dark ages. However, it is not an overtly violent novel. The subject violence is touched upon in a `matter-of-fact' manner, displaying the hardships of life in a tenuous time. Kay does not glorify the murder. In fact it is a more than slightly horrifying the way that some cultures dealt in death in such a casual manner.

The magic of Kay's worlds is never overpowering or the centerpiece of the story, and it does not have a role or a life of its own, as it does in some authors stories. Nor is it intertwined with the soul of the world. It is mysterious, in the background. It has a mythical aura to it, as conjured by ancient beings such as faeries and indomitable beasts. In "The Last Light of the Sun", Characters only come into contact with magic rarely, and even more rare is the character that has magical properties, or possesses control of magic. Magical beasts do have a role in the book, however small. In fact, it is alluded to that faeries and monstrous beings, straight out of myth and legend, populate the world. Although they are not abundant and do not have evil designs upon the humans.

The major moral elements of the story are honor, responsibility, relationships, and the obligations that arise from them. These are the fundamental focus of the story, acting as catalysts as well as providing the multi-hued backdrop upon which the story occurs. In fact, the most prominent story lines in the book are that of two viking raiders, a father and a son. While they interact only minimally during the story, their past actions weigh heavily upon the present decisions and actions of the two. I will not elaborate further in an effort not to spoil the story for those who enjoy a little suspense.

My conclusion is that in a more respected genre "The Last Light of the Sun", and Guy Gavriel Kay, would receive more recognition for his storytelling talents. This story, along with his other works, is a great work of fantasy fiction. It is a definite read if you are a fan of dynamic, brilliant, and critical writing. Pick up a copy and prepare to enjoy yourself.

Where's the sequel??.......2006-06-16

I bought this book because, while I was looking through the SF&F section, I was intrigued by the cover with the Viking ship. It took me only a day or so to read, then I went out and bought everything else in the store written by Kay. The I came on to Amazon.com and bought all the ones not locally available.

I have yet to find anything in any of Kay's books that is not worth 5 stars.

Wonderful book.......2006-05-30

One of the best fantasy books. It is better than Tigana imho. Tigana was sort of epic fantasy with wizards, etc. This one is a dark fantasy reminding me of Black Company by Glen Cook but in some ways it is even better. I am not very good at reviews, so I can only say that I really really liked the book. I would most definitely recommend this one. Love, death, heroes, loyalty, battles, ugliness of the war, unpredictable events and mystery. I am stunned. I never expected so much from a single volume fantasy work. 10 out of 10 without a cloud of doubt. The only slight drawback is a missing map.

Best GGK book yet.......2006-04-26

This is the best he's written yet. Adventurous, exciting, and quite moving.

Peerless Fantasy.......2006-02-01

Guy Gavriel Kay has been expanding the borders of the Fantasy genre ever since he began the Fionavar Tapestry (in 1984). This is his strength, what makes his novels a cut above the rest. "The Last Light of the Sun" is set in a world we might recognize as 9th century Britain / Scandinavia, with a few names changed and some major "philosophical" tweaks. I have read the legend of The Marsh King (aka Alfred the Great) many times, but never in such vital prose or with such pace. It is very difficult to put down, right from the start. Other authors who attempt this sort of fantasy, such as Jack Whyte, do an equally impressive job researching, but cannot convert the material into such a gripping story, or the characters into such engagingly real people. Of course, the main characters seem to be male, because it is a story of struggle between cultures, and women do not, as a rule, take up arms in such causes. Kay's women do the logical thing, influencing the male characters, which gives them as large a role, in keeping with their abilities and their culture. Many of the events hinge on the decision of a female character, and readers ignore this at their peril. Occasionally, Kay takes a few pages to illuminate a character who only brushes the central story for a brief moment. This is refreshingly original, adding to the depth of the tapestry, without cluttering the central picture with undue detail in the manner of the much maligned (but still popular!) Robert Jordan.
Kay's novels (except the Fionavar trilogy) do not deal with Great Evil & Great Good, like most fantasy, but rather with ordinary people who are more or less Good or Evil, and conflicting cultures, each with better or worse features, and their ability to adapt to each other in order to survive. His characters write poetry, fight battles, love, struggle with themselves, create and re-invent their worlds, uniquely.
Kay is my absolute favourite fantasy author, and this is one of his two best works to date. (Read "The Sarantine Mosaic", if you haven't already!) Nobody does it better.

