For nearly three centuries, the sight of a square-rigged longship emerging from the mist struck terror into the hearts of coastal communities across Europe. The Viking raiders, seafaring warriors from Scandinavia, left an indelible mark onthe medieval world between roughly 793 and 1066 A D. Yet to remember them only as bloodthirsty plunderers is to miss the fuller picture of a complex civilization that reshaped the political, cultural, and economic landscape of an entire continent.