Vikings Week

Viking sailors make the long voyage across the Atlantic between Europe and America, in order to bring back timber, circa 1350. The Vikings are thought to have discovered America in around 1000 AD, but never attempted full colonization of the new land, due to the hostile natives. Painting by NC Wyeth. (Image by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"Vikings didn't wear horned helmets," plus 7 more Viking myths busted

Silver penny of Cnut

Ivar the Boneless, Ragnvald of Ed and 6 more Vikings you should know about

Viking ships arriving in Britain, c1130. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty

From the raid on Lindisfarne to Harald Hardrada's defeat: 8 Viking dates you need to know

Vikings on screen. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

‘Vikings’ creator Michael Hirst on the real history behind the hit drama. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail of the decorative carving on the side of the Oseberg cart c850 AD. A woman with streaming hair apparently restrains a man’s sword arm as he strikes at a horseman accompanied by a dog. Below is a frieze of intertwined serpentine beasts. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Viking women: raiders, traders and settlers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edmund II - better known as Edmund Ironside - shown in a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Edmund Ironside: Anglo-Saxon warrior king

A virtuous Viking: the medieval legend of Havelok the Dane. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anglo-Saxon saints and British slave-owners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

King Ecgfrith of Northumbria

The Anglo-Saxon who (almost) united Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view of Þingvellir National Park in western Iceland. It was here, in AD 930, that Viking settlers established the first pan-Icelandic assembly – possibly the oldest parliamentary body in the world. (© Dreamstime)

Vikings: A land without kings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Oseberg ship at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by: Carl Simon/United Archives/UIG via Getty Images)

How the Vikings ruled the waves. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Viking treasures and Hitler's 'perfect woman'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Renewed debate over battle of Hastings location

Medieval ploughmen ploughing with oxen

The dark side of the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A runestone depicting two warriors fighting and the journey of the Vikings to Valhalla, the hall of slain. (DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The Vikings at home. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.