TEACHING VIKINGS with Grim Gruesome Viking Villain


TEACHING VIKINGS
WITH 





This leaflet shows how reading 
the Grim Gruesome books 
with your class could form the basis for 
some interesting historical project work on the Vikings. 






FEEL FREE TO PRINT OUT AND USE IN ANY WAY THAT WORKS FOR YOU!


The frontispiece and maps within the book all provide extra information for children, as does the ‘Facts, Fun and Free Downloads’ page on this official website for the series,



TOPICS COVERED 


VIKING ARTEFACTS
  • Farmhouses
  • Town houses – and a palace
  • Ships 
  • Swords 
  • Treasure 
  • Technology
  • Runes

VIKING PEOPLE AND ACTIVITIES
  • The Vikings in Anglo-Saxon England
  • A real Viking king and queen
  • Shops
  • Pirate raiders
  • Travel
  • Storytellers


VIKING IDEAS
  • Crime and punishment 
  • Ideas of honour 



VIKING PLACES
  • Viking place names
  • The Viking kingdom of Norway
  • Jorvik - a Viking town in England
  • Orkney – the Vikings' power-base in Scotland
  • Viking settlers in Iceland


GEOGRAPHY AND SCIENCE USING GRIM GRUESOME: THE RINGS OF DOOM:
Iceland - a volcanic island



RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS








VIKING FARMHOUSES 

See especially: 

The Cursed Sword chapters 1, 6, 14-15, 18, 

Trolls Treasure Chapters 8, 9, 17, 26 and 38

The Rings of Doom, chapters 1 and 15 - 17




INTERESTING FACTS 

  • Viking farmhouses were built of locally available materials. Norway, Sweden, Denmark and much of mainland Britain were well forested, so houses were built of wood - like Astrid’s home in The Cursed Sword, which is set in Norway.
  • In Iceland the Scottish islands, and Greenland there were few trees, so the main building materials were stone, earth and turf - like the children’s homes in Trolls’ Treasure and The Rings of Doom.
  • Many Viking houses have been excavated in both Orkney and Shetland. The most interesting sites include the Brough of Birsay in Orkney (‘Fortress Island’ in Trolls’ Treasure) and Jarlshof in Shetland. Pictures are widely available on the internet.
  • Farmhouses were built long and narrow. Some had just one room. Others were divided by wooden partitions to provide extra small rooms in addition to the main hall.
  • Viking houses didn’t have windows.
  • In the centre of the main room a fire was kept burning all the time, providing both warmth and heat for cooking. In countries that were forested, the main fuel was logs. In the Scottish islands, the main fuel was peat – partially decayed vegetable matter cut from the bogs, stacked and left to dry before burning. The 13th Century Orkneyinga Saga says that this practice was introduced to Orkney by Jarl Thorfinn Skull-Splitter’s father, who was called Jarl Einar: ‘He was the first man to dig peat for fuel, firewood being very scarce on the islands’. Because of this, he had the nickname ‘Turf-Einar’. People in remote parts of Scotland still burn peat today.
  • Broad benches were built out from the long walls, providing a place to sit and also to sleep. In the middle of the bench along one wall there was often a ‘high seat’ marked out by carved wooden pillars on either side, where the farmer and his wife sat. Some rich families like Astrid’s family in The Cursed Sword had built-in bed cupboards or box-beds, which were both warmer and more private; others had separate sleeping rooms. Humbler people – like Ragi in Troll’s Treasure, and Sigrid and Magnus’s family in The Rings of Doom – slept on the wall-benches, as did servants and slaves. Similar box-tbeds remained in use in the Scottish Islands and Highlands until the 19th Century or even later.
  • For eating, trestle tables were set up before the benches, and stacked away after the meal had finished. Other furniture comprised stools, barrels and chests for storage, and always a large upright weaving loom where women spent much of their day at work.
  • On a large farm there were also many outbuildings to house animals and store grain, preserved foods, tools and other equipment. There was usually a dairy where the women processed butter, cheese, yoghurt and similar. The wealthiest farms had their own smithy where iron tools were made and repaired, and a building containing a steam-bath (like a modern sauna).
  • In Norway rich farmers employed servants and slaves to do the manual work: these were part of the household, receiving board and lodging from the farmer.
  • Viking Age Iceland was completely rural with no towns or villages. Everyone lived on isolated family farms where they kept sheep, cattle, goats, horses and pigs. The only crop was hay.




TEACHING IDEAS
  • Use descriptions in The Cursed Sword and / or Trolls’ Treasure and / or The Rings of Doom – and the information above – for a class discussion about Viking houses including:
    - furnishings
    - the need for an open fire for cooking and heating
    - the lack of electricity and how this affected daily life
    - sleeping arrangements
  • Get children to each make a list of the differences between a Viking house and a modern home, then compare and discuss.
  • Get children to search in books and on the internet for pictures of reconstructed Viking farmhouses, and also pictures and information on peat-cutting, peat fires and box-beds.
    Using these, descriptions in The Cursed Sword, Trolls’ Treasure or The Rings of Doom and the previous class discussion, they could then each write an account of one of the character’s life in a Viking farmhouse, illustrated with pictures of his / her family at home.






VIKING TOWN HOUSES - AND A PALACE 

See especially: 
The Queen’s Poison Chapters 3, 7, 15, 23, 27, 28 and 35. 



Find useful information at:

www.viking.no/e/england/york/life_jorvik_3_houses.html

 The official Jorvik Guide Book, available to purchase from 


INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Viking houses in York during the late 10th Century (when The Queen’s Poison is set) were often built as semi-basements, dug 1 - 2 metres deep into the ground, with walls up to 1.8 metres high. The walls were oak timbers, the floors were made of beaten earth and the roofs were either thatch or wooden tiles.
  • Most houses had just one room, measuring about 7 metres x 3 metres. Earth-filled benches built out from the walls were used for both sitting and sleeping. A fire burned in the centre of the floor, edged with tiles or stones and used for heating and cooking. Most houses would have contained a large weaving loom, shelves, hooks, barrels and chests for storage; some might have had stools or tables.
  • The houses stood close together, with small yards crammed with workshops, pigsties, wells and latrines (holes in the ground shielded by a wicker fence). Many of them had craft workshops behind them, and open shop stalls at the front.
  • Remains of the Vikings’ royal palace have not yet been found, but archaeologists believe it may have stood in the area now called King’s Square, and that it was probably also built largely of timber. 



TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get the children to use the internet to find pictures of reconstructions of Viking houses in Jorvik. Use these, plus descriptions in The Queen’s Poison for a class discussion about Viking houses including:
    - Viking furnishings
    - the need for an open fire for cooking and heating
    - the lack of electricity and how this affected daily life
    - Viking hygiene (see description of the children being given a ‘bath’, The Queen's Poison chapter 35)
    They could then write accounts of life in a Viking town house.
  • Get children to make a list of the differences between:
    - the house where Dalla, Aki and Frodi lived and the royal palace                                  - A Viking house and a modern home. 
  • The children could then draw pictures of Dalla, Aki, Frodi and their parents ‘at home’ in their Jorvik house.





VIKING SHIPS

See especially: 

The Cursed Sword Chapters 9, 11, 17, 19-20, 25 

Trolls’ Treasure Chapters 12-14, 17, 23, 34-37



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • The Vikings were brilliant ship builders and sailors, who thought nothing of undertaking long voyages in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean and the Arctic regions. The all-male crews were often accompanied by women, children and domestic livestock, perhaps because they were emigrating.
  • Due to bad weather and icebergs during the winter, most major voyages took place between April and early October.
  • The design of Viking ships meant they did not need quays or jetties to land the crew and load goods; instead they were often run ashore directly onto beaches, both on the coast and along rivers.
  • Viking ships were entirely open to the elements. On long voyages past coastal regions, the crew would often land at night and sleep in tents. However, on extended journeys across the open sea, they had to sleep on deck.
  • Food and drink on a long voyage comprised dried, pickled, salted and smoked fish and meat; unleavened bread, water, beer and sour milk.
  • Warships and pirate ships like Captain Kvig’s in The Cursed Sword were built long and slender for speed and had a full crew of oarsmen for when the wind failed. Merchant ships like Captain Orm’s, where Astrid hides in The Cursed Sword, were broader, with more space for carrying cargo, and relied mainly on their sails to move.
  • Viking ships typically had crews of between 30 and 60 men. 

TEACHING IDEAS
  • Find pictures of reconstructed Viking ships on the internet.
    – Using these and the descriptions in The Cursed Sword and Trolls’ Treasure, get children to imagine they are a Viking child sailing on a ship for the first time. 
    – Alternatively, they could imagine they are young men who have just joined Jarl Thorfinn’s rowing crew (from Trolls’ Treasure) and are sailing on one of his warships for the first time.
  • Discuss in groups what this would be like.
  • Children should then write accounts of the imaginary experience
  • Draw pictures / make models of one of these
    – from The Cursed Sword: Captain Kvig’s pirate ship; Captain Orm’s merchant ship.
    – from Trolls’ Treasure: Grim Gruesome’s rowing boat, or Jarl Thorfinn’s ship






SWORDS 

See especially: 
The Cursed Sword chapters 10-11, 17, 23, 25 and 34. 

Find useful information at: 




INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Of all the weapons used by Viking warriors, swords were particularly valued. A good sword would be passed down from father to son as an heirloom. Swords were used as symbols of authority, and given as gifts.  Oaths of allegiance were sworn over them. Poems were composed about swords, referring to them with special symbolic words such as fire of battle, lightning flash of blood or snake of wounds.
  • Despite this, the most common viking weapon was the spear, and axes were also widely used. Other weapons included the long knife and bow and arrows. Armour was usually a padded leather jerkin, or bone plates sewn inside the normal clothes and an iron hat, though wealthy men wore mail-shirts of interlinked iron rings. Shields were round and made of wood.
  • Prized swords were given names such as ‘Leg-biter’, ‘Gold-Hilt’, ‘Keen’ or ‘Long-and-Sharp’.
  • A Viking sword was made of iron and was normally c. 90 cm. (35 inches) long, with a
    double-edged blade.
  • Swordsmiths were highly skilled and respected. Fine blades were formed by a complex system known as ‘pattern welding’ which produced a surface covered in a variety of swirling patterns. Thin bars of iron were packed in red-hot charcoal to form steel; then cut up, twisted and reforged several times, and filed into shape. Strips of especially fine steel were welded onto the sides to form the cutting edges. The blade was hardened by alternately plunging it into fire and cold liquid. Finally it was filed down and polished by rubbing with acid.
  • The hilt was made of iron, bone, ivory or horn, often inlaid or encrusted with precious metals. Victory runes were sometimes carved on it. The grip was sometimes covered with leather.
  • A warrior protected his sword in a wooden scabbard with a soft lining. This was hung either high on the side from a strap across the body; or from a sword-belt at the waist. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get children to search in books and on the internet for pictures of Viking swords, both archaeological remains and modern replicas. Using these, and the sword illustrated in the book, they could then make a model using card, wood, modelling clay or any other suitable materials. The blade should be painted in grey or silver paint, engraved with a pin-head or similar to show the swirling patterns. The hilt could be decorated using kitchen foil or gold and silver paint or marker pens, and wool or scraps of cloth could be wound around the handle.
  • Get the children to imagine they are Bjarni and compose a short poem in praise of his cursed sword. This should mention: a name for the sword reflecting its victories in battle (NB: in the book Bjarni calls it ‘Blood-Drinker’); its beautiful appearance; why enemies are afraid of it; how much treasure it has won him.





VIKING TREASURE 

See especially: 

The Cursed Sword Chapters 3, 8, 12, 25, 31, 34. 

