“The world of the Vikings was extensive. It stretched round the whole of Europe: from Scandinavia to the Mediterranean, along both easterly and westerly routes, and to the north-west to Iceland, Greenland and America. Throughout the Viking Age many sought their fortune in distant lands. Some remained there.” ―Else Roesdahl (The Vikings)

The Vikings did not just raid the jeweled gold crosses and grain from fat abbeys in England. They also rowed their shallow-hulled pirate ships into the maze of European rivers, worming their way down the Dnieper River to the Black Sea. The pickings were thinner here, though, than in the European hinterland, with no cities or monasteries to conveniently amass treasure to make raids worthwhile. So, in the East, instead of taking treasure and going home, they took the land and stayed.

In this chapter, we’ll watch the kingdoms of the Northmen rise and fall, up until the brink of the great communist commonwealth, and see what shadows of memory lie across the plains of Ukraine.

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