Viking Kings of Britain and Ireland. The Dynasty of Ívarr to A.D. 1014. By Clare Downham.
16x24 cm. xxii + 338 pp, 14 figs. Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2007. isbn
978-1-903765-89-0. Price: £25.00 hb.
The Viking Kings of Britain and Irelandprovides a political analysis of the deeds of
Ívarr’s family from their first appearance in Insular records down the year 1014. The
chronology and theme are similar to Smyth’s 1979 Scandinavian York and Dublin, though
Downham provides more solid foundations from which readers can understand the
historical evidence. The Irish Annals and Anglo-Saxon Chronicles provide the main
source and additional reference is made to coin evidence and occasionally to placenames
and archaeology; copious footnotes signpost the relevant texts and sources
throughout, and Downham manages to highlight the subtleties of historical research
whilst emphasising the need for multi-disciplinary studies. The narrative does become
confusing at times but Downham herself states how this book is designed to be dipped
into rather than read from cover to cover. As the text is organised from a geographic
perspective (covering Ireland, Scotland and North Britain), it is very easy to find one’s
way around. The book has eight chapters, covering geographical regions of Ireland,
England, North Britain, the Isles and Wales, top and tailed by both an introduction and
conclusions; Downham has also included a prosopography of Viking leaders named in
Irish Chronicles to ad 1014. The Bibliography is extensive and a useful tool in itself.
Although there are many good things about this volume, it is not without its faults.
There is a general lack of illustration, especially considering the complexity of the text;
more maps would help visualise some of the major political shifts, locations of battles
and their results far more readily; the prefatory note could be longer. Whilst definition
of the term ‘viking’ need (perhaps) not be too detailed, the question of ethnicity is
discussed purely from an historical perspective and there is only a short explanation as
to why Ívarr et al should be seen and discussed as real people (rather than that later
élites were perhaps keen to invent claims to kinship with him). Approaching this mass
of information from a non-specialist viewpoint, fuller methodological discussion may
perhaps assist in enabling a wider range of scholars to use and benefit from this book.
These faults are, however, negligible when considering its achievements. Students
of the Viking Age from any discipline need to be fully versed in its historical record.
This book ably provides a well-researched and solid account of that record in Britain
and Ireland, and should be valued as both a rich source and an interesting read.
Amanda Forster
Published by Maney Publishing (c) Society for Medieval Archaeology
Medieval Archaeology, 52, 2008, 481-82