Trolls’ Treasure Chapters 4, 18, 28, 33





INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Over 1,000 hoards of buried Viking treasure have been found, ranging from a few coins and broken ornaments to huge hoards containing several thousand items including coins, ornaments, ingots and ‘hack silver’ fragments.
  • To keep them safe from pirates and other thieves, such hoards were buried in the countryside, often marked by a rock, tree or similar landmark.
  • Viking treasure contained mainly silver; occasionally also bronze and gold. The Vikings do NOT seem to have valued gemstones.
  • Most of the coins found in buried treasure hoards were foreign ones from Europe and the Arab lands.
  • Jewellery and other precious goods produced by Viking craftsmen were skilfully made, often decorated with filigree, metal balls and distinctive engraved, embossed and stamped out patterns.
  • The largest Viking treasure hoard ever found in England - or anywhere outside Russia - was unearthed at Cuerdale, Lancashire in 1840. It contained about 8,600 coins and other silver items dating from the early 10th Century. The largest Scottish hoard was discovered in 1858 in the islands of Orkney. It contained over 100 items including brooches, collars, arm-rings and coins, also dating from the 10th Century. 
  • The ‘troll-mounds’ described in Trolls’ Treasure can still be seen all over Orkney and Shetland. They are actually prehistoric burial mounds.
  • The treasure that the children find in the mound in Trolls’ Treasure would have been ‘ancient’ treasure to the Vikings, left their by their predecessors in Orkney, the Bronze Age Picts. The descriptions in the book are based on real Bronze Age finds in Orkney, Scotland and elsewhere. The gold discs that the children initially find are based on similar objects from an archaeological site called the Knowes of Trotty on Orkney’s Mainland.
  • A famous mound in Orkney called Maeshowe was broken into by Vikings who covered the walls in graffiti rune letters. (Please see Orkneyjar.com on these runes). These include three cryptic inscriptions mentioning treasure, of which the most explicit says: 
‘...TO THE NORTHWEST IS A GREAT TREASURE HIDDEN. IT IS LONG AGO THAT A GREAT TREASURE WAS HIDDEN HERE. HAPPY IS HE THAT MIGHT FIND THAT GREAT TREASURE. HAKON ALONE BORE TREASURE FROM THIS MOUND.’ 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get children to search in books and the internet to find out about real Viking treasure hoards. They should choose their favourite pictures of one of these and write a detailed factual description of what they see in it.
  • Using paper, card, sweet wrappers, kitchen foil and other materials, children could make their own Viking-style treasure hoard to display in the classroom to resemble the pictures they have been looking at. (Remember that it should be mostly silver - and NO precious stones should be included). 

  • For The Cursed Sword:
    Children should imagine they are either one of these characters: 
– Astrid digging up the hoard of treasure that is being stored for when she is grown up. – Bjarni examining the hoard of treasure given as his share by the pirate captain.
Get them to write down their thoughts as they look at the treasure (e.g. marvelling at its beauty, wondering where it came from, worrying that someone might steal it, thinking of goods and services they could exchange it for).

  • For Trolls’ Treasure:
    Children should imagine they are either Ragi, Kadlin or Unn and write an account of what they would do with their share of the treasure from the troll mound, basing their ideas on what they have learned about the Viking Age.



VIKING TECHNOLOGY 


INTERESTING FACTS 

TEXTILES:
Viking women made all the clothes for their households. The process started with preparing raw wool by carding and cleaning, then spinning on a distaff and spindle. This simple spinning was done all day long in any situation: sitting down, standing up or walking around. Some wool was dyed using plants, lichens, powdered stones and bog-mud. Next the yarn was woven - often into complex patterns - on a large, upright loom propped against the wall - before being sewn together. Linen was worked in the same way. Home-made textiles were also used to make sails for Viking ships. Women also did embroidery, lace making and a kind of knitting.

METALWORK:
Blacksmiths earned both great wealth and great respect: their skills included forging high quality iron weapons; also numerous everyday objects such as tools, nails, needles, cauldrons, large farm implements and horse-riding equipment such as stirrups and spurs. For details of sword making, please see Notes above on SWORDS

JEWELLERY:
Jorvik jewellers worked with gold, silver, copper, lead, glass and amber.

COOKING:
Some food was processed but eaten raw, e.g. wind-dried fish, cheese and yoghurt. Other foods were cooked in pots made of iron or soapstone: these were hung by a long chain over the fire. Other cooking utensils included bowls, ladles, saucepans, frying pans and spits, all made of the same material. For details of how a fire was lit, please see The Queen’s Poison, chapter 27. Cooking methods included boiling, slow heating in a bed of ashes, spit-roasting and baking in a deep pit filled with embers and covered with earth or in a stone oven. Liquids were sometimes brought to the boil by dropping in hot stones.

WOODWORK:
Wood was widely available in most of the Viking lands (though not in the Scottish islands, Iceland or Greenland). It was used for making ships, houses, tables, chests, bowls, dishes and buckets (as in The Queen’s Poison), wagons etc. Exquisitely elaborate wood carving was a prized skill, and widely used to decorate buildings, ships and furnishings.

LEATHERWORK:
Men and women both wore leather shoes or ankle-boots all of simple design, secured by a lace round the top or by a small toggle. Belts and padded jerkins worn as protective armour were also made of leather. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get each child to choose one product of Viking technology mentioned in the Grim Gruesome stories, for example: houses, clothes, weapons, shoes, food, jewellery, ships. They could then use reference books and the internet to find out as much as possible about how these items were made in the Viking Age and what they looked like.
  • Each child should then produce an illustrated report of what they have discovered. These could be put together for a wall display, or to make a class book of Viking technology.



VIKING RUNES 

See especially: 

The Cursed Sword Chapter 10 

Trolls’ Treasure Chapter 4




INTERESTING FACTS 
  • The runic alphabet only had 16 letters.
  • There were several different versions of the runic alphabet. The one used in the Grim
    Gruesome books is known as ‘Common’ or ‘Danish’ runes. 
  • This is the runic alphabet - known as the ‘Futhark’ from its first 6 letters - as used in Grim Gruesome.


  • Runes were not usually written, but carved into wood, metal, stone or bone. 
  • Graffiti-style Viking runes have been found carved on the inside walls of the prehistoric tomb of Maeshowe on Orkney’s Mainland. These have been translated to reveal cryptic references to women and lost treasure.  


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Give each child a print-out of the runic alphabet.  Discuss the limitations of only having 16 letters.
  • Get the children to find pictures of Viking rune-stones in books and on the internet.
  • Get children to write their own names in runes.
  • Then get them to ‘carve’ the runes, Viking style, using a blunt knife on a tablet of clay or plasticine.
  • They can decorate these tablets with runic designs, inspired by the Grim Gruesome frontispiece, or by pictures of rune-stones that they have found.
  • These could be used as runic name labels for their exercise books and lockers.
  • The Cursed Sword:
    Get the children to write the names of all the characters in runes: Astrid, Bjarni, Thorgill, Gudrun, Grandmother, Kvig, Orm and of course Grim Gruesome. Is there more than one ‘correct’ way to write some of these?
  • Trolls’ Treasure:
    Get the children to write the names of all the characters in runes: Ragi, Unn, Kadlin, Jarl Thorfinn, Otkel, Alfdis, Grandmam, Grandpa and of course Grim Gruesome. Is there more than one ‘correct’ way to write some of these?




