The Draugur

The fourth season of Viking Lives begins with Freya, the Norse goddess of love, sex, war and death.Freya was one of the most powerful Viking deities, who came from the second family of gods: the Vanir.She introduced a special kind of magic to the Aesir, known as seiðr, which was practised by Norse women for centuries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For this final episode of series 3, Richard & Kári have a collection of Viking Ghost stories, recorded at a special event at the Byron Writers’ Festival with a live audience. These are tales taken from the sagas, from Icelandic folklore, and from an incident that occurred while making this series at Oxford University. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Gudrid sets out with her husband Karlsefni on an expedition to make a new Viking settlement in North America, the land they know as Vinland. Three ships, with 65 people, livestock and provisions, cross the North Atlantic and eventually find their way to the rich, temperate land that Leif Eriksson had spoken of. The new Viking colony seems destined to succeed, until they encounter the local people, who are unhappy about the presence of these interlopers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Gudrid Thorbjarnardottir was the daughter of an Icelandic chieftain, who was very likely the most well-travelled human being of her time. In this first episode, Gudrid’s family settles in the new Viking colony on Greenland. The settlement is struggling, and a seer named Thorbjorg comes to prophesy its future. Even though Gudrid is a Christian, she assists the seer in performing her pagan rite … who then foretells a future for Gudrid that will take her across the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Richard has the story of the epic voyage of Leif Erickson, son of Erik the Red, who sailed west out of Greenland and travelled across the North Atlantic all the way to North America. Known as Leif the Lucky, he became the first European to set foot in the Americas, some five centuries before Christopher Columbus. His journey can be traced through two accounts: the Saga of Erik the Red and the Saga of the Greenlanders. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first in a series of episodes following the Viking explorers and settlers who sailed west into the unknown and formed settlements in the New World. We begin with Erik the Red, who was sent into exile from Iceland for his crimes, and sailed all the way to the island of Greenland, where he founded two Viking colonies in the tenth century. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

At the turn of the first millennium, the Viking kingdoms of Scandinavia were abandoning the old Norse religion and officially adopting Christianity.Norway sent missionaries into Iceland and in the year 1000 AD, a meeting was held at Iceland’s open-air parliament, the Althing, to decide whether they too would become baptised Christians. But tensions were running high between the converts and those loyal to the old gods. And so the decision fell to one man: the lawspeaker Thorgeir Thorkelsson… who had to find a way to avert civil war. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the second part of the story of Hallgerd Hoskuldsdottir, known as Hallgerd Longlegs. Hallgerd, already widowed twice, went to the annual assembly at Thingvellir, where she met the handsome and charismatic Gunnar of Hlidarendi, who had just returned to Iceland after finding great success in Norway. The two were considered the most attractive people on the island, and they were instantly and powerfully attracted to each other. They settled on Gunnar’s farm in the south of Iceland, but Hallgerd’s arrival upset the settled friendships in the area, and her fierce temper brought both of them into a deadly feud. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the first of two episodes on the life of Hallgerd Hoskuldsdottir: the most dangerous woman in tenth century Iceland. Hallgerd was a striking figure; she was tall, with hair so long it could cloak her whole body. She was married three times, and was both a victim and an instigator of violence. This episode follows her childhood and her first two arranged marriages, in which she’s both formed and deformed by her pride, and the Viking honour culture that surrounds her. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode tells the story of a Viking named Hrafnkel, a powerful chieftan who lived in an isolated part of Iceland. Hrafnkel was rich and arrogant. One day he killed a shepherd for mishandling his most prized horse, which he associated with a Norse god.The result was a bitter feud between clans that Hrafnkel lost...but then won in murderous circumstances. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.