Viking Lives

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 acast.com/privacy for more information.

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22 episodes
weekly
Avg 43 min
English

Episodes 22

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Tuesday · 34 min
Hallgerd Longlegs: Part 1
This is the first of two episodes on the life of Hallgerd Hoskuldsdottir: the most dangerous woman in tenth century Iceland. Hallgerd was a striking figure; she was tall, with hair so long it could cloak her whole body. She was married three times, and was both a victim and an instigator of violence. This episode follows her childhood and her first two arranged marriages, in which she’s both formed and deformed by her pride, and the Viking honour culture that surrounds her. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
August 18 · 43 min
Hrafnkel the Priest of Frey
This episode tells the story of a Viking named Hrafnkel, a powerful chieftan who lived in an isolated part of Iceland. Hrafnkel was rich and arrogant. One day he killed a shepherd for mishandling his most prized horse, which he associated with a Norse god. The result was a bitter feud between clans that Hrafnkel lost...but then won in murderous circumstances. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
August 11 · 29 min
The Lost Brother
The first episode of series three of Viking Lives comes to you from Oxford in the UK. Our Viking is an unknown man, killed in the St. Brice’s Day massacre that took place there in the year 1002 AD. This was a murderous attack on a community of Norse settlers in Oxfordshire, incited by the English king Aethelred the Unready. The bones of the slaughtered victims were tipped into a pit on the grounds of St. John’s College, where they lay for a thousand years until discovered by chance in 2008. Richard & Kári came to see Angie Bolton, Curator of Archaeology at Oxfordshire County, who is custodian and caretaker of these bones, including one individual identified as SK1756, the man we call the Lost Brother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 14 · 36 min
Snorri the Priest
For the final episode of series 2, Kári has the story of an Icelandic chieftain who came to be known as Snorri Goði - Snorri the Priest of Thor: a manipulative and shrewd leader who devised a cunning plan to lure two extremely violent Swedish berserker warriors to their death. Viking Lives will return with series 3 on Tuesday 11 August. In the meantime, Richard and Kári will be presenting 'Viking Lives: Ghost Stories' live on stage at this year’s Byron Writers’ Festival in NSW on 14 August. Tickets available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
July 7 · 48 min
Thordis the Wronged
This episode features the life of Thordis Sursdottir, a Viking woman from the tenth century. Thordis’s family was forced to escape Norway after her brother Gisli killed two men who wanted to marry her. The family set up a farm in the northwest fjords of Iceland, where she married her husband Thorgrim. But when Thorgrim was murdered in the middle of the night – again by Gisli – Thordis took her revenge against her brother, forcing him to become a fugitive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
June 30 · 29 min
The Prague Castle Warrior
Today’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.
June 23 · 48 min
Gunnlaug Serpent Tongue
Gunnlaug 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.
June 16 · 52 min
Egill the Broken
Egill 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.
June 9 · 52 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.
#15
June 2 · 41 min
Aud the Deep Minded
The 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.
#14
May 25 · 43 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.
#13
May 19 · 42 min
Ingolf the Icelander
In 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.
#12
May 12 · 43 min
Harald Finehair
In 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.
#11
April 14 · 44 min
Sol the Charioteer
To 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.
#10
April 7 · 51 min
Bjorn Ironside
In 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.
#9
March 31 · 39 min
Lagertha the Shield Maiden
Lagertha the Shield Maiden appears only briefly in the medieval Viking stories, but she retains a powerful hold on the modern imagination. In this episode, Richard and Kári are joined by Dr. Lisa Bennett, author of Viking Women, to explore the concept of the Norse shield maiden, and to examine the evidence for the existence of these fierce Viking warrior-women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#8
March 24 · 36 min
Ragnar the Raider
Last time we brought you the mythic tale of Ragnar Lodbrok.In this episode, Richard and Kari go on the trail of the real-life, flesh-and-blood Ragnar, whose life is recorded in the chronicles of medieval Europe.This Ragnar is remembered as a ruthless chieftain, hated by the kings of Christendom, who led a Viking invasion of France, and then put the city of Paris to siege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#7
March 17 · 54 min
Ragnar the Legend
This is the first of two episodes on the life of Ragnar Lodbrok.Richard and Kári begin with the story of the legendary Ragnar taken from the mythic saga that bears his name. In this telling, Ragnar is an impossibly strong Viking warrior who kills a dragon, marries the princess Aslaug, and becomes a king. Ragnar’s adventures make him famous, but when his sons' reputations threaten to overshadow him, he embarks on a final disastrous invasion of Britain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#6
March 9 · 47 min
Mad Amleth
Kári and Richard present the strange tale of Amleth the Mad: the Danish prince whose uncle murders his father and then marries his mother in unseemly haste. Amleth, alone and in great danger, pretends to be mad until he can figure out how to take his revenge. This was the original story that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and formed the basis of the recent film The Northman’, with Alexander Skarsgard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
#5
March 3 · 44 min
Yngvar the Helmsman
Richard and Kári dig up the remains of a Viking king named Yngvar. Yngvar was long thought to have been a figure of legend. But in 2008, a ship-grave was excavated on a Baltic island that was dated to the year 750 AD. Inside the ship were the remains of 34 wounded warriors and their mysterious leader, who was found with a gilded sword and a chess piece lodged in his mouth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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