Dragon Lords

The History and Legends of Viking England

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Dragon Lords

By: Eleanor Parker

Narrated by: Kristin Atherton

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Bloomsbury presents Dragon Lords: The History and Legends of Viking England by Eleanor Parker read by Kristin Atherton

Why did the Vikings sail to England? Were they indiscriminate raiders, motivated solely by bloodlust and plunder? One narrative, the stereotypical one, might have it so. But locked away in the buried history of the British Isles are other, far richer and more nuanced, stories; and these hidden tales paint a picture very different from the ferocious pillagers of popular repute.

In this book, Eleanor Parker unlocks secrets that point to more complex motivations within the marauding army that in the late-9th century voyaged to the shores of eastern England in its sleek, dragon-prowed longships. Exploring legends from forgotten medieval texts, and across the varied Anglo-Saxon regions, she depicts Vikings who came not just to raid but also to settle personal feuds, intervene in English politics and find a place to call home. Native tales reveal the links to famous Vikings like Ragnar Lothbrok and his sons, Cnut, and Havelok the Dane. Each myth shows how the legacy of the newcomers can still be traced in landscape, place-names and local history. Meticulously researched and elegantly argued, Dragon Lords uncovers the remarkable degree to which England is Viking to its core.

Biographies & Memoirs

Europe

Great Britain

Historical

Medieval

Social Sciences

England

Norse

Fiction

Fantasy

Middle Ages

Dragons

Viking

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Critic reviews

An absorbing and authoritative account of the survival of Scandinavian legends and history in post-Conquest England. This beautifully written book succeeds in casting Viking invaders and settlers in an unexpected new light. (Carolyne Larrington, University of Oxford, UK)

Dragon Lords tells the fascinating and hitherto unknown story of how the Viking invasions of England were turned into myth and legend by those whom the Scandinavians raided and later ruled. (Heather O'Donoghue, University of Oxford, UK)

Part literary study, part historical investigation and part folkloric inquiry, it makes a riveting and rewarding read. (Levi Roach, University of Exeter, UK)