The Vikings and Their Enemies: Warfare in Northern Europe, 750–1100

Viking warfare was never confined to Scandinavian raiders attacking western Europe. Philip Line surveys the military world of northern Europe from roughly 750 to 1100, placing the Vikings alongside the Anglo-Saxons, Franks, Slavs and other peoples they fought, traded with and encountered across the British Isles, the Carolingian world, Scandinavia and the Baltic.

Chronicles, sagas, poetry and archaeology provide evidence for recruitment, leadership, weapons, fortifications, ships, tactics and the practical realities of campaigning. Line weighs the surviving accounts carefully, since many were written long after the events they describe. Alongside raids came organised campaigns, sieges and the struggle to hold territory as new kingdoms developed.