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Synopsis
A book that challenges the violent and lawless image of the Viking age and serves as a companion to the Icelandic sagas. The popular image of the Viking Age is of warlords and marauding bands pillaging their way along the shores of Northern Europe. In this history, Jesse Byock shows that Norse society in Iceland was an independent, almost a republican free state, without warlords or kings. Combining history with anthropology and archaeology, this study serves as a companion to the sagas, exploring all aspects of Viking Age life: feasting, farming, the power of chieftains and the church, marriage, and the role of women. With interpretations of blood feud and the sagas, Byock reveals how the law courts favoured compromise over violence, and how the society grappled with proto-democratic tendencies. A work with broad social and historical implications for our modern institutions, Byock's history aims to alter long-held perceptions of the Viking Age.

First Sentence
Njal's Saga begins with a famous vignette that highlights issues explored in this book. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover

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"Hrafnkel's Saga" and Other Icelandic Stories (Classics) by H. Palsson £7.69

Bloodtaking and Peacemaking: Feud, Law and Society in Saga Iceland by WI Miller £11.50

The Sagas of the Icelanders (World of the Sagas) by Jane Smiley  (1)

Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Short Introduction (Blackwell Introductions to Literature) by Heather ODonoghue  (1)  £18.99

Njal's Saga (Penguin Classics) by Robert Cook  (1)  £6.99

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews   27 of 27 people found the following review helpful: A book for both the general reader and the specialist, 16 May 2001 By A Customer I could have done with this book when I began to study Old Icelandic as part of a Master's degree in the history of the English language. This is a splendid companion for anyone who wants to know the minutiae of every day life in the Icelandic commonwealth or free state from 10-13 century. It tells you many things about the society, including the construction of latrines and longhouses and there is possibly more than any sane person would want to know about turf construction. A particularly fine feature of the book is the large number of maps illustrating all kinds of things, including the locations of the 48 so-called 'family sagas'. The 34 page bibliography is excellent and includes many items in Icelandic. IMHO this book is essential reading for those beginning Old Icelandic studies and the general reader whose imagination has been fired by reading the sagas in translation.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all customer reviews...		Search Customer Reviews Only search this product's reviews