THE VIKINGS 
IN ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND 

See especially: 

The Queen’s Poison chapters 8, 13 and 22. 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • England never fell completely under Viking rule. The North-West and the Isle of Man, were controlled by Norwegian Vikings. The North-East, Midlands and East Anglia were controlled by Danish Vikings: this area included the kingdom of Northumbria with York at its centre. But throughout the Viking Age, the rest of England remained under Anglo-Saxon control. Historians believe that throughout the country, ordinary Viking and Anglo-Saxon people may have co-existed peacefully.
  • A main difference between the two ethnic groups was religion: the Anglo-Saxons were Christians, whilst the Vikings initially followed their pagan religion, though they too gradually converted to Christianity as time went by.
  • Jorvik changed hands between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings many times during the 9th and 10th Centuries.
  • Riddles were very popular amongst the Anglo-Saxons. The ones in chapters 13 and 22 of The Queen’s Poison are simplified forms, inspired by authentic Anglo-Saxon riddles in the 10th Century Exeter Book of Riddles. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get children to use books and the internet to research Anglo-Saxon daily life and to compare their findings with what they have learned about Viking life from The Queen’s Poison. They could then make a list of similarities and differences between Vikings and Anglo-Saxons.
  • Get children to compose their own riddles around people, places and things who feature in The Queen’s Poison.





A REAL VIKING KING AND QUEEN 

See especially: 

The Queen’s Poison chapters 7-8, 10-11, 13, 22-26, 33-38 


INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Most countries in the Viking world were kingdoms. However, Viking Scotland, centred on the islands of Orkney, was ruled by a series of jarls (earls); whilst Iceland and Greenland were independent Viking democracies, ruled by a consensus of male chieftains.
  • Eirik Blood-Axe was a real king, the son of King Harald Fair-Hair of Norway. His life is described in the quasi-historical 13th Century Icelandic book, Egil’s Saga. It says that his father chose him as his heir over his other sons; that there was a big dispute between them and that Eirik killed two of his brothers. For a short while he ruled jointly with another brother,
    Hakon, but Eirik soon fled with his family in the face of Hakon’s bigger army. He travelled to Scotland and then England, raiding as he went, and eventually made an
    alliance with the Anglo-Saxon King Athelstan, whereby Eirik ruled the Viking kingdom of Northumbria from his palace in York. The last news of Eirik in this saga is that he was killed whilst making a Viking raid in Britain. Other sources say that he ruled York from 947-8 and again from 952-4, when he was expelled and killed in battle in Yorkshire. Eirik was a contemporary of Jarl Thorfinn Skull-Splitter of Orkney, who appears in Trolls’ Treasure. His reputation for pirate raiding is confirmed in another 13th Century book, Orkneyinga Saga, which says that when Eirik Blood-Axe “...ran short of money... he spent the summers plundering”.
  • His wife, Gunnhild, was the daughter of Ozur ‘Snout’. Egil’s Saga describes her as ‘outstandingly attractive and wise and well versed in the magic arts’, ‘grim tempered’ and in several scenes shows her goading Eirik to be more forceful against his enemies. After Eirik’s death, Queen Gunnhild and her children fled to Denmark - or according to another source, to Orkney. 



TEACHING IDEAS
  • Class discussion: Explain to children that Eirik Blood-Axe and Gunnhild were a real king and queen who really did rule Jorvik for two short periods; and that most of what is known about them comes from two stories not written down until c.300 years after they died. How accurate do children think these accounts might be?
  • Children could use the facts cited above, information at the FACTS AND FUN page on this website and the descriptions in the book, to compare King Eirik and Queen Gunnhild with our own Queen. You may need to help them with some simple facts about the modern monarchy. Get them to make a list of similarities and differences, for example:
    - What sort of palace they live in
    - The size of their realms
    - Whether they are peaceful or aggressive 
- How they raise money - How they travel around - What people say about them 
  • Get children to write a short essay: ‘An imaginary conversation with King Eirik Blood-Axe’ or ‘An imaginary conversation with Queen Gunnhild’.




VIKING SHOPS

See especially: 

The Queen’s Poison chapters 2, 8 and 13 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Archaeologists have discovered artefacts from many kinds of workshops in Jorvik, deducing that the following crafts were made within the town: shoes, textiles, ironware and cheap jewellery; spindle-whorls, toggles and combs made from bone and antlers; wooden bowls, cups and barrels; board games, panpipes and ice-skates.
  • Ships travelling from the sea up the River Ouse brought exotic foreign imports to Jorvik, probably including furs, seal-oil and whale-oil, wine, spices, silk, amber, walrus ivory and slaves.
  • Food consumed in Jorvik included meat – mostly beef, but also some pork, mutton and goat; chickens, geese and their eggs; fish and shellfish.  Also cultivated carrots, celery, beans, apples and plums; and wild berries and nuts – presumably brought in from outlying farms.
  • Many families in jorvik probably sold the goods they made and / or any surplus food from stalls erected outside their houses. Other traders probably laid out their wares in a market place, though the exact location of this has not been identified.
  • Jorvik during the time of The Queen’s Poison (10th Century) minted its own coins in the town. These were made of silver and the standard unit was a penny. Coins were sometimes cut into half or smaller fragments to pay for goods of lower worth. 



TEACHING IDEAS
  • Working in pairs or small groups, children should choose which type of shop they intend to run, based on the above facts. Each set of ‘shop-keepers’ should research their chosen goods using books and the internet, with particular reference to Jorvik. They should then use paper, card, modelling clay, old textiles and any other suitable materials to make a collection of Viking-style goods to sell.
  • Each child should find pictures of Viking Age coins and use the designs to make a pile of replica coins - pennies - out of paper or card. Some of these should be cut into halves or quarters.
  • Convert the classroom into a Jorvik-style shopping street and let the children take it in turns to visit each others’ stalls and buy some goods with their Viking coins.
  • Conclude with a class discussion about how the Viking shopping experience compares with shopping today. 





VIKING PIRATE RAIDERS 

See especially: 

The Cursed Sword chapters 8-13, 17, 21, 23, 25, 34 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • From the 8th to 11th Centuries, Viking pirates, mainly from Norway, Denmark and Norse settlements in Scotland, made violent raids all round the coasts of Britain, Ireland, and most of Western Europe, including the Mediterranean lands; and also up many major rivers.
  • The first recorded Viking raid on Britain was on the monastery at Lindisfarne (Holy Island), off the coast of Northumberland, in 793.
  • Monasteries were often targeted by Viking pirate raiders because they contained religious treasures, and wine used for Mass. But towns and villages were also regularly attacked.
  • Monks, nuns and people of high social status were often captured alive by the pirates for ransom. Others were sold as slaves.
  • The Icelandic Sagas - quasi-historical stories about the Viking Age, but first written down several centuries later - mention how powerful farmers indulged in pirate raiding as a part- time activity to increase their wealth. Even kings went raiding to fill their coffers. The 13th Century book, Orkneyinga Saga, says that when King Eirik Blood-Axe, who ruled York for some of the 10th Century, “...ran short of money... he spent the summers plundering”.
  • The prevalence of piracy contrasts strongly with the fact that the Vikings had many laws and also a highly developed sense of honourable and moral behaviour. This emphasised behaving altruistically towards one’s own group; caution, moderation and fair play. The worst faults were considered to be disloyalty or treachery towards a friend or relative. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get children to research Viking pirate raids in books and on the internet. Read them the sections about pirates in The Cursed Sword. Explain how Viking piracy against strangers contrasted with their laws and codes of acceptable behaviour to their own group.
  • Discuss with children what it would be like to live in a village that suffered a raid by Captain Kvig’s pirates in The Cursed Sword. Get them to jot down a list of the terrible things that would have happened.
  • They could then imagine they are one of the victims, and write a letter to Bjarni describing what they have suffered at his hands and begging him to give up piracy.




