GODS HAMMER: A HISTORY OF THE VIKING CRUSADES (HB)

When we think of the Crusades, the image is usually squarely medieval. When we think of the Vikings, we most often see barbarism and pagan menace. Both images are false, of course, created by centuries of cultural baggage. This book sets that history right, telling the story of how the Vikings took up arms and the cross. It leads to extraordinary places: from Jerusalem and Istanbul to Novgorod and Tallinn. It tells stories full of adventure, horror and madness, of pilgrimages and war-paths, bodyguards and princes, holy missions and rapacious greed.