Painting of Vikings in ships

Viking

The battle of Stamford Bridge, 1066. (Mary Evans Picture Library/Alamy Stock Photo)

1066 – how the Viking diversion cost Harold his throne. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Detail of a Viking helmet from grave one at Vendel, Uppland, Sweden. In the 860s and 870s, the Vikings would bring war to England’s four kingdoms on a massive scale. (Photo by CM Dixon/Print Collector/Getty Images)

The great Viking terror: how Norse warriors conquered the Anglo-Saxons. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The most popular historical figures you've (probably) never heard of

Vikings: an interview with the show’s creator and writer Michael Hirst. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A detail of the decorative carving on the side of the Oseberg cart c850 AD. A woman with streaming hair apparently restrains a man’s sword arm as he strikes at a horseman accompanied by a dog. Below is a frieze of intertwined serpentine beasts. (Photo by Werner Forman/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)

Viking women: raiders, traders and settlers. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Edmund II - better known as Edmund Ironside - shown in a 14th-century manuscript. (Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

Edmund Ironside: Anglo-Saxon warrior king

Pearly queens

Q&AWhy does Britain have so many accents?

A brief history of graffiti and creativity. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A virtuous Viking: the medieval legend of Havelok the Dane. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Anglo-Saxon saints and British slave-owners. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Avaldsnes Church, Norway

My favourite place: Avaldsnes, Norway

King Ecgfrith of Northumbria

The Anglo-Saxon who (almost) united Britain. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Q&AWere the pagan English gods the same as the Viking gods?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A view of Þingvellir National Park in western Iceland. It was here, in AD 930, that Viking settlers established the first pan-Icelandic assembly – possibly the oldest parliamentary body in the world. (© Dreamstime)

Vikings: A land without kings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

The Oseberg ship at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, Norway. (Photo by: Carl Simon/United Archives/UIG via Getty Images)

How the Vikings ruled the waves. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Michael Wood on Alfred the Great. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Viking treasures and Hitler's 'perfect woman'. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Renewed debate over battle of Hastings location

Hamo Thornycroft's 1901 statue of King Alfred the Great in Winchester. (Photo by RDImages/Epics/Getty Images)

Alfred the Great: do we overplay his 'greatness'?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

General prehistory

Isle of Tiree, Hebrides

Nazi spies and Viking ships. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Dwarves in the Holocaust and the Vikings' cultural legacy. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Illustration by Jonty Clark.

Ye olde travel guide: Dublin AD 1000. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A runestone depicting two warriors fighting and the journey of the Vikings to Valhalla, the hall of slain. (DEA/G. DAGLI ORTI/De Agostini/Getty Images)

The Vikings at home. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Tiw’s company

Viking sagas and royal pageants. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

(Illustration by Jonty Clark for BBC History Magazine)

Ye olde travel guide: Hedeby AD 950. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh

Whithorn Priory, Dumfries and Galloway

View across the river Clyde to Dumbarton Rock and the medieval Dumbarton Castle. (Photo by Martin W Holt via Getty Images)

History explorer: Alfred and the Vikings. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.