Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share Viking Lives
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
Viking Lives episodes
- The Prague Castle WarriorToday’s episode comes from forecourt of Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, recorded while Richard and Kári were in Europe. It was here, under the pavement, that the bones of a medieval warrior were excavated in 1928 … with a Viking sword buried beside him. The discovery set off a fierce struggle between Hitler and Stalin to claim his ancestry. Was this man a Germanic Viking? Or was he a Slavic warrior in the court of the king of Bohemia? The answer, they believed, would determine the rightful owners of the entire city.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
30 min - Gunnlaug Serpent TongueGunnlaug Serpent Tongue was an arrogant and impetuous Viking, famed for his ability to compose brilliant poetry spontaneously for the kings of medieval Sweden and England. But in doing so, he became the deadly rival of another poet, who spitefully married the woman Gunnlaug had known since childhood. Relations between the two men became poisonous, and they descended into a cycle of pointless violence that neither could escape until one of them was dead.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
49 min - Egill the BrokenEgill Skallagrimsson was both a vicious, murderous Viking raider and a poet of great sensitivity and feeling. He fought on behalf of an English king who rewarded him handsomely, but the queen of Norway detested him and tried to kill him. Eventually Egill retired to his family farm in Iceland, where a terrible loss brought out one of the saddest poems of the Viking Age.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
53 min - Gudrun of the Springs (with Hannah Kent)Hannah Kent, author of the international bestseller ‘Burial Rites’ joins Richard and Kári to tell the story of our favourite Viking woman: Gudrun Osvifsdottir. Gudrun was an Icelander of the tenth century, who was famous for her high-mindedness and fine manners. But when her honour was slighted, and her heart was wounded, she brought down the man she loved, hated and needed all at the same time.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
53 min - Aud the Deep MindedThe Vikings came to Ireland at the end of the eighth century, first as raiders, then as settlers, and they founded the cities of Dublin, Wexford and Limerick as slave trading centres. In this episode, Kári and Richard tell the story of a Viking queen of Dublin known as Auð the Deep-Minded, who was forced to flee to Iceland, where she became one of its most powerful chieftains.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
42 min - Melkorka the Silent
Melkorka was an Irish woman who was enslaved by Vikings in the ninth century AD. She was brought to Scandinavia, where she was bought by an Icelandic farmer named Hoskuld, who made her his concubine. But Melkorka was mute, and so Hoskuld knew nothing of her origins, until he caught her talking by a stream one day.
Special guest Lisa Bennett, author of Viking Women: Life & Lore.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
44 min - Ingolf the IcelanderIn this episode, Kári tells the story of the foundation of Iceland as a new kind of Viking society on the rim of the Arctic Circle, and of Ingolf, the man who led a party of settlers to the smoky bay he named Reykjavik.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
43 min - Harald FinehairIn the first episode of series 2 of Viking Lives, Richard has the story of Harald Finehair, the Norwegian chieftain who swore he would not cut his hair or beard until he became king of all of Norway. But his heavy-handed rule goaded people to board their longships and establish new Viking colonies elsewhere.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
44 min - Sol the CharioteerTo conclude our first series of Viking Lives, Richard & Kári are bringing you a special episode: we’re tracking the strange ride of the goddess Sól across the skies of the Norse world. The Vikings of Scandinavia lived through unimaginably harsh and dark winters, confined to their cramped longhouses for weeks at a time while blizzards raged outside. Then, when the world warmed up and the sea ice broke, they could sail out once more into the wider world. Kári also recounts here some of the rituals he remembers from his boyhood in Iceland that marked the shift from the long winter dark into the eternal light of summer.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
45 min - Bjorn IronsideIn this episode we follow the fleets of the Viking raiders as they break into Muslim Spain, North Africa and Italy for the first time. Richard and Kári present the story of Bjorn Ironside, famed for his brutal skill as a warrior that made him virtually invulnerable to the weapons of his enemies. In 859 AD, Bjorn led a Viking fleet on an extraordinary voyage into the Mediterranean. They seized loot and slaves wherever they went. And then, when they landed in Italy, they hatched a mad scheme to make Bjorn the emperor of Rome.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
52 min
About Viking Lives
From the publisher's feed
The great arc of Viking history told through a chain of life stories, presented by broadcaster Richard Fidler and author Kári Gíslason.
Hosted on Acast. See
rel="noopener noreferrer">acast.com/privacy for more information.