English 401: Viking Studies The Medieval North Atlantic

Reading Schedule
	What books do I need? Week-by-Week Schedule Books in Order of Use Back to Index

What books do I need?

Byock, Jesse L., trans. The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki. Penguin Classics ed. New York: Penguin, 1998. (ISBN: 014043593X)

---.,  trans. The Saga of the Volsungs: The Norse Epic of Sigurd the Dragon Slayer. Penguin Classics ed. New York: Penguin, 2000. (ISBN: 0140447385)

Fee, Christopher with David Leeming. Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. (ISBN: 0195174038)

Fee, Christopher. “Chapter 1: The Norse Dragon-Slayer” in Mythology in the Middle Ages: Heroic Tales of Monsters, Magic, and Might. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, forthcoming in 2011. (Page-proof chapter provided).

---. “Magic, Miracles, and Murder: Sifting through Sinners and Saints in the Stories and Sites of Orkneyingasaga.” In preparation. (Draft article provided).

---. “Með lögum skal land vort byggja: ‘With Law Shall the Land be Built.’Law-Speaking and Identity in the Medieval Norse Atlantic,” in Sailing the Western Sea: The Atlantic Ocean in Medieval Perspective. B. Hudson, ed. In preparation. (Draft article provided).

Fox, Denton and Hermann Palsson, trans. Grettir's Saga. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1974. (ISBN: 0802061656)

Gordon, E.V. An Introduction to Old Norse. 2nd rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1990. (ISBN: 0198111843)

Hall, Richard. Viking Age Archaeology in Britain and Ireland. Shire archaeology, v. 60. Princes Risborough: Shire, 1990. (ISBN: 0747800634)

Heaney, Seamus, ed. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. Reprint ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2001. (ISBN: 0393320979)

Jones, Gwyn. A History of the Vikings. 2nd rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2001. (ISBN: 0192801341)

Loyn, Henry. The Vikings in Britain. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1995. (Only the hardback seems readily available: ISBN: 0631187111) (Order the cheaper paperback edition, if available: ISBN: 063118712X)

Magnusson, Magnus and Hermann Palsson, trans. King Harald's Saga. Penguin Classics ed. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987. (ISBN: 0140441832)

Page, R.I. Norse Myths. The Legendary Past Series. Austin: U of Texas P, 1991. (ISBN: 0292755465)

---. Runes. Reading the Past Series. Berkeley: U California Press, 1989. (ISBN: 0520061144)

Palsson, Hermann and Paul Edwards, trans. Egil's Saga. Penguin Classics ed. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987. (ISBN: 0140443215)

---. trans. Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney. Penguin Classics ed. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987. (ISBN: 0140443835)

Week-by-Week Schedule

Week 1: The Dawn of the Viking Age: A History of the Vikings (1-54); The Vikings in Britain (1-20).

Week 2: Life in Early Scandinavia: A History of the Vikings (59-140).

Week 3: The Creation of the Vikings, the Birth of the Longship, and the Beginning of the Movement across the North Atlantic: A History of the Vikings (145-203).

Week 4: Britain in the Context of the Coming of the Vikings and the British Isles as Norse Stepping-Stones: A History of the Vikings (269-311; 334-353); The Vikings in Britain (21-29); “Law-Speaking and Identity” (in entirety).

Week 5: The History of the Vikings in Britain I--from Lindisfarne through the Danelaw: A History of the Vikings (204-240; 421-424); The Vikings in Britain (30-51); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Sagas of Anglo-Saxon England"--161-162; "Anglo-Saxon Historical Sagas and Heroism"--162-166); An Introduction to Old Norse ("The Expansion": xvii-xxix).

Week 6: The History of the Vikings in Britain II--The Northern Isles: Orkneyinga Saga (9-224); “Magic, Miracles, and Murder” (in entirety); The Vikings in Britain (64-76); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Sagas of Norse Britain"--153-155).

Week 7: Introducing the Gods of the North: Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain [N.B. Focus on Germanic--i.e. Norse and Anglo-Saxon--material.] ("Preface"--ix-xi; "Introduction"--3-9; "The Pantheons"--13-63; "Deity Types"--75-99;  "Sacred Objects and Places"--111-116; "Heroes and Heroines"--117-124; "Creation and Apocalypse"--139-145).

Week 8: Interpreting the Gods of the North: Norse Myths (Page) (7-78); A History of the Vikings (315-334).

Week 9: The Archaeological Record of Viking Britain: Stones and Bones and the Riddle of Runes: Viking Age Archaeology in Britain and Ireland (5-59); Runes (6-62); An Introduction to Old Norse ("Runic Inscriptions": 181-193); A History of the Vikings (419-420); The Vikings in Britain (77-117).

Week 10: Beowulf and the Northern Imagination I--The Hero and the Troll: Beowulf ("Introduction" and ll. 1-836); The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki (vii-xxxii and 1-78); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Germanic Demigods and Spirits"--101-108; "Heroic Battles with Monsters"--127-130; "The Sagas"--147-148; "Norse Echoes of English Heroic Sagas"--155-158); An Introduction to Old Norse ("The Earliest Norse Poetry", "The Poetry of the Skalds", & "The Sagas": xxxvi-lxi).

Week 11: Beowulf and the Northern Imagination II--The Hero and the Descent into the Water-Wife's Cave: Beowulf (ll. 837-2199); Grettir's Saga (viii-xiii and 3-187); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("The Hero’s Descent into the Otherworld"--124-127; "Norse Echoes of English Heroic Sagas"--158-161).

Week 12: Beowulf and the Northern Imagination  III--The Hero and the Dragon: Beowulf (ll. 2200-3182); The Saga of the Volsungs (1-109); Mythology in the Middle Ages (“Chapter 1: The Norse Dragon-Slayer” in entirety); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Heroic Battles with Monsters"--130-137; "Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxon Heroic Saga as History"--166-168); An Introduction to Old Norse ("The Heroic Literature of the North": xxix-xxxvi and "The Preservation of Texts": lxi-lxvi).

Week 13: Thanksgiving Break--NO SEMINAR.

Week 14: Egil Skallagrimsson comes to York--The Icelandic Personal Saga and the History of Britain: Egil's Saga (7-239); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Sagas of Norse Britain"--151-153).

Week 15: The Twilight of the Viking Age: A History of the Vikings (354-415); King Harald's Saga (9-163); The Vikings in Britain (52-62); Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain ("Sagas of Norse Britain"--148-150).

Books in Order of Use

A History of the Vikings

The Vikings in Britain

Gods, Heroes, and Kings: The Battle for Mythic Britain

An Introduction to Old Norse

Orkneyinga Saga

Norse Myths

Runes

Viking Age Archaeology

Beowulf

The Saga of King Hrolf Kraki

Grettir's Saga

The Saga of the Volsungs

Egil's Saga

King Harald's Saga