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Full Description
In Western Europe, we typically
associate Vikings with the storm-tossed waters of the North Sea and the North
Atlantic, the deep Scandinavian fjords and the attacks on the monasteries and
settlements of north-western Europe. This popular image rarely includes the
river systems of Russia and Ukraine, the wide sweep of the Eurasian steppe, the
far shores of the Caspian Sea, the incense and rituals of the Eastern Orthodox
Church and the high walls and towers of the city of Constantinople. Yet for
many Viking raiders, traders and settlers, it was the road to the East that
beckoned.
These Viking adventurers founded
the Norse-Slavic dynasties of the Rus, which are entangled in the bitterly
contested origin myths of Russia and Ukraine. The Rus were the first community
in the region to convert to Christianity - in its Eastern Orthodox form - and
so they are at the heart of the concept of 'Holy Russia'. Russian rulers have
frequently referenced these Norse origins when trying to enhance their power
and secure control over the Ukrainian lands, most recently demonstrated by
Vladimir Putin as his justification for seizing Crimea and invading Ukraine.
In this fascinating and timely
book, historian Martyn Whittock explores the important but often misunderstood
and manipulated role played by the Vikings in the origins of Russian power, the
deadly consequences of which we are still living with today.
