Sources

For the earliest periods, the story relies largely on archaeology and Roman accounts, as well as modern science and climate research. Then, as we enter the Viking Age, the written sources grow richer, and many are contemporary, but they’re still written by outsiders, such as Frankish, English, Irish, German, Byzantine and Arab chroniclers. That’s because the Scandinavians of the time wrote almost nothing down, apart from runic inscriptions. They did, however, compose plenty of poetry, which was passed down orally and written down centuries afterwards. And it’s from those later medieval centuries that we get some of our most famous sources, including the works of Snorri Sturluson, the Eddas, the sagas, the Norman and Danish court historians and to some extent the Primary Chronicle of the Rus, among others.

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Alongside these, I draw on academic studies and material from museums, which also provide many of the images you’ll see. The rest come from archives and public domain collections, stock footage, and my own filming at the sites.