Bibliography for Longships, Vikings and Related Subjects

This is a collection of references to books, articles, etc. that have been recommended to us as sources for material on the Viking era and/or on Longships. The Longship Company, Ltd. makes no claim as to the validity or availability of any of these resources and presents them only as an example of what is out there. Comments by the source of the information are included.

They are alphabetized within the following categories.

• • Technical, Ships
    Seamanship
    Cultural
    Technical, Cultural
    Humor
    For the Kids
    

Technical, Ships

• Atkinson, Ian, 1979, The Viking Ships, Cambridge Topic Book. Cambridge University Press. Excellent overview of the evolution of Viking ships, their construction, handling, history, sea battles. Description of the voyage of the Viking.
• Brogger, Anton Wilhelm and Haakon Shetelig, 1951, The Viking Ships, Their Ancestry and Evolution, Dreyers Forlag, Oslo, Norway. Good descriptions of how the Oseburg, Tune and Gokstad ships were constructed and furnished. Photographs of the ships in situ and reconstructed. Photographs of artifacts found on the ships. Drawings of motifs carved into the ships or their furnishings.
• Neers, Niels; Breakwater Books Ltd. A Viking Ship details the modern-day duplication using only period tools of a ship unearthed in Denmark.

Seamanship

• Ashley, Clifford W.; originally published in 1944 The Ashley Book of Knots, Random House, ISBN 0385040253 Mr. Ashley sailed on some of the last of the whalers ­ here is just about every knot conceivable.
• Maloney, Elbert S. and Chapman, Charles Frederick; Dec. 1999 Chapman Piloting, Seamanship and Boat Handling; 63rd edition ISBN 0688168906 This book is pretty much the handbook for the Coast Guard Auxiliary and the U.S. Power Squadron. If you know nothing about boats, this is a good place to start.
• Smith, Hervey Garrett; The Marlinspike Sailor. A simple guide to useful marlinspike work for those who DON'T want to know every knot in the world. The best diagram for tying turk's heads ever found.
• Rousmaniere, John and Smith, Mark (illus) Oct. 1999 The Annapolis Book of Seamanship 3rd revised edition and up Simon and Shuster; ISBN 0684854201. The right way and the Navy way, there is no wrong way. Similar to Chapman's but with a more military spin.

Cultural

See also Technical, Cultural

• Blondal, Sigfus, The Varangians of Byzantium
• Brisbane, Mark, Editor. Trans by Katherine Judelson., The Archaeology of Novgorod, Russia., The Society for Medieval Archeology monograph series: No. 13. Lincoln. One of the few references on Novgorod available in English. A good overview, lots of pictures, and an extensive bibliography.
• Bronsted, Johannas, 1976, The Vikings, Penguin Books. Still available, inexpensive mostly history.
• Clare, John D. ed., 1992, The Vikings, Harcort Brace and Co., Living History Series. All done with reenactors and replicas and photo mosaic. The native americans are incorrectly dressed and equiped but otherwise is a good book.
• Guralnick, Eleanor ed., 1982, Vikings in the West, Archaeological Institute of America. Best overview of what is known and what are and aren't true Viking finds in North America. Brief overview of Viking age Greenland.
• Hall Richard, 1990, Viking Age Archaeology in Brirain and Ireland: Shire Archaeology. Small, short, good intro to the subject.
• Jones, Gwyn, 1984, A History of the Vikings, Oxford University Press. Still often cited and avalibale through Barnes and Nobel. No pictures few maps. good discussiion.
• Lang, James T., Viking Age Decorated Wood:A Study of Its Ornament and Style
• Magnusson, Magnus, 1980, Viking, E.P. Dutton, Companion book to the BBC Series inspired by the excavations of Viking York. Good Photos Nice history aimed at wide audience.
• Nordal, Sigudur, Icelandic Culture I have this one-a little hard to read but useful
• Norlund, Poul, Viking Settlers in Greenland
• Page, R.I., 1987, Runes, University of California, Reading the Past series. A basic factual introduction to runes. A nonromantic view and discussion.
• Richards, Julian, 1991, Viking Age England, Hippocrene Books, English Heritage. Very good, many maps, photos, and covers all aspects of Viking life and warfare in England.
• Roesdahl, Else and David M. Wilson, 1992, From Viking to Crusader:Scandinavians and Europe 800-1200, Rizzoli International Pub. Catalog and synopsus of the most recent and thorough Viking exhibit that toured Europe. Many photographs and good descriptions and dating.
• Ryan, Michael ed., 1991 The Illustrated Archaeology of Ireland, Country House, Dublin. One of the few texts that cover Viking Age Ireland
• Time Life, 1993, Vikings: Raiders from the North, Time Life, Lost Civilizations series. Basic intro with special interest sections on Boats and exploration.
• Vince, Alan, Aspects of Saxo Norman London II Finds and Environmental Evidence
• Wallace, Patrick, 1992 The Viking age Buildings of Dublin, Royal Irish Academy. One of a series of reports based on excavations of Wood Quey in Dublin.
• Wernick, Robert, 1979, The Vikings, Time Life, Seafarers series. Basic intro, special section on Warfare.
• Williams, Mary Ann, Social Life in the Scandinavian Age
• Wood, Michael, 1987, In search of the Dark Ages, Facts on File. Nice Chapter on Erik Bloodaxe.

