Sublime

A recent survey suggests that the production of iron, from bloomeries in the Forest of Dean and the Weald of Kent, or through the scavenging and recycling of Roman material, might have formed a valuable bulk cargo traded along the Thames and across the Channel.

However, behind these warlords and their petty kingdoms, and the social ladder on which they tried to rise, were the continuities of political life that had been part of Scandinavian culture for centuries. This was the so-called thing (Old Norse þing), a regular gathering of elected representatives in whom was vested the practical exercise of power

When properly recited in appropriate surroundings, Viking-Age poetry can taste like cold iron on the tongue, its complex rhyme schemes building upon one another like layers of frost—treacherous but beautiful.

‘Cape Wrath has been a pivotal point of nautical navigation throughout history. In fact, even the name “Cape Wrath” comes from the Norse word hvarf, meaning “turning point”, as this was the point that Viking warships used to turn east for home.’

Ceawlin’s long reign over the West Saxons, from 560 to 592, is, nevertheless, instructive. He was the first of the West Saxon kings whose career is marked by tangible achievements in subduing rivals and poaching their territory. However, looking at the geography of his victories, it becomes clear that his wars were not campaigns of conquest but of