TRAVEL IN VIKING ICELAND 

See references throughout The Rings of Doom 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Because of the shortage of wood in Iceland, the Vikings there did not build many large ships (though they did use driftwood for inshore fishing boats). Even for journeys along coastal areas, they mainly travelled overland on horseback.
  • Horses were the main form of long distance overland travel in the country. Despite large areas of wilderness, there was an extensive system of horse paths connecting settlements throughout the country. However, few of these were suitable for wheeled carts.
  • Iceland has banned imported horses and cross-breeding since the 10th Century. Because of this, modern Icelandic horses are virtually the same as Viking Age horses. They are short and stocky, gentle, sturdy and hardy enough to withstand the harsh Icelandic climate and the roughest terrains. They also have a unusual gait: in addition to walking, trotting, cantering and galloping they can also do a smooth running-walk called tölt. Many farms in modern Iceland keep herds of horses.
  • Viking Age people also walked long distances – often wearing out many pairs of shoes on the way – and travelled on skis in the winter. 



TEACHING IDEAS
  • Discuss with children the implications of having to travel everywhere either on foot or on horseback. From what they have learned from The Rings of Doom, did this restrict people’s movements around Viking Iceland?
  • Get the children to research Icelandic horses and their upkeep. Read them relevant passages about horses from The Rings of Doom. Have a class discussion about what Viking children had to do to look after and ride their horses. How does this compare to looking after and using a bicycle in modern times?
  • Using the journeys in The Rings of Doom as inspiration, get the children to write about an imaginary journey through Viking Iceland, either on foot or on horseback, lasting several days, including where they would sleep overnight.






VIKING STORYTELLERS 


To sample some authentic Viking Age stories,
please see the Grim Gruesome author’s book: 
VIKING MYTHS & SAGAS
(written for adults, but many stories also suitable to read to children)



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • 10th Century Vikings were mostly illiterate, though some could read and write inscriptions in runes. However, oral storytelling was very popular, particularly about true local events. After the end of the Viking Age, during the 12th and 13th centuries, many of these old stories were recorded in writing. Collectively they are known as The Icelandic Sagas
  • The Sagas concern the lives, feuds and exploits of real-life farming families, chieftains and royals in Iceland and other Viking lands, during the 9th – 11th Centuries. Written in a down-to-earth style, they celebrate heroic virtues such as honour, fortitude and courage, with colourful women in important roles. Scholars regard the Sagas as one of the most developed forms of medieval literature. Some contain poetry within the main prose narrative and are laced with ironic humour.
  • The Sagas provide much important historical information about Viking Age society, culture and world views.
  • The Scottish islands of Orkney have their own saga, Orkneyingasaga.
  • The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga together provide a fascinating account of the Vikings’ settlement of Greenland, and of their voyages from there to north America some 500 years before Columbus. Both events have been verified by archaeological excavation.
  • The Vikings’ stories about the gods and goddesses of their old religion form the Norse Myths. 



TEACHING IDEAS 

 Using one of the Grim Gruesome stories as inspiration, get the children to:
  • Jot down notes to compose their own short ‘sagas’ about a Grim Gruesome-type adventure. 
  • Learn their sagas by heart then recite them aloud, following the oral tradition of the Viking Age. 
  • Turn their oral stories into written versions. 





VIKING CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 

See especially:

Trolls’ Treasure Chapters 8 - 11 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • In Trolls’ Treasure, Ragi’s ‘crime’ of reciting love poetry and his punishment of being outlawed is based on the following information from The Viking Achievement by P.G.Foote & D. M. Wilson: ‘The making of a verse in praise of a girl was punishable... with outlawry – partly because of the spell-binding effect that verse was sometimes feared to have’.
  • The same reference book says that the ‘Ordeal Test’ was frequently used to test someone’s guilt, particularly when there was insufficient evidence to make a normal judgement. ‘Iron carrying’ was a very common form of ordeal: Ragi’s test in Trolls’ Treasure is a simplified version of a test described in Viking Age laws. Women under suspicion were often ordered to pluck stones from the bottom of a vat of boiling water, known as ‘cauldron taking’.
  • Outlawry was a common punishment, entailing banishment from a district or whole country and confiscation of property; it was a criminal offence to feed, shelter or help an outlaw. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Explain to children how this aspect of the story is based on historical fact, and what it meant to be an outlaw.
  • Class discussions on:
    - what it meant to be an outlaw
    - how an outlaw might survive in the islands of Orkney: what would he do for food, shelter, warmth etc.?
    - How these Viking ideas of crime, trial and punishment compare with modern ones.
  • Children could then imagine that they have been outlawed in Viking Orkney and write an account of their trial by Ordeal and subsequent adventures. This should include travel in a rowing boat, catching wild food and building a makeshift shelter (remember there are lots of beaches but very few trees in the islands!) 





VIKING IDEAS OF ‘HONOUR’ 

See especially:

Trolls Treasure Chapters 18-23, 29, 37-38, 40 




INTERESTING FACTS 
  • As a warrior culture, the Vikings had a highly developed sense of what constituted honourable and moral behaviour.
  • Loyalty to one’s family, in-laws and foster-relations was paramount.
  • People who behaved well were rewarded by increased prestige for themselves and
    their families.
  • Men were expected to be:
    - physically brave
    - stoical
    - altruistic towards their own group 
- generous. 
  • Women were admired for being:
    - self reliant
    - capable at running house and farm
    - diligent at spinning and weaving
    - unfailingly loyal and supportive to their husbands and families
  • Caution, moderation and fair play were admired, as was the ability to exercise self control in the face of anger or danger.
  • The worst faults were considered to be disloyalty or treachery towards a relative or friend. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Read with the class the chapters listed above, in which the characters think about and discuss moral issues. These are all based on authentic Viking ideas and include:
    – the shame of being a coward
    – the importance of having a good reputation,
    – how one good turn deserves another in return.
  • Class discussion: what are the similarities and differences with modern morality?




