Ivory Vikings: The Mystery of the Most Famous Chessmen in the Wor (Hardcover)

from DinadansFriend

Nancy Brown has created an interesting take on the history of Norway and the North of the Scandinavian world. The stem of the work is a description of the various chessmen discovered in 1832 on the Isle of Lewis. These are, aside from the ships and the horned helmets, the most widely displayed ar...

from japaul22

The Lewis Chessmen were discovered in Northern Scotland in the 1800s and have been fascinating people since. They were most likely crafted between 1100-1200 out of walrus tusk ivory but where, by whom, and for whom remain largely a mystery. Brown obviously likes the Iceland theory and the possibi...

from Medievalgirl

I listened to the audio book of a previous title by this author, and the synopsis and reviews piqued my interest in her new book.In some ways, I was a little disappointed. There wasn't a great deal of information about the wider world and Viking relations to it. I also didn't much appreciate the ...

from Shrike58

While it kind of peters out in the end what Brown does in this book is examine how Iceland fit into the wider world at the time when the Lewis Chessmen were likely made, which was also the same time that the great Icelandic sagas were created. It is from one of the historical sagas that we know o...

from JBD1

Really enjoyed this look at the Lewis Chessmen and their cultural context. There's a bit of speculation and a small amount of padding here (see the subtitle), but overall I was completely drawn into Brown's wide-ranging narrative, and even the speculation is carefully done and well explained.