Vikings of the Irish Sea

Vikings began raiding islands and monasteries on the Atlantic fringes of Europe in the 790s. The Irish Sea rapidly became one of their most productive hunting grounds. Attacks, battles and destruction were accompanied by trade – in slaves, silver and fine objects. Vikings crossed and re-crossed the Irish Sea in search of land, wealth and power. Raids were followed by settlement, first in fortified camps, and later in towns, market enclaves and rural estates. Vikings came into contact with existing populations in Ireland, Britain and the Isle of Man. Viking paganism, demonstrated by spectacular burials, was gradually eclipsed by Christianity. By 1050, the process of assimilation was well under way, yet Viking influence and distinctiveness did not altogether disappear. This updated edition of Vikings of the Irish Sea takes the sea as its starting point and looks afresh at the story of a supremely opportunistic people who left their mark in ways that still resonate today.

Table of Contents:
Title Copyright Contents List of Illustrations Preface Chapter 1: Introduction Vikings The Irish Sea ‘The Irish Sea Province’ The Irish Sea in the pre-Viking period Sources of evidence for the Viking period Chapter 2: Raids and Early Settlement in Ireland Longphort and dún: the Viking base on land ‘Dark’ and ‘fair’ foreigners, and the ‘Gallgoídil’ Chapter 3: Exporting Violence and Seeking Landfall c. 850–c. 1050 Weakness and opportunity: Galloway and Cumbria From Dublin to Brunanburh The later tenth and early eleventh centuries Chapter 4: Land-take and Landscape Estates and landholding Territory, boundaries and defence Meetings and ‘things’ Rural settlement archaeology Chapter 5: Burial: Changing Rites, New Places Regional surveys 1: Ireland Regional surveys 2: The Isle of Man Regional surveys 3: From the Solway Firth to Wales Viking-period finds and burial in churchyards Chapter 6: Trade, Silver and Market Sites Hoards and currency Single finds and market sites Chapter 7: Towns and Urbanisation Tenth- and eleventh-century Dublin Anglo-Saxon urbanisation and tenth-century Chester Trade in the Bristol Channel, and the later Hiberno-Norse towns Chapter 8: Assimilation and Cultural Change Burial and commemoration Religious conversion and Viking motifs An Irish Sea metalwork tradition? Architecture: urban and rural Language and inscriptions Hybridity and acculturation – the process of cultural change Chapter 9: Conclusion List of Abbreviations Notes Bibliography

About the Author :
DAVID GRIFFITHS is Reader in Archaeology and a Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford University.

Review :
‘The seas around Britain and Ireland provided the corridors through which people and ideas spread. In this highly original study of the Irish Sea, David Griffiths offers a vivid insight into the huge social and economic impact brought about by the Norse seafarers who flooded into the region between the 8th and 11th centuries. The mass of archaeological evidence, much of it recently discovered, is here skilfully analysed to offer a fresh, and often surprising, insight into the dynamics of this energetic maritime society.'