VIKING PLACE NAMES 

See the whole of The Queen’s Poison and Trolls’ Treasure



INTERESTING FACTS 

THE QUEEN’S POISON:
  • Many street names in modern York are derived from Old Norse - the Vikings’ language. You can find out more about these at: www.yorkshire-england.co.uk/YorkStreets.html
  • The street names in The Queen’s Poison are direct translations of these.
  • Many other place names in Britain are also of Viking origin. You can find out more at:
    www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/changlang/activities/lang/vikings/vikinglang.html www.stavacademy.co.uk/mimir/vikingplace.htm
    www.viking.no/e/england/danelaw/epl-danelaw.htm
    http://anglosaxondiscovery.ashmolean.org/vikings/vikings-evidence.html 


TROLLS’ TREASURE:
  • Almost all the place names in Orkney and Shetland are in Old Norse - the Vikings’ language.
  • A number of websites offer translations of the different elements of such place names - e.g.
    https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/resources/historical-map-resources/scandinavian-glossary.html
    www.orkneyjar.com/placenames/pl-isle.htm
    www.shetland-heritage.co.uk/amenitytrust/placenames/placenames.html




TEACHING IDEAS

THE QUEEN’S POISON:
  • Using information from www.yorkshire-england.co.uk/YorkStreets.html and the map at the front of The Queen’s Poison, get the children to make a list of modern street names in central York that are derived from Old Norse, with literal translations into modern English. Give them maps of central York printed from Google Maps and get them to find the locations of each of these streets.
  • Using maps of your local area and the websites listed above, get children to make a list of place names that seem to be derived from Old Norse, and help them to translate these into modern English.
  • Class discussion: how do the literal meanings of the Old Norse street names compare with street names of modern origin?

TROLLS’ TREASURE:
  • Get children to make a list of the main island names in either Orkney or Shetland. Using information from the websites listed above, help them to translate these into modern English.






THE VIKING KINGDOM OF NORWAY 

The whole of The Cursed Sword is set in Norway. 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Norway was originally many different kingdoms. The first king to unite Norway into a single country was King Harald Finehair who reigned in the early 10th Century.
  • Other notable Norwegian Viking kings were:
    Eirik Blood-Axe (930-34) - Harald Finehair’s son, who later briefly became king of Jorvik (modern York). He appears as a character in The Queen’s Poison.
    Olaf Tryggvason     (995-1000) - Harald’s great-grandson, who forcibly converted Norway and several other Viking lands to Christianity
    Harald Hardrada (the Hard-Ruler) (1047-66) who was killed during an attempt to invade England in 1066.
  • Norway’s landscape contains many uninhabitable mountainous and tundra areas, with good farming land in short supply. The shortage of land encouraged many Norwegian families to seek better farms overseas during the Viking Age.
  • Norway has a very long, heavily indented sea-coast, encouraging the development of ships. During the Viking Age most communication between different settlements were by sea.
  • The most northerly area of Norway lies above the Arctic Circle and has long been known as Lapland: this area also extends across Sweden and part of Finland. Its indigenous people, the Sami, were known as ‘Lapps’ in Viking times. 


TEACHING IDEAS 
  • Divide the children into four groups and set each group a separate task of searching on the internet for pictures as follows:
  • Scenes of Norway, to match the following settings in The Cursed Sword: Astrid’s farm; the big fjord where Bjarni joins the pirate ship; ‘Needle Fjord’ (imaginary place) which Bjarni sails up on his way to Grim Gruesome’s hide-out and the forested mountain where Grim Gruesome has his lair. (Search terms that produce good results are: ‘Norway mountains’, ‘Norway fjords’ and ‘forest trees fjord norway’)
  • ‘Viking house Norway’ for pictures of Viking farmhouses
  • ‘Viking ships’
  • Viking clothes - a good source is http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/daily_living/text/clothing.htm

Based on their research, each group should produce drawings and paintings of characters and scenes from the book.

 These can be put together to form a large wall-frieze, with appropriate labels, entitled: ‘THE CURSED SWORD IS SET IN VIKING NORWAY’.  The title and labels could be written in runes! 






JORVIK: 
A VIKING TOWN IN ENGLAND

See especially: 
The Queen’s Poison: introduction and map; and whole story 

Find useful information at:
 The official Jorvik Guide Book, available to purchase from 




INTERESTING FACTS 
  • During the Viking Age, Jorvik - modern York - was the second richest and second largest city in England. It was an international trading centre and major river port, visited by ships and merchants from all over Britain, northern Europe, Russia, Iceland and Greenland.
  • York was founded by the Romans around AD 71: they called it Eburacum. In the 7th Century, the Anglo-Saxons made it the centre of their kingdom of Northumbria, calling it Eoforwic, building the first cathedral there and making it an important centre of learning. The Vikings captured the city in 866 and the following year made it the centre of their own kingdom of Northumbria. During the 10th Century, the the city frequently changed hands between the Anglo-Saxon and Viking kings.
  • The last Viking king of York was Eirik Blood-Aaxe, who was expelled in the year 954.
  • The street layouts of modern central York are similar to those used by the Vikings. The Vikings built a bridge over the River Ouse on exactly the same site as the current Ouse Bridge. The city was protected by earthen embankments topped by wooden fences, with four gates.
  • Archaeological remains of some of the Viking city underneath central York were excavated during 1976-1981. The Jorvik Viking Centre, built on the site of the excavations, exhibits an exciting re-creation of the old city, complete with sights, sounds and smells. More information and resources at www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk. Well worth a class visit!
  • The first three Grim Gruesome books were each launched at the annual Jorvik Viking Festival in York at February half-term. 


TEACHING IDEAS

Using descriptions from The Queen’s Poison, information and resources from www.jorvik-viking-centre.co.uk  and any information from the internet: 
  • Get children to write a description of Jorvik as if through the eyes of a newly arrived visitor from the countryside.
  •  Class discussion: the similarities and differences between Viking Jorvik and a modern town. The children could then make a list of these. Which do they think is more appealing?
  • The children could choose one street scene from The Queen’s Poison and draw/paint a picture of it, taking care to show the buildings and other elements mentioned in the text and discovered through their research into Jorvik.





