As a brief account of the sea-rovers from Norway and
Denmark who harried the British and Irish coasts between the years 800 and 1200 nothing could be better than this lively and intelligent book (Allen and Unwin, 7s. 6d.). It is soundly based on the Norse sagas, from which the author quotes many characteristic passages, such as the astonishing voyage of Rognwald, Earl of Orkney, to the Holy Land with a flotilla of fifteen longships. Mr. Capper is rightly concerned to describe the man- ners and methods of these daring adven- turers rather than to attempt a history, which would be dull and meaningless because there was no coherence in their raids and settlements. Each leader fought for his own hand. It is made clear that conversion to Christianity did not abate the savagery of the Vikings, as some historians have naively sup- posed. They only ceased to trouble our shores when national governments be- came strong enough to deal with them. Mr. Capper accepts the story of the Norse discovery of America (Wineland). As he says, sailors who could face the Pentland Firth in their open boats, and who voyaged to Iceland and Greenland, might well have reached the American mainland. The odd thing is that the discovery had no result and was forgot- ten.
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