Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough's Top Book Recommendations

Want to know what books Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough's favorite book recommendations of all time.

1
At some time in the late 9th century, a Norwegian seafarer by the name of Ohthere [Oht-her-e] told the West Saxon king Alfred of his voyages along the coasts of Norway and Denmark. Ohthere's report made such an impression at the court of King Alfred that it was recorded and subsequently inserted into the Old English version of the late Roman world history by Orosius, accompanied by Wulfstan's account of a voyage across the Baltic Sea. Ohthere's account is the earliest known description of the North by a Scandinavian and gives a fascinating and highly trustworthy glimpse of the early Viking... more
Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, and 1 others.

Eleanor Rosamund BarracloughOhthere…was from the very far north of Norway, beyond the Arctic Circle, near the modern city of Tromsø. (Source)

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2
In the early 1800's, on a Hebridean beach in Scotland, the sea exposed an ancient treasure cache: 93 chessmen carved from walrus ivory. Norse netsuke, each face individual, each full of quirks, the Lewis Chessmen are probably the most famous chess pieces in the world. Harry played Wizard's Chess with them in "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." Housed at the British Museum, they are among its most visited and beloved objects.

Questions abounded: Who carved them? Where? Nancy Marie Brown's "Ivory Vikings" explores these mysteries by connecting medieval Icelandic sagas with...
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Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, and 1 others.

Eleanor Rosamund BarracloughI learned so much from this book. (Source)

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3

Vikings and Gods in European Art

Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, and 1 others.

Eleanor Rosamund BarracloughI love this book because you can see something depicted visually and explained beautifully clearly all the way from Olaus Magnus up to the Nazis. (Source)

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4
This is an account of the Northern peoples by the Swedish historian Olaus Magnus (1490-1558). less
Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, and 1 others.

Eleanor Rosamund BarracloughThis is the sort of encyclopaedic history that we’ve lost. (Source)

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5

The Vinland Sagas



The Saga of the Greenlanders and Eirik the Red’s Saga contain the first ever descriptions of North America, a bountiful land of grapes and vines, discovered by Vikings five centuries before Christopher Columbus. Written down in the early thirteenth century, they recount the Icelandic settlement of Greenland by Eirik the Red, the chance discovery by seafaring adventurers of a mysterious new land, and Eirik’s son Leif the Lucky’s perilous voyages to explore it. Wrecked by storms, stricken by disease and plagued by navigational mishaps, some survived the...
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Recommended by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough, and 1 others.

Eleanor Rosamund BarracloughThe Vinland Sagas are my favourite. (Source)

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