- Publisher: Birlinn
- Year: 2022
- Format: Hardback
- Pages: 272pp
- Illustrated: Yes
- Dimensions: 240x160mm
- Condition: New
- Weight: 0.5kg
- ISBN: 9781780277950
- Product code: 533739
The Greatest Viking
The Life of Olav Haraldsson
Desmond Seward New Hardback Illustrated
Postscript summary
Weaving together Norse sagas, medieval chronicles and modern archaeology, Desmond Seward reconstructs the life of the Viking warrior Olav Haraldsson (995–1030), with vivid accounts of Olav’s raids from Russia to Moorish Spain and his invasion of England, during which he destroyed London Bridge. On becoming King of Norway, he converted his country to Christianity before his overthrow and death at the hands of his arch-rival Cnut.
Product information
Full publisher description
Raider. Conqueror. King. Saint.
This is the story of Olav Haraldsson, the greatest Viking who ever lived.
A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and a century after his death he was proclaimed 'Eternal King' and has been a national hero there ever since.
Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings, Olav converted to Christianity and, in a personal vendetta against the old Norse gods, made Norway Christian too, thereby changing irrevocably the Viking world he was born into. Told with reference to Norse sagas, early chronicles and the work of modern scholars, Desmond Seward paints an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all.
This is the story of Olav Haraldsson, the greatest Viking who ever lived.
A ruthless Viking warrior who named his most prized battle weapon after the Norse goddess of death, Olav Haraldsson and his mercenaries wrought terror and destruction from the Baltic to Galicia in the early eleventh century. Thousands were put to the sword, enslaved or ransomed. In England, Canterbury was sacked, its archbishop murdered and London Bridge pulled down. The loot amassed from years of plunder helped Olav win the throne of Norway, and a century after his death he was proclaimed 'Eternal King' and has been a national hero there ever since.
Despite his bloodthirsty beginnings, Olav converted to Christianity and, in a personal vendetta against the old Norse gods, made Norway Christian too, thereby changing irrevocably the Viking world he was born into. Told with reference to Norse sagas, early chronicles and the work of modern scholars, Desmond Seward paints an intensely vivid and colourful portrait of the life and times of arguably the greatest Viking of them all.
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533739
The Greatest Viking
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Weaving together Norse sagas, medieval chronicles and modern archaeology, Desmond Seward reconstructs the life of the Viking warrior Olav Haraldsson (995–1030), with vivid accounts of Olav’s raids from Russia to Moorish Spain and his invasion of England, during which he destroyed London Bridge. On becoming King of Norway, he converted his country to Christianity before his overthrow and death at the hands of his arch-rival Cnut.
Hardback
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rrp_info:£22.00
productId:147619
bic_code:BGH, HB, HBJD, HBJD1, HBTB, HD, HRAX
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£22.00
Desmond Seward
General
240x160mm
Birlinn
Yes
Hardback
History
