The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings

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Het stereotiepe beeld van een woest bebaarde, met een bijl zwaaiende krijger met een helm met hoorns blijft niet overeind. Integendeel, Neil Price weet op bedaarde manier veel nieuwe inzichten te geven in de wereld van de Vikingen die ik op veel punten moest bijstellen. In die zin is deze Nieuwe Geschiedenis waarlijk nieuw en gaf het me goede inzichten in het Vikingtijdperk. The Royal Frankish Annals of Charlemagne's empire record Danish raids. pp. 289–290, 515. The 861-CE Annals of St. Bertin describe a Viking fleet as a coalition of independent bands. pp. 313, 515. Christian missionaries (unsuccessful to Sweden in 829) left contemporary records. p. 290. A Byzantine chronicle describes Viking berserkers. p. 325. One skaldic poem dates from around 900 CE. p. 325.] For acclaimed English historian, author, and professor in the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History at one of Sweden's most illustrious universities (Uppsala), The Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings seems like the crowning glory of his lifetime work and studies.

Copious documentationandthe latest archaeological findings gird a new historyofthe Vikings, which broadens the narrative beyond the violent warrior image. Neil Price explores what is known about Viking societyandculture,andits impact on the peoplesandlands that were conquered.”— Christian Science Monitor Neil Price is a scholar that I've admired for many years and I've frequently returned to works of his over and over for my own research so I was thrilled to receive an ARC of The Children of Ash and Elm. To be frank, this is one of the best books on the Vikings I've ever read and that is for many reasons. One of those reasons is how Neil Price writes. This is not a dense nonfiction where you feel like you're in over your head. He writes in a way that feels conversational and also relates the Vikings to the modern-day in extremely interesting ways. No doubt, next year's students at Uppsala University will have a new book as part of their Viking-era history curriculum. The writing hums with life as Price summons up the voices of the past. (On the Gotland picture stones: “That’s my father, and there’s his father, and the weathered stone by the brook is my great-grandfather. We’ve always been here, and when my time comes, I know what my story will show.”) He includes evocative, often humorous explorations of the pagan myths. (On the god Odin: “He will probably sleep with your wife or, just possibly, your husband.”) There are also comical asides to the scholarly debates. (Price imagines monks leaning over a monastery wall watching the raiders approach, pondering: “What do you think, are they warriors, or more like militia?”) Enjoyably loose definitions also appear alongside the scholarly rigour. (He bases his own personal definition of what constitutes a “town” on his appalling sense of direction: if he could get lost in it, it’s probably a town.)However, his "top-down" approach to the Vikings – he sketches out both the cosmology and mythology that many (but not all) peoples in Viking societies believed in whilst trying to get inside their mind too, trying to understand and comprehend their beliefs, their fears and, ultimately, their motivations in life. Capturing the fullandrich nuancesofthe Viking Age, Neil Price's ChildrenofAshandElmoffers a sweeping accountofthe famous Scandinavian culture that stretched from North America to the Asian Steppes....Price relies on archeologicalandtextual evidence to move past stereotypesandreveal the Vikings as never before.”— Explore the Archive, 12 Best History Books of 2020 This book is the closest thing I have found to a time machine. It brilliantly clears the fogofthe past from the Viking era. Extremely well written…if you are seeking an accessible, yet definitiveandup-to-date book on the Vikings, this is the one you want.” as Neil Price shows in his colourful, revelatory new book, we are almost always looking at the Vikings the wrong way around. Price is one of the world's foremost experts on the Vikings and holds the chair of archaeology at Uppsala University ... He may know more about medieval Scandinavia than anyone else alive, and he aims to show us these fascinating people as they saw themselves, not as they were perceived by those on the sharp end of their robbery ... Thousands of books have been published about the Vikings - this is one of the very best. Dan Jones, Sunday Times Eastern Roman Empire, 565 CE at death of Justinian: limited to Greece, Italy, Balkans south of the Danube, western Turkey; none of France, Germany, or England; only the southernmost part of Spain. p. ix

There are hundreds of books introducing the general reader to the Viking Age; as there are numerous excellent books by both Neil Price and other archaeologists and historians providing us with fine introductions. So what, may we ask, is so special about this new book? Not only a leading authority on the period, Price is also a wonderful writer, by turns philosophical, witty, lyricalandpoignant. He possesses both an archaeologist’s ability to interpret large quantitiesofscholarshipanddata,andthe skill to translate it creatively. His vivid prose illuminates both the physicalandthe psychological dimensionsofthe early medieval north, while at the same time leaving space for uncertainty: the possibilityoffuture discoveriesandtheories that will alter the picture yet again….The writing hums with life as Price summons up the voicesofthe past.”— Guardian One would think that not much can change in a field dealing with literally thousand-year old history, but seeing as how the last book I read on the topic was Johannes Brøndsted’s Vikings, written in 1960 and (despite being quite good) stuffed with all the stereotypes Price lists for books dealing with the subject, the shift to a more up-to-date perspective was almost like the shift from a kid’s picture book to Brøndsted’s study. The very identity of a “Viking” gets an overhaul and thorough re-examination, starting with the largely artificial divide between the east and west variants, cutting right through and deconstructing “Norse mythology”, social relations, foreign and internal policies, causes and consequences of expansion, similarities and differences with other contemporary regions and peoples, right down to the “map with arrows pointing outwards from Scandinavia” that every Viking book simply must have. Thorough, readable....Serves as a model for how modern science can add to historical scholarshipandstorytelling. The research is thoroughly documentedandthe book well-illustrated.” Another thing of major value here is that Neil Price does not do what so many scholars before him have done; he doesn't separate things into different arenas. This book makes it clear that the same people conquering Iceland and sailing to North America were also present in Russia at the same. This is of great importance to a beginner in this time period, in my opinion.

In the unlikely event you only read one history book in 2020, the new book by Neil Price on The History of the Vikings should be it.

Ook in het geval dat hij het als wetenschappelijk onderzoeker zelf ergens niet mee eens is, zal hij toch ook steeds meegeven wat zijn collega’s binnen het vakgebied over een bepaalde kwestie te zeggen hebben, waardoor ik de schrijver nog meer apprecieer. Toch is dit boek soms wel wat droog, maar het is wel fijn om van begin tot eind mee te worden genomen in de Vikingcultuur. Oneofthe most comprehensive treatises on the Norse to date….This book brings together a wide bodyof scholarship that makes the worldofthe Vikings all the more comprehensible.” ANYWHO - I really enjoyed this. I especially enjoyed it on audio - hearing the language was a pure delight. The descriptions were so vivid and thorough that I had no problem picturing everything from their ships to their jewelry to their funeral rituals - even though that last was probably one I could have done without picturing, because OMG THE RAPEY SLAUGHTER FESTIVAL was a LOT just to send someone to the afterlife. O_O Sheesh. But that's a mark of how good this book was - it was VIVID.