The History of the Vikings: Norse Sagas, Medieval Marauders, and Far-Flung Settlements

Written by Christopher R. Fee

Narrated by Christopher R. Fee

Navigate Viking history, culture, and literature with world-renowed medievalist Christopher R. Fee, Ph.D., named  by the Princeton Review as one of America’s best professors.

Frequently depicted as “Scandinavian scavengers,” warlike pirates, raiders, and invaders, the Vikings have lately surfaced from the depths of history to become pop culture’s most adored ruffians. For Prof. Fee, this recent craze for all-things Viking is a mixed blessing. The spike in popular fascination often occasions a need to separate the wheat from the chaff: fact from fiction, history from myth, literature from legend.

This 24-lecture audio series rights the ship by offering you a scholarly and comprehensive overview of Viking history, geography, literature, religion, and culture. Prof. Fee leads this series with canny and personable teaching. 

As you meet the great Viking adventurers, you’ll explore pivotal events such as the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne in 739 and the Norman invasion of Britain in 1066, as well as lesser-known curiosities: the etymology of the term “Viking,” the story of the Vikings known as Varangians who guarded the Byzantine Emperor, and the origins of the state that we now know as Russia. 

From runic inscriptions to heroic sagas, pagan belief to Danelaw, you’ll ponder the Vikings’ lasting significance as you immerse yourself in the seen and unseen record of their fascinating civilization. 

This course is part of the Learn25 collection.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Learn25
• Release date: Aug 6, 2018
• ISBN: 9781632517258

Reviews for The History of the Vikings

[Dina Williams · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Informative but the narration is poor with lots of hesitation and 'ahh' almost every second word.

[Jerry Shanahan · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's a class Chris Fee made into a podcost, that you can pay for on Itunes but its available on Scribd for free. Very organic, it goes in depth into the Rus, how sagas relates to stories such as Beowolf, and into the Norse mythology like Thor vs Dragons (why they are on boats), about bears (Beorn) and werewolves (sea wolves) which I had no clue before hand. Such a delight.

[Greg Brislin · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Information is very interesting, but the narration has a lot to be desired. Repetitive statements, lots of vocal pauses and the lecturer obviously forgets his place or loses his notes. I agree with Rose that a professional should have been used and the material edited. It makes it difficult to listen to what might have been a great audio source.

[rose · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

A professional narrator should’ve been employed as the author cannot do the job properly and his hesitation and delivery is so super annoying