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" Shieldwall" ebook introduction:

Scholars like putting periods of history into concisely dated packages with a start and finish date. As a result they usually date the Viking Age as beginning with the raid on Lindisfarne in 793 AD and ending with the last stand of Harald Hardraada at Stamford Bridge in 1066. This is somewhat arbitrary. There is a large grey area following 1066 when the influence of feudal organisation and the use of armoured cavalry spread over Britain, Western Europe and Scandinavia. Some nations, such as England, changed rapidly whilst countries such as Ireland would hang on to the old ways for generations to come.
Don’t get hung up on dates! Use the prevailing organisation, tactics and arms of the nationalities involved to decide your own start and finish points to the Viking Age. There is no reason why these lists, with a little reading and some minor modifications, cannot be used to recreate conflict in Vendel Age Scandinavia, or the ’Royal Cruise’ of Magnus Olafsson through the Isles in 1098.

Shieldwall