Vikings & Anglo-Saxons!
We are a hardy race, being independent booksellers, so of course we are interested in those Norse entrepreneurs who made Europe a lively place in the so-called Dark Ages.
One of the standard-setting writers about medieval Scandinavia was Nobel Prize-winning Sigrid Undset. I have assembled all her works that we carry on this page, even though they technically do not involve Viking culture and history (a few are even contemporary to Undset’s own time). Other than that, she needs no defense as one of the greatest of historical novelists.
Many books have emerged on the conflicts, the tensions, and the meldings between the Vikings and the inhabitants of what would become the British isles, so I have expanded the topic to include the Picts, the Druids, and Anglo-Saxons.
Druids and Druidism
Druids and Druidism
Still regarded with affection in the popular imagination, the Druids, at the height of their power in Celtic Britain, were known for their love of nature and worshipping heros and ancestors. Signs of their renown are still clearly marked: in guidebooks, place-names of the countryside, and most visibly, in such structures as Stonehenge. T. D. Kendrick — widely cited in many studies of druids and druidism — presents a well-documented summary of druidic culture, offering a detailed account of the racial history, prehistory, and social atmosphere of early Gallic and British civilization. Amply illustrated with rare maps, jewelry, pottery, wall carvings, stone inscriptions, timeworn foundations and burial grounds, the text considers the many theories of the origin of Druidism, its early mention by Greek and Roman writers (ca. 52 B.C.), and the temples and religious practices of these ancient people. A thorough study of a fascinating topic, this book will appeal to anthropologists, folklore enthusiasts, and anyone interested in the early religious and cultural life of Celtic Britain.
Reprint of The Druids: A Study in Keltic Prehistory, Methuen & Co. Ltd., London, 1928.