Mar 24, 2026 · 51 min · 18 segments
Emboldened by their forays, the Vikings escalate their raiding. Using shield walls, berserker shock troops and opportunistic tactics, the Norsemen’s military capacity grows. We experience life inside…
Iain GlenHostPragya VohraGuestBen RaffieldGuest
Davide ZoriGuestElizabeth RoweGuest
Lars BrownworthGuest
A fleet of thirty-five Viking longships has put in at Carum, modern-day Carhampton on the Somerset coast, not far from Minehead.
Under his reign, Wessex, a large southern territory, has become the most dominant of the English kingdoms, a position secured by defeating neighboring Mercia.
It is the first step towards the position that his grandson, Alfred the Great, will one day claim, King of all the English.
They throw themselves into the fray, pushing against the mass of the enemy with their shields.
Suddenly, the word goes round, snarled from man to man, [speaks Old English] or boar's snout.
Two men at the front, then three, then four, then five, drives forward into the enemy ranks, splitting the opposition force down the middle.
[weapons clashing] As the Vikings break through, they surge round to attack the enemy from behind.
As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records, "The Danes had possession of the place of slaughter." For the Vikings, at last, a corner of England has not just been raided, but occupied.
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A fleet of thirty-five Viking longships has put in at Carum, modern-day Carhampton on the Somerset coast, not far from Minehead.
Under his reign, Wessex, a large southern territory, has become the most dominant of the English kingdoms, a position secured by defeating neighboring Mercia.
It is the first step towards the position that his grandson, Alfred the Great, will one day claim, King of all the English.
They throw themselves into the fray, pushing against the mass of the enemy with their shields.
Suddenly, the word goes round, snarled from man to man, [speaks Old English] or boar's snout.
Two men at the front, then three, then four, then five, drives forward into the enemy ranks, splitting the opposition force down the middle.
[weapons clashing] As the Vikings break through, they surge round to attack the enemy from behind.
As the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records, "The Danes had possession of the place of slaughter." For the Vikings, at last, a corner of England has not just been raided, but occupied.