Average customer rating:

Viking Age England
Julian D. Richards
Manufacturer: Tempus
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

From the Vikings to the Normans (Short Oxford History of the British Isles)
Viking World

ASIN: 0752428888

Book Description

From shortly before AD 800 until the Norman Conquest, England was subject to raids from seafaring peoples from Scandinavia—the Vikings. However, they were not only raiders but also traders and settlers. Using the latest archaeological evidence, the author reassesses the Viking contribution to Late Anglo-Saxon England and examines the creation of the new mixed Anglo-Scandinavian identity.

Average customer rating:

Good, but could be better
Beautiful account of how a pagan warrior culture was changed

Vikings
Paul Cavill
Manufacturer: HarperCollins Publishers Limited
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Scandinavia | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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History | Religious Studies | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0007104022

Book Description

An engaging and popular history of a mysterious era of English history--the conquest of the Vikings. Its mixture of "Dark Age" fear and its emphasis on the fighting faith of kings, country, and monasteries is sure to fascinate and delight.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but could be better.......2004-01-09

Cavill assumes that you know the English history of this period and basic English geography. I do not. This book could be improved with a table of kings (Edward, Edmund, etc. all become a jumble) and maps to separate Mercia from Northumbria. Admittedly a British reader would know all this. You should know the book is about the Anglo Saxon response to Viking invasion. It is a fascinating period and the book well worth your time.

Beautiful account of how a pagan warrior culture was changed.......2002-07-28

"Vikings: Fear and Faith" is an often eloquent history book in the hard-to-put-down page-turner category.

The Viking invasions of England extended over more than 200 years, provoking generations of despair and fear among the English people. The fragility of their Christian civilization and culture was exposed as it repeatedly hung by a thread in the face of great brutality. This inspired agonized examinations of why God would allow such things to be done to his people.

Yet with a dogged and determined faith, the end result was the uniting of England and the conversion of the Viking conquerors to Christianity, along with all of Scandinavia. Barely remembered acts of courage and faith (and no few unremembered ones) made England (thus the world) what it is.

How a savage and materialistic people such as the Vikings came to be monks, missionaries and church builders when exposed to the Christians they conquered is the subject of this book.

The volume differs from others (or at least the 2 I have read) on the Viking period in that it focuses on how the two peoples understood the world. It is this understanding that shapes historical events. Thus, one learns more about those years in the first 30 pages of this book than in all of Gwyn Jones classic "A History of the Vikings".

For example, where Jones might describe Viking family histories with "... the superstructure is often shaped by arbitrary assumptions on the nature of history itself" (very illuminating, no?), Cavill instead focuses on the role of ideas: how people understood what was happening to them and their nation in a context defined by their Christian faith.

Perhaps the majority of modern historians, being secular, lack the inclinationto pursue this line of study, or more probably the discernment to see it as important, but faith appears in sermons of the time, the lives of saints, in seemingly secular accounts of battles, in the prose of chronicles and in other sources shaped by a Christianity deeply shocked by the Viking violation. Virtually every expression from that time revolves around fear of the Vikings and its intersection with Christian faith. To instead focus on descriptions of grave contents or speculate about variations in layout of Viking villages is to drain history of what's important.

Thus, I was excited to read this volume by about page 4 of the introduction, as I think others will be, in that it illuminates what happened to the Vikings. It seems to me such knowledge is relevant to the present.

Let the lament of monks evacuating to Ireland as the world crumbled around them, only to have their hand-made gospel book washed overboard in a raging storm, speak across the centuries:

'What shall we do?', they said. 'Where shall we go carrying the relics of the father? For seven years we have travelled across the entire province fleeing from the barbarians, and there is no place of refuge left in the entire country ... In addition to all this we are weighed down by a cruel hunger which forces us to seek relief for our lives, but the sword of the Danes ravaging everywhere will not allow us to travel with this treasure. But if we abandon it, and look after ourselves, what shall we answer Cuthbert's people when they afterward ask us where their pastor and patron is?'

