Designed to introduce students to the history, literature and mythology of the so-called “Viking Age,” (from the 793 Viking raid on Lindisfarne to the 1066 defeat at the Battle of Stamford Bridge), this course provides necessary historical context for reading the texts produced between the twelfth and the fourteenth century. Almost all the texts about “Vikings” were written after the “Viking Age.” Vikings did not call themselves Vikings, did not wear horned helmets, and did not produce written accounts. The texts were either written by outsiders or by later Scandinavian writers who lived in very different social and religious environments. The Viking world is an observer construct. Students learn about the cultural and political dynamics of the Norsemen as well as the cultural and political dynamics that fuel the cultural construction of the Norsemen and the North. Taught in English.
The University of British Columbia
Vancouver campus