Technical, Cultural

• Arwidsson, Greta and Gosta Berg, 1983, The Mastermyr Find - a Viking Age Tool Chest from Gotland, Borgstrom Tryckeri AB, Motala. The Mastermyr Find from Sproge in the island of Gotland contains sets of metalworking and carpentry tools together with some objects rare for the Viking Period in Scandinavia, such as a steelyard, three bells and a firegrid. Detailed object description is complimented by 30 illustrative plates. Pre-medieval comparative material and the dating of the find are discussed as well as the ethnological aspects of the find. Illustrations are on a 1:2 scale in many cases. Scale is given in all cases. Some indications have surfaced that these tools are post-Viking. But from all evidence, the majority of them look and function just the same as Viking-age tools (and, indeed, tools in use until recently).
• Batey, Colleen, et alia; James Graham-Campbell, ed., 1994, Cultural Atlas of the Viking World. Probably the best of all the books for a general overview.
• Bender Jorgensen, Lise., 1992, North European Textiles before 1000 A.D., Aarhus University Press. Contains detailed information on several thousand textile finds encompassing every major north European culture outside Scandinavia. There is also some information on Scandinavian finds, although most of them were covered in the author's Forhistoriske Textiler i Scandinavien (1986, with an extensive English summary). Details of spinning and weaving in the catalogue are balanced by several chapters reconstructing the details of particular times and places. The "Conclusions" chapter, offering a history of textile industry and trade focusing on the Roman and post-Roman period, ought to be required reading for anyone interested in early period textiles.
• Collingwood, Peter, 1982, The Techniques of Tablet Weaving, Watson-Guptill. Probably the single best book on period tablet weaving published to date.

Humor

• Browne, Dik; Browne, Christover, 1985, Hagar the Horrible's Very Nearly Complete Viking Handbook, Workman Publishing Company, ISBN 0894809377. Atli is mentioned in the credits.

For the Kids

• Dobson, Mary, 1998, Smelly Old History: Vike Vikings, Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0199104948, Scratch 'N Sniff Book.
• Gibson, Michael, 1976, The Vikings, Macdonald Educational Ltd., Peoples of the Past series. Colorful with timelines.
• Holmes, Annie, 2016, Katherine of Carrick:The way of the warrior, Project Publish, Ltd.. ISBN:-13: 9780992981907 Although not directly concerning Vikings, the author took pains to make sure that the non-supernatural aspects of the time-traveling Viking ship which takes the young heroine on her adventures were accurate, such as that the dimensions and handling characteristics of the ship depicted would have actually allowed it to shoot the tidal rapids that used to occur under old London Bridge.
• Magnusson, Magnus, 1986, Tales from Viking Times, Music for Pleasure Ltd. Two cassette tape set of Norse folktales and stories.
• Margeson, Susan M., 1994, Viking, Alfred A. Knopf, Eyewitness Books. Good full color photos with little text.
• The Vikings an Eyewitness book. Good for kids and not obviously inaccurate.

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