"Vikings: Fear and Faith" looks at a large number of literary sources, recognizing even possible exagerrations (ship counts, etc.) can provide information as to what people were thinking. It considers King Alfred and King Canut as well as other people and institutions. The book has 100 pages of appendices containing original texts translated by the author:

1. The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum
2. The Battle of Brunanburh
3. The Charter of St. Frideswide's Monastery, Oxford
4. The Loss and Recovery of the Lindisfarne Gospels
5. Archbishop Wulfstan's Address to the English
6. A Letter from Boniface and the Anglo-Saxin Mission in Germany to King Aethelbald of Mercia
7. Swedish Rune-Stones
8. King Alfred's Dedicatory Letter to his Translation of Gregory's Pastoral Care
9. Cynewuld and Cyneheard
10. The Voyage of Ohthere
11. The Voyage of Wulfstan
12. The Battle of Maldon
13. Wyrdwriteras
14. Aethelwold Ousts the Clerics from the Old Minster
15. The Blacksmith's
16. Bede's Concerns About False Monasteries
17. The Old English Beatitudes
18. A Prayer of Confession
19. The Martyrdom of Aelfheah
20. Aelfric's Life of St. Oswald
21. The Martrydom of King Edmund
22. Selections from Abbo's Account of St. Edmund
23. Roger of Wendover's Version of the St. Edmund Legend
24. Lines from the Dream of the Rood

Avalon
Average customer rating:

Don't Read The Forward!

novel

An excellent book

Vivid Historical Novel

The Title is Subtly Misleading. . .

Avalon
Anya Seton
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Avalon | Fantasy & Adventure | Series | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 039508170X

Customer Reviews:

Don't Read The Forward!.......2007-10-11

This a beautiful tale of two people who love each other but whose lives steer them away from each other. This story captured my attention quickly and kept it. There are several awesomely written reviews so I don't have much more to add except to advise potential readers to ignore the forward. Even more tragic that the star crossed lovers is the fact that such a beautiful novel was republished with such an awful condescending forward. This is truly an excellent novel and a writer of Seyton's caliber deserves much better! Read the book, ignore the foreword. You won't be sorry!

novel.......2007-09-09

ordered for my daughter (19), she loved it. shipping was very quick, and, condition of book was very good. just as described.

An excellent book.......2007-08-24

I read "Avalon" when I was in my late teens or early 20's, now at 53, re-reading it, and happy to have found it in the bookstore again, I am not disappointed. It is an excellent historical novel.

The title, "Avalon" refers to Rumon's quest, and there are other quests as well that tie in nicely with the title.

The writing flows, the language is written to sound realistic for the time period yet not hard to follow, it's as easy to read as anything set in the present day.

I was very disappointed in the publisher that allowed the terrible Foreward by Philippa Gregory. A book that has stood the test of time and been brought back into publication deserves a Foreward that is nothing but complimentary. Ms. Gregory wrote of "Avalon" what she feels is wrong with the book, to quote: "But as a novel, it is too episodic, and unstructured." She also wrote: "...it is hard to feel empathy that a good novel usually delivers."

What does "too episodic" mean? And the second quote I offer plainly shows that Ms. Gregory doesn't really believe "Avalon" is a good novel.

Reading "Avalon," I felt empathy for every character, even the nasty Alfrida. Perhaps Ms. Gregory is comparing "Avalon" to the books she has written, that I'm sure she considers "good novels." I work in a bookstore and to Ms. Gregory's credit, she has brought a lot of joy to people who buy and love her books, and I am tempted regularly to keep giving Ms. Gregory's books one more try, but I can't ever get beyond the first page in any of Ms. Gregory's books. So in reviewing Anya Seton's "Avalon," (and it is a low blow to criticize so negatively a book by a woman who has passed away), Ms. Gregory was unable to suppress her conceit in her own work along with her overwhelming ego because of her success with her books, (books that, at least to me, fall into the pulp Romance Novel category, although Ms. Gregory managed to get her books categorized as to be shelved in the Fiction bays). If I could, I would like to remind Ms. Gregory that these days, the publishing/bookstore business is very different than it was when "Avalon" first came out. If, in 47 years ANY of Philippa Gregory's books are republished, I will be surprised. But by then I'll be 100, and probably won't care, every minute will count at that age and I won't waste it trying once again to read any of Ms. Gregory's books.

