THE story of the Vikings is one steeped in myths and mistruths. Were they really the brutal warriors who pillaged and looted their way across Europe?
The answer is yes, but it comes with a few big qualifications, according to Doctor Adrian Maldonado, interviewed for our cover story interview in The Herald Magazine tomorrow.
The story of the Vikings in Scotland is a little more complex than we might think, he believes.
Maldonado has spent the last three years investigating the Viking artefacts at the National Museum of Scotland. As a result, his Viking saga is not just a story of violence. It is also, he believes a story of trade, and of integration and assimilation.
“We imagine them killing their way through. But the patterns of settlement really show you something else,” he suggests.
Maldonado has written a new book, Crucible of Nations, based on his findings and he explains how grave goods and artefacts can give us a fresh idea of who the Vikings were and how they operated. He also answers the question, whatever happened to the Picts.?
For the full story see The Herald Magazine tomorrow.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here