What Life was Like when Longships Sailed: Vikings AD 800-1100

"'What life was like when longships sailed' tells the fascinating story of the wily Harald Hardradi in Sicily and many other compelling tales of the men and women known as Vikings. One volume in a world-history series from Time-Life Books, 'When longships sailed' focuses on the daily lives of the Vikings at home as well as their fierce raids and conquests abroad, their successful trade and settlement ventures and their fearless explorations across the Atlantic. From contemporary accounts by travelers, church officials, and royal scribes, along with the sagas written by the Vikings' Icelandic descendants, come the stories of kings and slaves, warriors and settlers, traders and thieves. Among them are Harald Fairhair, who refused to cut his hair until he has unified all of Norway under his rule; Aud the Deep-Minded, who rescues her grandchildren from hostile Scots in the dead of night; and Leif Eriksson, who sets sail into the unknown and arrives on the shores of the New World. This volume explores the swift longships and shadowy longhouses, the bustling towns and fierce battlefields, and the isolated farms and distant colonies of the Norse people. Intricate wood carvings, illuminated manuscripts, and colorful tapestries bring the people and the places vividl to life: Vikings attack the coast of England while a monk flees with a cart of sacred relics, Slavic subjects offer tribute to the Vikings who rule Kiev, and an Icelandic lawbook illustrates the penalty for sheep rustling. These scenes are enhanced with artifacts that include animal-bone skates, beautiful but deadly swords, and dazzling jewelry, as well as images of lonely fjords and forbidding coastlines." -- dust jacket.