The Foreward to "Avalon" is a good reason NOT to read Forewards.

The book "Avalon" is excellent. Characters that are very identifiable emotionally, good history, good dialogue, subtle and well-written. The scenes set in the Norselands are so realistic you can almost feel the climate.

Please read it and enjoy. Then read the actual history of the times; you will then be even more impressed with Anya Seton's work.

If you do read the Foreward, take the good, then take a black marker and block out the negative. Then read "Avalon" and enjoy it. It's wonderful.

Vivid Historical Novel.......2007-05-29

I almost didn't give this novel a chance. After reading Phillippa Gregory's introduction I was ready to write this off as a dry rehashing of historical facts along with some story thrown in. Gregory implies that narritive elements are thrown in and then dismissed and that the story itself provides little satisfaction.

Well do yourself a favor and don't read the intro. Ignore it. The story itself is quickly absorbing. Our hero, Rumon, is a young prince from Avignon encounters young Merewyn by chance after being shipwrecked of the coast of Cornwall. Merewyn cares for her mother, a woman suffering physically and mentally after a Viking attack before Merewyn was born. Merewyn also has royal claims: her mother tells Rumon that her father was a direct descendant of King Arthur. Knowing she is near death she makes Rumon promise to bring Merewyn to her aunt after she dies. Rumon keeps his promise, tying his destiny to Merewyn's for the rest of his life.

Is this a love story? Yes but it's not a romance. Don't read it looking for love scenes and a happily ever after. Is it an adventure? Yes but don't read it for any action scenes. Seton is a historian and incorperates several real life figures into her narrative, as well as some imaginary ones. They interact seamlessly. For me the ultimate test of whether or not a story is good is if I get involved with it. Do I feel bad for the characters and get angry at them? Yes. At times I did want more resolution than Seton provides but sometimes intersting things come from the lack of resolution here.

The Title is Subtly Misleading. . ........2007-05-15

Unless I dive into a scholarly interpretation of the title and decide that Avalon is somehow meant to be symbolic of the youthful and innocent part of ourselves we allow to be free enough to love, I have to say that the title and its relationship to the pale Arthurian thread is somewhat misleading. Even the small blurb about the what to expect in Avalon is a bit off, as I dove into this expecting a truly heart-wrenching love affair between Rumon and Merewyn, but wound up disappointed. This is not to say that Seton's flare for period writing is not at its best. I found myself wrapped up in her descriptions of life in the Viking settlements, and her court-life accuracy never fails to impress, but I truly feel that she focused so much on trying to develop a relatable Dark-Ages experience through what little history exists from that time, that she failed to create relatable and human characters. There is very little time to feel close to either Merewyn or Rumon as characters. There is hardly any lead into Rumon's sudden "awakening" in his love for Merewyn, and I truly believe that this evident lacking is a direct result of her not fleshing out the characters as well as could be. I dove into this expecting to have my breath taken away, much as I did while reading Katherine, and it just didn't happen. That is not to say it isn't a fine example of historical imagination. It just isn't the best Anya Seton book I've ever read.

From the Vikings to the Normans (Short Oxford History of the British Isles)

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From the Vikings to the Normans (Short Oxford History of the British Isles)
Wendy Davies
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books

Medieval | World | History | Subjects | Books

Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0198700512

Book Description

This readable and authoritative volume covers the history of the Britain and Ireland between 800 and 1100 A.D. Seven chapters contributed by a team of experts cover key of this period, such as the Vikings, monarchies and other political structures, relationships between lords and labourers, developments in trade and urbanization, the christianization of society, the functions and dissemination of writing and scholarship, and relationships between Britain, Ireland and the Mediterranean civilizations to the south. To create a fully-rounded overview of the period, Wendy Davies, the volume's editor, has provided an Introduction giving a geographical context to the chapter narratives and discussing the available source material, and a Conclusion which pulls together the themes and currents running through the individual chapters.

Sutton Hoo Viking Ship Burial (University of York Medieval Monograph Series)

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Sutton Hoo Viking Ship Burial (University of York Medieval Monograph Series)
Rupert Leo Scott Bruce-Mitford
Manufacturer: Hyperion Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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