Vikings. The History of the Era: 793-1066. Preface by Dmitry GOBLIN Puchkov

In the early Middle Ages — a time that was restless and even terrifying — there was no shortage of dangerous conquerors: Avars, Huns, Mongols. But it was in honor of the Vikings that an entire era was named. And there was a good reason for that. They expanded the universe of their time! From their native Baltic to Africa and Spain; from the Finnish forests and the shores of Lake Ladoga to Baghdad and Rey; from the Volga to Iceland and the New World. Raids, violence, thefts, burnt monasteries, mass abductions of people into slavery… and a brilliant culture, the establishment of trade routes, the founding of cities and entire states, poetry and epics comparable to Greek myths and the works of Homer. To consider the Vikings merely as bearded pirates of the early Middle Ages — means to distort historical reality. For they were also traders and colonizers. In a series of essays, the medieval historian Klim Zhukov traced the main milestones of one of the brightest pages in world history, as well as explored the reasons for the emergence of the Viking phenomenon itself, their culture, military affairs, and religion.