ORKNEY:  
THE VIKINGS’ POWER BASE 
IN SCOTLAND 

See especially Trolls’ Treasure Chapters 9 - 12, 37-39 



INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Orkney became a Viking realm, ruled by a series of jarls (earls) in the 9th Century.
  • This realm included the islands of Shetland to the north of Orkney, large areas of
    northern and western Scotland and the Hebrides to the west.
  • A 13th Century book, Orkneyinga Saga, claims to tell the history of Viking Orkney.
  • Jarl Thorfinn Skull-Splitter from Trolls’ Treasure was a real 10th Century earl who appears in Orkneyinga Saga. He was a contemporary of King Eirik Blood-Axe and Queen Gunnhild, featured in The Queen’s Poison.
  • Orkney’s central position in the northern Atlantic Ocean made it an important staging post for Viking ships crossing the sea between Norway and Iceland.
  • Fortress Island where Jarl Thorfinn lives is the modern Brough of Birsay. The remains of Viking longhouses have been excavated there: please see, for example:
    - www.orkneyjar.com/history/broughofbirsay/norsesettlement.htm,
    - www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/westmainland/broughofbirsay/index.html.    Many photos of the Viking village on the Brough of Birsay can be viewed online. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Get children to find the location of Orkney and Shetland on a map of Britain, and then on a map of Europe. Discuss with them why the islands played an important part in Viking shipping routes.
  • Get the children to use a map of northern Europe to find the routes that Viking ships might have taken between the following Viking lands: Denmark, England, Faeroe Islands, Greenland, Hebrides, Iceland, Isle of Man, Norway, Orkney, Shetland and Sweden. How many of these routes went past Orkney?
  • Get children to search on the internet for pictures of:
    - the excavated Viking village on the Brough of Birsay
    - Viking houses built of stone and/or turf
  • They could then use these and the descriptions in Trolls’ Treasure to write an illustrated account entitled ‘A Walk Round Fortress Island’, describing the houses, landscape and seascape (with ships and boats coming and going) that Ragi would have seen there.




VIKING SETTLERS IN ICELAND 

See descriptions throughout The Rings of Doom 


INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Iceland was virtually uninhabited until the late 9th Century and had no indigenous population. Before the Vikings settled there, a small number of Irish hermit-monks are believed to have migrated there in search of solitude
  • Around the year 874 a Norwegian Viking called Ingólfur Arnarson and his foster-brother Hjörleifur arrived on the south coast of Iceland, settling in the place that later became the country’s capital, Reykjavik. Over the next 60 years they were followed by other migrants who brought dogs, cats, pigs, goats, sheep, cattle and horses, and gradually settled over the whole country. Most of them were Norwegians, seeking farmland and fleeing the oppressive rule of their King, Harold Fairhair (died c. 932). Others were Viking men who had previously lived in Ireland and the Scottish islands (Orkney, Shetland and the Hebrides), who brought wives and slaves of Celtic origin.
  • The detailed story of the settlement of Iceland is told in a book called Landnámabók (The Book of Settlements), possibly dating from the 11th or 12th Century and based on oral traditions.
  • The modern Icelandic language is very similar to the Old Norse spoken during the Viking Age. 
TEACHING IDEAS
  • Discuss with children what they have learned from The Rings of Doom about the practicalities of living in Iceland during the Viking Age. Would it make them want to emigrate there? What were the positive and negative aspects of it?
  • Get them to imagine they are either Sigrid or Magnus, showing a new immigrant from Norway around Salmon Valley. Write an account of what they would tell them about (e.g. bathing in hot springs, the danger of volcanoes, where to find ‘moss’ in the mountains and what this can be used for, using animal dung for the cooking fire).




Using 
Grim Gruesome: The Rings of Doom 
for
GEOGRAPHY AND SCIENCE  TEACHING





ICELAND: A VOLCANIC ISLAND 

See descriptions throughout The Rings of Doom 




INTERESTING FACTS 
  •  Iceland is an island in the north Atlantic Ocean, just below the Arctic Circle. Its closest neighbours are: Greenland, 285 km (177 miles) away; the Faeroe Islands, 420 km (261 miles) away; Scotland, 800 km (500 miles) away; and Norway 970 km (600 miles) away.
    It stretches c. 500 km (311 miles) west to east, and c. 300 km (186 miles) north to south.
    It is slightly bigger than Ireland.
  • Iceland is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world, much of it being uninhabitable wilderness. This comprises huge ice-caps, plateaux, mountains and deserts of lava, rock, stone and sand. The coast is mostly rocky and mountainous and heavily indented with deep, narrow fjords, though there are large areas of sand on the south coast. There are few trees, but it is rich in wild flowers and birds. The Viking Age population was c. 60,000. Today it is c. 318,000.
  • Since the Viking Age, farmers have raised livestock on fertile land around the fjords, valleys and coastal lowlands. ‘Salmon Valley’ in The Rings of Doom was inspired by the broad valleys running inland from the north coast. There are 10 real places called Salmon Valley (Laxárdalur) shown on modern maps of Iceland.
  • Icelandic weather is constantly changing. Summers are cool and winters are cold and snowy but not extreme. From early May to the end of July there is permanent daylight or twilight. But winter days have only five hours of daylight from mid-November to the end of January. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Show children where Iceland is on a world map and its location in relation to the other main Viking lands (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, England, Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Faeroes and Greenland). Show them the Arctic Circle and explain its significance in terms of climate and daylight hours. 
  • Read out passages from The Rings of Doom that describe the varied Icelandic landscape. Get children to make notes about what they have learned from these. They could then search the internet for photos to match these descriptions, looking for both wilderness and farming areas. 
  • Get the children to work out the routes that ships had to take between Iceland and the other Viking lands. 



