Vikings

Expert articles about the real history behind the TV show 'Vikings'

Alexander Ludwig as Bjorn Ironside, son Ragnar Lothbrok and king of Kattegat

Vikings Season 6: plot recap, plus 8 historical questions answered

Alex Hogh Andersen as Ivar the Boneless

The real Vikings: the early medieval world behind the hit drama

Monument to Prince Vladimir the Great in Moscow

Q&A Who were the Kievan Rus and what do they have to do with the Vikings?

Illustration of the raid on the monastery at Lindisfarne

Slaves in the Viking Age: how prevalent were enslaved people in Viking societies?

The Varangian Guard as depicted in the illuminated 12th-century manuscript known as the Madrid Skylitzes. These Viking warriors became the Byzantine emperors' personal bodyguard

What was the Varangian Guard? A brief history of the Viking warriors of the Byzantine empire

The front facade of the prehistoric chambered tomb of Wayland's Smithy

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #6: Viking military mind games, Anglo-Saxon mind maps, and embroidery before the Bayeux Tapestry

A Pictish stone carving featuring a salmon

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #3: the salmon of knowledge, rolling Roman mosaics, eels, and Crusades

Image of a medieval skull showing arrow injury

Blog Medieval(ish) matters #2: arrows in the eye, The Last Kingdom, Viking dogs

Painting of Alfred the Great

Alfred the Great and Edington: how the King of Wessex became great

Viking ships sailing towards unknown land.

Vikings podcast episodes

Coins depicting Viking longships

A brief history of the Vikings

Ragnar Lothbrok. (Illustration by Georgie Gozem for BBC History Magazine)

Ragnar Lothbrok: the legend of the immortal Viking and his sons

Katheryn WInnick as Lagertha in season 2 of 'Vikings'. A strong belief in Viking women warriors is now rife in many quarters of cyberspace, says Judith Jesch. (Image by Alamy)

Viking ‘warrior women’: Judith Jesch, expert in Viking studies, examines the latest evidence

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Vikings on screen

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Lagertha, portrayed by Katheryn Winnick, in season 4 of Vikings. (Credit: Jonathan Hession/History)

‘Vikings’ creator Michael Hirst on the real history behind the hit drama