What are some primary sources on the Vikings?

The word “Viking” refers to Norse merchants, raiders, and societies that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries (the Viking Age). As such, the modern nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland have their origins in the Viking Age, and other areas of Europe that were controlled or contacted by the Norse during this time hold varying degrees of Viking influence. Unfortunately, the Vikings did not have a strong written tradition, and much literary information...

The word “Viking” refers to Norse merchants, raiders, and societies that flourished between the 8th and 11th centuries (the Viking Age). As such, the modern nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland have their origins in the Viking Age, and other areas of Europe that were controlled or contacted by the Norse during this time hold varying degrees of Viking influence. Unfortunately, the Vikings did not have a strong written tradition, and much literary information about them comes from later Norse societies or from other Europeans who studied them or were impacted by them.

Runestones

When they did write, the Vikings wrote in runes, a type of alphabet related to but distinct from the Latin alphabet. Most extant runestones can be dated to the Viking Age and were written by Vikings to mark territory, to describe important events, or as monuments to the dead. These are the best primary sources that come directly from the Vikings themselves, although there aren’t many of them and the runic inscriptions are usually brief; nevertheless, they provide contemporary information about historical figures and events. For example, the Jelling runestones give information the historical kings Gorm and Harald Bluetooth.

Sagas

The sagas, heroic stories about kings, gods, and history, were written in Iceland, a post-Viking society, in the centuries following the Viking Age. While they do not date to the Vikings themselves, they were written by the early descendants of the Vikings. Their historical accuracy notwithstanding, the sagas provide important near-contemporary information on the structure of Viking society and daily life, as well as historical or semi-historical figures through genealogies and family history.

Gesta Danorum

The Gesta Danorum (“Deeds of the Danes”) is a Latin work written in the 13th Century by the Dane Saxo Grammaticus. It is intended to be a history of the Danish people, one of the societies to be born out of the Viking Age. Similar to the Icelandic Sagas, the Gesta Danorum was written not by members of the Viking Age but by their close descendants. Unlike the sagas, the Gesta Danorum is a single work meant to be a unified history of the Danish people. It begins solidly in the realm of mythology, before tracing events and kings into the realm of verifiable history.