The Galloglass: Gaelic Mercenary Warriors

Matt Lewis and guest Dr Eleanor Barraclough as they dive into the turbulent world of late 10th-century Scandinavia and the extraordinary life of Olaf Tryggvason. Exiled, enslaved, raider, and eventually king of Norway, Olaf was a force of nature in an age of shifting loyalties, p ...  Show more

How was folklore woven into the everyday life of medieval Icelanders? How did they make sense of the darkness of their world?During Iceland's endless nights, tales of trolls, ghosts, elves, hidden people and restless spirits were far more than entertainment: they explained an unp ...  Show more

This shows looks at the arrival of one of the most fearsome and notorious warriors in Irish history – the Vikings. These Scandinavians have been caricatured throughout the centuries as marauding maniacs a somewhat undeserved reputation. However in this episode they don’t exact ...

This podcast concludes our journey through the Top 5 turning points of Medieval Ireland. This show focuses on one of the most intriguing events of our medieval past, the Battle of Athenry in 1316. This conflict occurred during one of the most fascinating wars in Irish history ...

This episode begins what will be a fascinating journey through the last 1500 years of Irish History looking at some of the most fascinating chapters in the island’s past. While the coming episodes will chart everything from great battles to Viking raids all the way to rebellio ...

Support this podcast on Patreon:  https://www.patreon.com/historyofvikingDuring the Middle Ages, seafaring Scandinavian marauders wrought havoc in lands both near and far—from Iceland to Finland, and Córdoba to Constantinople. These were warriors who belonged to an altogether viol ...  Show more