The Vikings (2000, PBS Nova)

On 8 June 793 AD, a boat full of Scandinavian raiders landed at the undefended island monastery of Lindisfarne in northeast England. They savagely attacked the monks and pillaged one of Christendom's holiest shrines, sending shock waves through Europe; many believed God had sent the Northmen as an act of divine judgment. For the next century, Europe's kingdoms were locked in a life-and-death struggle against massive onslaughts by Viking fleets and armies. In this bitter fight for survival, the first stirrings of national identity in England, France, and Russia were born.

But who were their aggressors? In this two-hour special, NOVA presents a dramatic investigation of a people who were much more than axe-wielding pirates. It features stunning camerawork in Scandinavia and the far-flung countries that the Vikings penetrated, while historians and archaeologists present us with an image of the Vikings that goes far deeper than their savage stereotype. The latest research shows that they were canny merchants, expert shipbuilders, superb artisans, and bold colonizers of lands that lay beyond the edge of the known world.

The special retraces Viking voyages in faithful replicas of their magnificent ships, probing such questions as how they were able to navigate so far beyond the sight of land in the stormy north Atlantic. NOVA searches for traces of Leif Eriksson's legendary exploits in North America and the poignant extinction of Erik the Red's colony in Greenland. Less familiar is the story of the extraordinary Viking journeys along Russian rivers that led them ultimately to Istanbul and Baghdad. The Scandinavian contribution to the formation of Russia—the very name comes from Rus, meaning Swede or Scandinavian—is one of the liveliest Viking controversies investigated by NOVA.

With state-of-the-art computer animation and fresh archaeological discoveries, NOVA breathes life into the towns the Vikings founded, from Dublin to Novgorod. "The Vikings" strips away the myth of savagery to reveal a compelling portrait of a people who brought fear, prosperity, and new horizons to the world of medieval Europe.

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/vikings

1 hour 44 minutes | 1250x952 | 30fps | 1022kbps | Subtitles: English (embedded) | Chaptered

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