The dramatic history of the Vikings: their invasion of parts of England and Normandy, their trade routes through Russia to Byzantium, their founding of a new republic in Iceland, and further explorations westward is legendary. Described here by scholars from fifteen countries and richly illustrated with superb examples of coins, gold and silver jewelry, manuscripts and maps, ships and weaponry, textiles and household objects, the Viking culture emerges as highly developed and complex. Their domestic resources of virtually unlimited supplies of fish and game, furs, wool, wood and iron, together with their skilled craftsmanship, refined artistic sensibilities, social and political organization, adventurousness and bravery, allowed the Vikings to make their influence felt all over Europe for almost 300 years. This book also tells the story of how the Scandinavian countries became Christian nations and entered into the full community of Christian Europe, receiving and giving to the civilization of Europe.