The Fury of the Norsemen:

From the late 9th century the Vikings exploded out of Scandinavia. As raiders, merchants, settlers and conquerers their expansion reached from central Asia to the coast of Labrador. If it was their superb ships that enabled the Vikings to travel so far, it was their strength of arms that allowed them to hold what they took.

This image of the tough Viking warrior has appealed to their distant descendants, from the Romantics of the 19th century to the present. It has inspired art and archeology. Today it also inspires a sport; bloodless combat using replicas of Viking weapons.