This book looks at the emergence of the cult of St Magnus, earl of Orkney (d. 1117), and the literary corpus composed in his honour. Both aspects are examined from a wider Scandinavian and European perspective.

"The First Printed Translations" by William James Harris is a bibliography that has been compiled with the view of supplementing existing textbooks on English literary history and assisting students in preparing for examinations in Bibliography and Literature. It will also be of service to those who are working for the professional examinations of the Library Association. The great foreign classics have exercised a direct and decided influence upon English literature and the object of this bibliography is to give in concise form the authors and titles, translations, and dates of the first English translations of the chief foreign authors, and incidentally to enable students to note the effect of such translations on the works of many of our great imaginative writers. Excerpt: "ACHILLES TATIUS. Fourth Century. Greek writer. CLEITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE. Tr. by Rev. R. Smith, 1855. One of the decadent Greek novelists. An erotic novel of a conventional type. ÆLFRIC. c. 1006. THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES. Ed. with tr. B. Thorpe, Ælfric Soc., 1844-46. LIVES OF SAINTS. Ed. Text and Tr. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., 1881. Eminent Saxon prelate, one of the most learned of his time. His works, upwards of eighty in number, have been republished by the Ælfric Soc. (London, 1844-46)."

A richly drawn account of a single day in the Viking world, chronicling an hour in the life of 24 individuals from every corner of Viking society. From the bestselling 24 Hours series.

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 modern archaeology, art history, forensics, and the history of board games. In the process, Ivory Vikings presents a vivid history of the 400 years when the Vikings ruled the North Atlantic, and the sea-road connected countries and islands we think of as far apart and culturally distinct: Norway and Scotland, Ireland and Iceland, and Greenland and North America. The story of the Lewis chessmen explains the economic lure behind the Viking voyages to the west in the 800s and 900s. And finally, it brings from the shadows an extraordinarily talented woman artist of the twelfth century: Margret the Adroit of Iceland.

A vivid new history of the criminal underworld in the medieval Holy Land The religious wars of the crusades are renowned for their military engagements. But the period was witness to brutality beyond the battlefield. More so than any other medieval war zone, the Holy Land was rife with unprecedented levels of criminality and violence. In the first history of its kind, Steve Tibble explores the criminal underbelly of the crusades. From gangsters and bandits to muggers and pirates, Tibble presents extraordinary evidence of an illicit underworld. He shows how the real problem in the region stemmed not from religion but from young men. Dislocated, disinhibited, and present in disturbingly large numbers, they were the propellant that stoked two centuries of unceasing warfare and shocking levels of criminality. Crusader Criminals charts the downward spiral of desensitisation that grew out of the horrors of incessant warfare--and in doing so uncovers some of the most surprising stories of the time.