Viking Legacies: Landscape, Language, Literature

Whatever happened to the Vikings? Perhaps, people suppose, having had their fill of pillage and plunder, they simply left the British Isles and went back home to Scandinavia. But while the popular image of Vikings as bloodthirsty raiders has endured, history often skips over their positive impacts and the legacy that lingers on in the landscape, literature, and the English language itself.

First came small warbands raiding the coasts of Britain and Ireland and violently putting down any resistance; then came great invading armies that conquered vast swathes of territory. These are the Vikings we remember—(apocryphal) horned helmets, heathen gods and all. But what happened when they began to establish permanent camps, to interact peacefully with local inhabitants, and to make alliances with local leaders? These Viking-age Scandinavians were now no longer Vikings in the strict sense of the word.

Seeking to answer the question of what really happened to the Vikings, Heather O’Donoghue traces the story of how a group of newcomers who were feared and despised came to play a leading part in the creation of prosperous and productive societies throughout the British Isles. How violent conflict became settled coexistence and, surprisingly quickly, shared Christian values. This legacy has endured in all manner of ways: in the canonical texts of early English literature, Beowulf, Chaucer, and Shakespeare; in fundamental aspects of the English language itself; and in features of the landscape which are still evident today.