The Sea-King and the Sorceress

Name: The Sea-King and the Sorceress
Price: 59.99 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780241611333

Life and Death in the Viking Age

Neil Price

$59.99

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

QTY:

English

Allen Lane
08 September 2026

History; European history; Medieval history; Social & cultural history; Maritime history; Medieval European archaeology

The Vikings brought brilliantly to life by one of their leading historians

Who do we think of when we think about the Vikings? Most of us are familiar with the seafaring marauders who raided, traded and settled the coasts of Europe between the eighth and eleventh centuries. In fact, those warriors made up only a small minority among a diverse people who had many roles and callings.

In this eye-opening and often moving book, Neil Price takes us on a journey across the Viking world, revealing the complex, varied and richly textured lives of those who inhabited it through the intimate context of their burials. Traversing a vast Scandinavian diaspora that stretched from the eastern Steppe all the way to Newfoundland, we meet townsfolk and farmers, the free and the enslaved, immigrants and diplomats, followers of many gods and the worshippers of one, sea-kings, shamans, sorceresses, and - of course - the ferocious pirates who gave the vikingar their name.

Unexpected encounters along the way challenge received wisdom about Norse culture, spiritual practices and politics, showing how they transformed their times and in doing so were changed themselves. How did a woman of Persian ancestry come to be interred in the richest Viking grave ever found? What do an arctic hunter and a Sami nomad tell us about a fast-changing society's notions of identity and belonging? How did these individuals see themselves, and what were their attitudes towards the elderly, infirm and children in their midst?

Drawing on the latest archaeological research and scientific analysis, The Sea-King and the Sorceress brings us closer to understanding the lives and times of the Vikings. The era that bears their name will never seem so simple again.

By: Neil Price
Imprint: Allen Lane
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 240mm, Width: 156mm, Spine: 40mm
Weight: 750g
ISBN: 9780241611333
ISBN 10: 0241611334
Pages: 448
Publication Date: 08 September 2026
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Neil Price holds the Chair of Archaeology at Uppsala University, Sweden, where he has also been appointed Distinguished Professor by the Swedish Research Council. A leading expert on the Viking Age, his fieldwork, teaching and research have taken him to more than forty countries. Neil is a Fellow of learned academies in Britain and Scandinavia, including Sweden's oldest, the Royal Society of Sciences; in 2017 it awarded him the Thureus Prize for his lifetime achievements in Viking studies. His publications have appeared in sixteen languages, and he is a frequent consultant and contributor to television and film.