I
was recently in the United States and dropped into Barnes & Noble to pick
up a book (I am Canadian). Turns out that I grabbed The Wolf Age: The Vikings,
the Anglo-Saxons and the Battle for the North Sea Empire by Tore Skeie. I am
not going to lie, I mean I think Vikings are pretty cool, but really I was
attracted to the book by the cover and the crazy good title. A thoughtful package to a book can open
covers so to speak, even if a book can't be judged by its cover.
Buy it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RNMXpb
When I started reading it, I was surprised to learn that Tore Skeie is a Norwegian historian and that the book was translated from the Norwegian language. The Wolf Age (originally published in Norway as Hvitekrist) is his first major work to be translated into English and it really does have a Scandinavian centered perspective, so it was very cool. For the most part, books on Norse history I have read have been from the English perspective.The
Wolf Age chronicles the violent and politically complex 11th-century struggle
for supremacy between Scandinavian and English rulers, which ultimately lead to
the formation of the short-lived 'North Sea Empire' under Cnut the Great. As an
aside, why has Cnut declined as a name?
It's pretty awesome!
After
an interesting introduction that provides a short look into the Norse
chroniclers who memorized and later wrote the sagas of the Norse warriors, the
book gets going with Sweyn Forkbeard’s power play in Denmark. After taking power from Harald Bluetooth,
Forkbeard launches relentless raids along the English coast. The raids cause
massive problems for the Anglo-Saxon king Ethelred, and his power leadership
causes massive challenges in the attempts to deal with the Viking invaders.
Ultimately,
Sweyn Forkbeard’s son Cnut the Great would conquer the Anglo-Saxon kingdom and
hold power briefly. Yet, this is not the only conflict covered in the book. Norse
warlords from Norway, Denmark and Sweden all negotiating the changing power
dynamics looking for wealth and control in their own lands.
Generally,
I would say that The Wolf Age would be best for someone that already has read
generally in the history of the Vikings or the Norse. The scope here is mostly limited
to the period of Sweyn Forkbeard and his son Cnut’s invasions and conquest of
England, although Tore does dig into the conflicts in Scandinavia that took
place with lesser kings and leaders.
Not
only is it limited in time-period that it covers, it also has limited cultural
or social history. There is not too much on the Norse sea-faring culture, its
religions, family structures, its general worldview. This book is really about war and conflict,
the struggle for power in north western Europe.
All
of that said, I really loved this book and would absolutely recommend this book
to anyone looking to dig in on a specific period of the Viking age. The
characters were fascinating, the writing brilliant. Awesome read!
Publication date: Nov 2022 | Publisher: Pushkin Press | Page Count: 384
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