The Vikings in Ireland and beyond

Before and after the battle of Clontarf

Howard B. Clarke & Ruth Johnson, editors

‘A valuable contribution to our understanding of the Vikings in Ireland … For the general reader, this book provides a series of short introductions to Viking life in Ireland, accompanied by numerous illustrations. For those with a more focused interest in the period, they provide an excellent summary of the present state of knowledge, and the extensive footnotes which characterize almost all contributions will make this a particularly useful reference text – one that deserves a place on any bookshelf’, Stephen H. Harrison, Irish Arts Review (Sept-Nov 2015). 

‘This handsome volume is filled with academic riches from many of the scholars working on Irish and Irish Sea matters … It is rich for a knowledgeable audience and a most suitable volume dedicated to Richard Hall, who at once spanned the Irish Sea and Scandinavia with his boundless knowledge and enthusiasm … [essays are] extensive and varied … This volume is a great advance in studies of the Vikings in Ireland and Beyond’, Colleen Batey, Landscape History (2016).

‘This beautiful volume, which lives up to the high standards we have come to expect of the publisher, is graced by an opening poem by the late Nobel laureate, Seamus Heaney, dedicated to the evidence of the bone trial pieces uncovered by excavation in Dublin. The book contains no less than 28 carefully edited scholarly papers … The editors and publishers must be congratulated on a volume that shows the breadth and depth of current research on Vikings in Ireland and beyond. It should be carefully studied and much used by future researchers’, Poul Holm, Eolas (2016).

‘The volume has twenty-eight main chapters which, after the co-editors’ Introduction, are divided into sections “Before”, “During”, and “After the Battle”, with the final pair labelled “In Retrospect” … the contributions provide valuable information and stimulating insights’, John Hines, Folklore (2016).

‘A valuable, updated resource for Viking scholars and students … highly recommended’, Choice (March 2016).

‘With twenty-nine contributors to this collection of essays, each providing a chapter of exceptional value to the study of the Vikings, this is truly a monumental work of scholarship … An excellent read!’, Michael Merrigan, Ireland's Genealogical Gazette (August 2015).

‘Wonderfully produced and including an impressive array of colour plates, the volume represents a remarkable achievement and scholarship of the highest standard. Authoritative and readable, it features essays by leading scholars in Viking studies from across Europe’, History Ireland (Sept/Oct 2015). 

‘Exhaustive in its details and data, it is a very complete compendium of information … the collection gives an excellent insight into the Viking world as it was formed in Ireland’, Maria Leticia del Toro Garcia, Nordic Irish Studies (June 2017).

‘This book is … distinct because of its impressively multi- and interdisciplinary approach … The result is that the collection will be of interest and value to all scholars interested… All involved have contributed toward the production of an excellent collection that represents a real step forward in thinking about a range of related topics and that will stimulate much discussion and further research', Patrick Wadden, Cambrian Medieval Celtic Studies (2017)