Using traditional sagas, ballads, and proverbs, author-narrator Magnus Magnusson shows the values and history of Viking society. Against landscape scenes of Iceland, Shetland, and the Orkneys, Magnusson re-creates the heroic past of the Vikings and stresses their contributions as traders, explorers, and technicians.
Focuses on the explosion of Viking military activity in the ninth and tenth centuries, which was made possible by the development of their long ships. Using artifacts, drawings, and creative photography, author-narrator Magnus Magnusson illustrates the artistry of the Viking shipwrights and demonstrates, through construction and sailing of a modern replica, the use of these ships in raids against scattered fiefdoms in Norway.
Covers early Danish Viking history and settlements through the time of Harald Bluetooth. Traces Viking raids into France, Spain, Portugal and Italy.
Swedish Vikings control foreign trade routes; evidence of Vikings, called "Rus," in what is now Russia.
Covers the Viking conquest of what would become the Danelaw, and other lands, in England. Includes growth of settlements, most notably York, and history of England under Alfred the Great.
Covers Viking conquest in Ireland, refuting some allegations of violence and raiding. Touches briefly on the history of the Isle of Man. Discusses the melding of Celtic and Viking art. Finishes with further history of the Vikings in England
Discusses the Viking history of the Faroe Islands and Iceland.
Discusses the last westward surge of the Vikings, into Iceland, Greenland and America
Vikings control the Shetland Islands, the Orkneys, and England
Program examines the struggle between Viking kings in England and William the conqueror of Normandy.