Armies of the Vikings, AD 793 1066

Viking warriors were feared by their contemporaries and their ferocious reputation has survived down to the present day. This book covers the military history of the Vikings from their early raiding to the final failure of their expansionist ambitions directed against England. In that period Viking warbands and increasingly large armies had left their Scandinavian homelands to range across vast regions, including the whole of Northern Europe and beyond, even reaching North America. The British Isles were terrorized for two centuries and at times largely conquered, in Normandy, Russia and elsewhere they also settled and founded states. Tough, skilled and resourceful, with a culture that embraced the pursuit of immortal fame and a heroic death in battle, their renown as warriors was second to none. As far afield as Constantinople, the Byzantine emperors employed them as their elite Varangian Guard. Gabriele Esposito outlines the history of their campaigns and battles and examines in detail their strategy, tactics, weapons, armour and clothing. The subject is brought to life by dozens of colour photographs of replica equipment in use.