The Viking Age effectively began in 793 with an attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne. "The church of St. Cuthbert is spattered with the blood of the priests of God," fumed the Northumbrian cleric Alcuin. Adventurers who roamed from Constantinople to the new world, conquerors of England, settlers of Russia, the medieval Scandinavians never lose their capacity to fascinate. As the Vikings roamed, their influence spread, from their ingeniously designed longboats to their stormy pantheon of gods and goddesses. Robert Ferguson combines his own expertise with the latest archaeological evidence to create a superb portrait of the Vikings, a people whose profound impact has made them a compelling subject since that first fateful raid on Lindisfarne. Book jacket.