History Book Recommendations?

This is just a thought, but since you said you couldn't really get into the history books, would watching non-fiction DVDs be more to your taste, instead of reading history books? I remember watching a PBS show about the Vikings, last year; I think it was called "Vikings Unearthed," about their journey to the U.S. Watching PBS biographies and historical DVDs helped me become more interested in history and learn more than the school textbooks my teachers had forced me and my classmates to read.

Oh. On the PBS Vikings webpage, they list weblinks and books, if you're interested.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings/resources.html

You don't mention what part of the medieval era you're writing about, but since you mentioned Vikings and religion I'll assume it's the early medieval, pre-Christian era. I imagine most history books on the era are heavily based on archaeology and that can be a bit dry if you're not an expert. There are several Viking museums worldwide that try to bring that archaeological evidence to life, and even if you can't afford a visit to Oslo or Reykjavik now, there will be information and pictures (maybe even videos) on their websites.

Pinterest is also a fun place to discover things:
https://www.pinterest.ie/search/pin...inavia&eq=medieval scand&etslf=5297&term_meta

On Scandinavian religion, Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman is just as entertaining as you'd expect from him.

You could try reading the actual Old Norse sagas; most are available in Penguin paperbacks; Njal's Saga, King Rolf's Saga (Hrólfr Kraki), Orkneyinga Saga, Laxdela Saga, etc.
There's not a whole lot, honestly, about the religion as religion; it's embedded in the sagas and, also, in the Poetic Eddas.

Most of what was written down was written by people who were Christian, even though the tales predated them, so they weren't, generally, terribly interested in the previous religion.

The BBC has a decent background introduction to Old Norse / Icelandic religion.

10th-century Arab ambassador Ahmad ibn Fadlan wrote an account of the Volga Vikings which is easily available in translation. Could be a useful resource with the following caveats:
- He wasn't in Scandinavia but in what is now Russia, and
- He considered them uncivilized savages.

Song of the Vikings by Nancy Marie Brown.

Great look at the history of Iceland pre and post conversion, and the process by which oral traditions become written ones.

AW Admin said:

You could try reading the actual Old Norse sagas; most are available in Penguin paperbacks; Njal's Saga, King Rolf's Saga (Hrólfr Kraki), Orkneyinga Saga, Laxdela Saga, etc.
There's not a whole lot, honestly, about the religion as religion; it's embedded in the sagas and, also, in the Poetic Eddas.

Click to expand...

Seconding this. And the translations I've seen (and read a few of) are pretty good, in general. You will have to understand that these sagas are very episodic, but they do present the historical period about as well as anything.

I'll also add the classic historical novels by Sigrid Undset (who won a Nobel Prize in Literature for them). Really good and genuine historically.

caw

Are you interested in Scandinavia during the Viking period, or after? Because there are a ton of books in English about the Vikings, and life/culture/society among the Vikings, and readily accessible primary sources like the sagas and scholarship around the sagas. For post-Viking Scandinavia, the literature in English is somewhat sparse and much more specialized/scholarly. There doesn't seem to be a large Anglophone audience for books about later medieval Denmark or Norway, the way there is for France.

blacbird said:

Seconding this. And the translations I've seen (and read a few of) are pretty good, in general. You will have to understand that these sagas are very episodic, but they do present the historical period about as well as anything.

Click to expand...

As a general note, if someone is curious about the accuracy of a specific translation, I read Old Norse and can probably opine on the veracity of a translation.

Also: it's pretty easy to learn to read Old Norse; most undergraduates can start translating sagas for themselves after ten weeks or so of work.

ETA: As a general rule, look for post 1950 translations; more specifically, the Oxford Classics and Penguin translations tend to be reliable.

Evelyn Michelle said:

I watched that. It was neat.

I've also read Neil Gaiman's book. Though it was great it just taught the stories they told. I am more looking for things like how they practiced religion, their rituals, and stuff.

Click to expand...

We don't actually know much about how they practiced their rituals. There's very little evidence anywhere, alas.

Seconding the Sigrid Undset books. Her father was an archeologist and her books ha e been lauded as quite historically accurate.