A VOLCANIC LANDSCAPE 

See especially: 

The Rings of Doom, Chapters 2 - 4, 21 - 25, 29, 32 - 39 


INTERESTING FACTS 
  • Iceland lies over a great crack in the Earth’s crust called the Mid Atlantic Rift. As a result, the whole country is covered in geothermal curiosities, including over 200 volcanoes.
  • It is one of the world’s most significant volcanic areas. Over the past 500 years, Iceland has thrown up a third of the earth’s total laval flow. The greatest flow of lava ever recorded in the world was caused by an eruption in the Laki fissure in 1783: its poisonous fumes and ash destroyed so much livestock that nearly 20% of the population died in the resultant famine. About 10% of Iceland’s total area is covered by lava from past eruptions.
  • It is also riddled with various kinds of hot springs, which can be found at over 250 sites. These vary from jets of steam, geysers and pools of hot water to bubbling pools of sulphur and boiling mud. The sulphur gives Iceland its prevailing smell – like rotten eggs.
  • There have been numerous volcanic eruptions since the Vikings first settled Iceland in the 9th Century. The most recent major eruptions up to 2011 were:
    2011 - Grimsvotn. 2010 - Eyjafjallajökull. 1970 - Hekla 1963 - Surtur (which created a new island, Surtsey off the south coast) 1961 Askja
  • The landscape of the Fiery Holes is inspired by Hverir, in north-east Iceland,. 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Read the children chapters 32 - 39 from The Rings of Doom, describing the Fiery Holes. Get them to research photos and videos of similar geothermal activity in Iceland, using the search term ‘Iceland’ with: ‘volcanoes’, ‘hot springs’, ‘boiling mud-pools’, ‘fumaroles’ and ‘geysers’.
  • Discuss the physical processes and changing materials they spot in the story, e.g. creation of steam, explosion, heat creating bubbles, lava solidifying.
  • Using this information, get each child to make a booklet about Volcanic Iceland, either as a computer file or hard copy. This could include:
    - descriptive passages from The Rings of Doom
    - facts from the children’s own internet research
    - pictures – either photos if produced as a computer file, or the children’s own drawings / paintings if produced as hard copy.




WHAT HAPPENS WHEN 
A VOLCANO ERUPTS 

See especially 

The Rings of Doom chapters 2 - 4 and page 51. 



INTERESTING FACTS

The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in southern Iceland erupted in April and May 2010, with lesser activity continuing until October. Eye-witness accounts described: 
  • A thunderous, roaring noise, everything vibrating and the strong smell of sulphur (bad eggs)
  • Falls of volcanic ash darkening the air - initially like hailstones (pure glass or magma), later changing to fine dust
  • Torrents of melt-water unleashed as the eruption burst through the ice-cap, washing away roads and pouring into homes
  • A huge evaporation cloud like a mushroom, over 6,000 metres high
  • A layer of ash piling up higher and higher over the ground – in some places over 10 cm. thick – coating buildings and any animals left outside
As time went by:
  • The ash turned hard once it got wet
  • Fall-outs of ash, dust and sand continued for 4 months after the eruption.
  • However, within 2 months grass was growing through it. 6 months after the eruption, the crops
    turned out to be outstandingly good.
  • For months afterwards, there was still ash blowing about in the wind and penetrating inside nearby houses. One Icelander reported: “sweeping the floors at least 3 times a day... ash stuck in [soft furnishings]...wiping the chairs with my hand before I sit down, shaking the bedclothes before I lay down... soles of my feet getting black...” 


TEACHING IDEAS
  • Read the children the description of the volcanic eruption in The Rings of Doom. Get them to make notes of everything that happens.
  • Get them to look on the internet for photos and videos of the Icelandic Eyjafjallajökull eruption.
  • Using their notes and their internet research, get them to make a list of all the solids, liquids and gases they can identify in a volcanic eruption.
  • Using their notes and their internet research, Get them to imagine they are one of the characters in The Rings of Doom, and write an eyewitness account of the volcanic eruption.
  • In the story, Magnus speculates that volcanic eruptions are caused by dwarfs working as blacksmiths inside the mountains and overheating their forges. Get the children to research the true causes of an eruption, and then to compose a speech in which they explain this in simple words to an ignorant Viking child.




LIVING AMONGST VOLCANOES 

See especially: 

The Rings of Doom, chapters 2 - 4, 21 - 25, 29, 32 - 39 


INTERESTING FACTS 
  • In Viking times the hot pools were used for personal hygiene, washing clothes, cooking, relaxing and socialising.
  • Today 90% of the Icelandic population get their heating and power from either geothermal or hydro-electric sources. Geothermal heat is also used for open air swimming pools and greenhouses.
  • In 1104 the valley of Thjórsárdalur in southern Iceland was overwhelmed by the eruption of the volcano Hekla, completely engulfing the Viking Age farm of Stöng, and depopulating the previously fertile valley. The ruins have been excavated and preserved, and an authentic reconstruction of Stöng opened in 1977. For detailed information go to: http://www.thjodveldisbaer.is/en

TEACHING IDEAS
  • Discuss with children the long-term aftermath of the volcanic eruption, as described in The Rings of Doom, and how the eruption changed the landscape.
  • Get the children to look out for more information about the geothermal landscape as they read The Rings of Doom. This could include bathing in the hot springs, the petrified lava flow, clouds of steam, the layer of ash covering the farm and animals, and the final battle around the Fiery Holes. They could compete to find the greatest number of different features, and the most detailed description of any one of them.
  • Discuss with children the pros and cons of living in a volcanic country, e.g.: environmental-friendly heating from geothermal power, natural hot springs for bathing – versus – lack of farming land, danger of eruptions and floods.



  



RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS 

Of the numerous reference books available on Vikings, the following are especially useful for information about Viking Age life and culture, all written by experts in the field. Some are out of print now, but may be obtainable as second hand copies through www.amazon.co.uk or www.abebooks.co.uk; or order through your local library. 


Foote, P.G & Wilson, D.M: The Viking Achievement (Sidgewick & Jackson 1970) Everything you could possibly want to know about the Vikings! 

Graham-Campbell, James: The Viking World (Frances Lincoln 1980)
Lots of illustrations and an especially detailed section on Viking ships. Also good section on runes. 

Graham-Campbell, James & Kidd, Dafydd: The Vikings (British Museum Publications 1980)   Produced to accompany an exhibition at the British Museum, so especially good on artefacts, with many high quality photos. 

Simpson, Jacqueline: The Viking World (B. T. Batsford 1980) 
Easy to read and informative, with plenty of illustrations. 

Byock, Jesse: Viking Age Iceland (Penguin, 2001)
A fascinating ‘anthropological’ study mainly based on information gleaned in the Icelandic Sagas. 


Kerven, Rosalind: 
Viking Myths & Sagas - retold from ancient Norse texts 
(Talking Stone, 2015)
All the important Viking Age stories retold for adult readers with interesting factual notes.  By the Grim Gruesome author.  Many are suitable to read aloud to children.






The Sagas of Icelanders (Allen Lane, The Penguin Press 1997)
A collection of the major Sagas: the ‘soap operas’ of the Viking Age. Though not written down until several hundred years later, they claim to be based on true people and events of the Viking Age and offer fascinating insights into Viking life.

For quick reference, try these two excellent, well researched websites: 
www.hurstwic.org 
www.vikinganswerlady.com