Last modified: 31 May 2022 13:05
The year 793: a surprise viking attack on the peaceful monastic island of Lindisfarne. This raid is often considered to mark the beginning of the so-called Viking Age, a time of turbulence and transformation with repercussions throughout Europe and beyond. This period saw violence and warfare, cultural contact and religious conversion, political overhaul, and literary and artistic creativity. As well as critically interrogating the concepts of the ‘viking’ and the ‘Viking Age’, this course provides an introduction to key themes and topics in the study of early Scandinavia, c. 800-1200.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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This course introduces students to key themes and topics in the study of Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia, c. 800-1200, through critical analysis of primary and secondary sources. Weekly lectures plus secondary reading assignments will allow you to study topics such as: pre-Christian myth and religion; gender roles; law and social organisation; the viking expansion into the British and Irish Isles and North Atlantic; cultural production; conversion and Christianization. Tutorials will allow you to get to grips in more detail with primary sources ranging from archaeological finds and rune-stones to legal texts, chronicles, poetry, myths and sagas, and to talk through interpretative positions and debates taken by scholars in the field.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
500 word gobbet exercise 20%
500 word reflective writing 20%
2000 word essay 60%
Resit; resubmission of failed elements
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Factual | Understand | Develop a basic understanding of key topics in the study of the Viking Age and medieval Scandinavia |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Search for, and critically appraise, relevant secondary literature |
| Procedural | Analyse | Undertake critical analysis of primary sources in translation |
| Procedural | Evaluate | Develop interpretations based on primary and secondary source materials |
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