Eleanor Barraclough – Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age
Eleanor Barraclough is a historian, writer and broadcaster, and the author of Beyond the Northlands: Viking Voyages and the Old Norse Sagas. Now based at Bath Spa University, she has previously held positions at the universities of Oxford and Durham. She is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and a BBC New Generation Thinker.
Introducing her new book, Embers of the Hands, is the story of all the Viking people who don’t fit the warrior stereotype – children, enslaved people, seers, artisans, travellers, and writers – but who shared their world nonetheless.
Drawn from the literature, history and archaeology of Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Greenland, the British Isles, Continental Europe and Russia, this is a history of a Viking Age filled with real people of different ages, classes, ethnicities, sexualities, and abilities as told through the traces that they left behind, from hairstyles, place names and love-notes to musical instruments and children’s toys.
Eleanor uncovers hidden histories and illuminates a world beyond the usual tales of raiders, traders and rulers – building up a fresh understanding of what it meant to live through those times, away from the grand narrative sweep of history.
Eleanor will be in conversation with Dr Hattie Soper, who teaches Medieval Literature at Bristol University, and has published on Old Norse writing.
£8.50
