Vikings

Expert articles about the real history behind the TV show 'Vikings'

Rege-Jean Page as Simon Basset and Phoebe Dynevor as Daphne Bridgerton

The best historical TV shows and movies to stream in 2021

Alexander Ludwig as Bjorn Ironside, son Ragnar Lothbrok and king of Kattegat

Vikings Season 6: plot recap, plus 8 historical questions answered

Alex Hogh Andersen as Ivar the Boneless

The real Vikings: the early medieval world behind the hit drama

Monument to Prince Vladimir the Great in Moscow

Q&A Who were the Kievan Rus and what do they have to do with the Vikings?

Illustration of the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne

Slaves in the Viking Age: how prevalent were enslaved people in Viking societies?

The Varangian Guard as depicted in the illuminated 12th-century manuscript known as the Madrid Skylitzes. These Viking warriors became the Byzantine emperors' personal bodyguard

What was the Varangian Guard? A brief history of the Viking warriors of the Byzantine empire

The front facade of the prehistoric chambered tomb of Wayland's Smithy

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #6: Viking military mind games, Anglo-Saxon mind maps, and embroidery before the Bayeux Tapestry

A Pictish stone carving featuring a salmon

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #3: the salmon of knowledge, rolling Roman mosaics, eels, and Crusades

Image of a medieval skull showing arrow injury

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #2: arrows in the eye, The Last Kingdom, Viking dogs

Painting of Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great and Edington: how the King of Wessex became great

Viking ships sailing towards unknown land. (Photo by Getty Images)

9 podcasts about the Vikings to listen to right now

Coins depicting Viking longships

A brief history of the Vikings

Ragnar Lothbrok. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

Ragnar Lothbrok: the legend of the immortal Viking and his sons

Katheryn WInnick as Lagertha in season 2 of 'Vikings'. A strong belief in Viking women warriors is now rife in many quarters of cyberspace, says Judith Jesch. (Image by Alamy)

Viking ‘warrior women’: Judith Jesch, expert in Viking studies, examines the latest evidence

Vikings on screen

Vikings on screen