The Viking age

Aims of the course

• To introduce participants to the archaeology and heritage of the Viking Age.
• To encourage participants to think critically and creatively about Viking Age archaeology and heritage.
• To enable participants to work collaboratively with their peers to further their understanding and presentation of this period.

Course content overview

Who were the Vikings? What legacies and traces have they left behind? How and why did they fare beyond Scandinavia? How are they perceived and presented today? Dr. Britt Baillie and scholars from the Roskilde Viking Ship Museum will guide students through the archaeological remains from and heritage sites that interpret this period. The course will address the subject through a series of thematic lectures on Viking society, ships, trade, religion, art and burial.  It will explore both their activities ‘at home’ in Scandinavia as well as abroad (in the British Isles, the New World, Russia, etc).

Learning outcomes

As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, participants should be able to:

• discuss Viking Age archaeological data (such as artefacts, site plans, and distributions maps, etc)
• evaluate the relative merit and limitations of the archaeological and historical evidence for this period and the difficulties integrating them
• gain knowledge of the variability of the archaeological record in different parts of the Viking World

Welcome week (Week 0)

Purpose:

• personal introductions
• introducing the course
• useful reading
• personal objectives

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, the students should have: 

• become familiar with navigating around the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) and from VLE to links and back
• test your ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sort out any problems with the help of the Technology Enhanced Learning team
• learn how to look for, assess and reference internet resources
• contribute to a discussion forum to introduce yourself to other students and discuss why you are interested in the course and what you hope to get out of your studies 

Teaching Week 1: The Dawn of the Viking Age

Purpose:

• who were the Vikings?
• why did they risk life and limb to travel trade, raid, and settle in far flung places?
• what was everyday life like in the Viking homelands?
• what were the belief systems that underpinned the Viking world?
• who held power and how did encounters with others impact life ‘back home’? 

The first week will explore what lead to the early Viking raids and subsequent journeys through Europe to Africa, North America, and the Middle East. We will also examine how archaeology shines light on how Viking Age society was structured in Scandinavia in terms of class, gender, and religion.

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, participants should have:

• an overview of the Viking Age including its chronological duration and geographical expanse
• an awareness of the material evidence which indicates gender and social strata in Viking society

Teaching Week 2: Viking-Age ships and seafaring (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Morten Ravn, Roskilde Viking Ship Museum)

Purpose:

• This week will probe how the maritime technology of the Vikings defined their success in war and peace. The boat and ship finds of the Viking Age demonstrate that many different types and sizes of watercrafts were built. At the beginning of the Viking Age we see the transformation of the Iron Age rowing vessel into a proper sailing ship, and later also a specialisation in terms of design. The ship was a symbol of status and power and had an important role in the cosmology of the era. But even more important, the ship was the precondition for the Scandinavians to expand their maritime activities, resulting in a growing economy consisting of complex trading networks, piracy, conquests and bold voyages into the unknown. We will also examine how the process of reconstructing Viking ships has revealed how raw materials utilised for building the ships were carefully selected, and to achieve the desired qualities and properties in the raw materials, woodland management was conducted. Many different crafts were involved in building a ship and the craftsmanship conducted is truly astonishing.

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, participants should have:

• a basic understanding of clinker vessels; an overview of the main Viking ship forms and functions
• an appreciation of the importance of contemporary Viking ship reconstructions

Teaching Week 3: Slaves and silver: raiding and trading in the Viking Age

Purpose:

Norse merchants stimulated the development of long-distance, regional and local trade and exchange networks. How were the Vikings able to bring so much silver to the North This week we will look at how hoards, and changes in towns shine a light on the raiding and trading of the Vikings.

Learning outcomes

By studying this week, participants should have:

• an understanding of the variety of functions performed by hoards and of the changing nature of emporia in the Viking era

Teaching Week 4: Ladby: a Danish ship grave from the Viking Age (Guest Lecturer: Dr. Anne C. Sørensen, Roskilde Viking Ship Museum)

Purpose:

This week explores ship burials an iconic feature of the Viking era by focusing on the case-study of Ladby:

• why was the ship burial located here?
• what does its rich collection of grave goods tell us about the person who was buried in it?
• why was it desecrated?

The ship-grave from Ladby is one of a few known big Scandinavian ship-graves from the 9th – 10th centuries.  Around 900 AD a small war-ship was placed in a trench on the highest point in a burial-ground from the Late Iron Age and the Viking Age. The ship was used as the last resting place for an important person indicated by the splendour of the grave equipment. The skeletons of 11 horses and 3-4 dogs and more than 600 fragments of riding gear, tableware, a gaming board, weapons, artwork, gold adorned textile and objects probably connected to power and a high social status. The ship-grave from Ladby displays a wide geographical framework, which is demonstrated both by the form of the grave and by the provenance of several objects among the grave goods.

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week participants should have:

• an understanding of how Viking Age grave goods can be analysed and interpreted

Teaching Week 5: The dusk of the Viking Age and its long shadow

Purpose:

This week we will probe the tail end of the Viking Age exploring the birth of the Scandinavian kingdoms, the impacts of Christianity on Viking society, and the legacy of the Normans. Viking heritage consists of museums, designated sites, theme parks, reconstructions, fairs, routes and events. We will also examines how notions of authenticity and commodification are constructed through the staging of types of Viking heritage

Learning outcomes:

By studying this week, participants should have:

• an overview of the key shifts which changed Scandinavian society at the end of what is regarded as the Viking Age
• an understanding of how Viking –Era archaeological remains are transformed into heritage and how questions of authenticity and commodification impact that journey

Week 6: what next? 

• assessment of student learning
• assessment of student satisfaction
• encouragement of further study

This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.  

Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences. 

Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course. 

Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours of self-study time, for example, reading materials, although this will vary from person to person. 

While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material). 

Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the VLE so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (using discussion boards etc).

Fees 

The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes. 

Concessions 

For more information, please see our concessions information page. 

Alison Fordham Bursary

University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses. 

Application criteria:  

• applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
• applicants who can demonstrate financial need 

For more information, please see our bursaries information page. 

A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.