God's Hammer

A History of the Viking Crusades

Thomas Williams

A commanding history of how the Vikings and their descendants in medieval Scandinavia took up arms—and the cross—in pursuit of fortune, power, empire, and, occasionally, salvation.

In 1861, the archaeologist James Farrer excavated a grass-grown mound on the Orkney Islands off the north coast of Scotland. He discovered a Neolithic tomb that had once provided shelter for the prehistoric dead. He also found evidence that many centuries earlier, Norse-speaking tomb-breakers had entered the mound and left dozens of inscriptions, one of which stood out: "Crusaders broke into this barrow."

The world of the Viking north and the era of the Crusades sit apart from one another in the imagination, divided by the mental gulf created by the Norman Conquest. The Vikings are seen as a phenomenon of the Dark Ages, a time of unreconstructed barbarism and pagan menace, drenched in blood-sacrifice and presided over by grim gods; the Crusades on the other hand are squarely medieval, an outgrowth of the color, pageantry and romance of an era of knights, cathedrals, castles and bright heraldry: an age of violence, certainly, but glossed with faith and chivalry.

Both images are false, of course, created and compounded by centuries of historiographical habit. From the tenth century onward, the men of the north were as likely to be found killing in the name of Christ as they were to be pillaging the monasteries of Britain, Ireland and France. And, by the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the swords of Scandinavia were turned with frequency and fervor against the perceived enemies of God: in the Holy Land, in the wild and frozen world of the eastern Baltic and within the bounds of their own Scandinavian realms.

God’s Hammer is full of the adventure, horror, and madness associated with the Crusades, yet it exists in a world that remained inspired by the Viking heroes of the past. The focus throughout is on the deeds and experiences of the Scandinavians themselves; of the change they wrought upon the people and places they encountered, and the way in which the experience of Holy War transformed the self-image and mentality of those who prosecuted it and shaped the societies that gave rise to and sustained it.

A historian of the early Middle Ages and a former curator at the British Museum, Thomas Williams worked as project curator for the major international exhibition Vikings: Life and Legend. His doctoral research was undertaken at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology and he has taught at UCL and the University of Cambridge. He is a fellow and trustee of the Society of Antiquaries of London. Favorably reviewed in Britain, his previous books Lost Realms, Viking London, and Viking Britain were not published in America, so God’s Hammer is Thomas’s American debut. He lives in England.

Buy it now in print:

Buy it now in ebook:

Endorsements & Reviews

Praise for Thomas Williams:

"Written with wit and flair.” Finacial Times

"This brilliant history of Dark Age Britain mixes serious scholarship with nods to pop culture, from Tolkien to The Wicker Man . . . Lost Realms is a joy to read.” The Telegraph, Five Star Review

"Williams makes a compelling guide as he steers us through the darkness." The Spectator

"An exceptionally vivid and exciting writer, and his wonderfully evocative recreations are just what the generally impoverished and bewildering evidence for early medieval Britain requires. He is also however a meticulous, honest and fair-minded scholar.” Professor Ronald Hutton, author of The Witch

"Thomas Williams has blended a potent brew of mythic and material fragments to raise forgotten kings and queens from the grave. A historian not afraid of the dark and with eyes adapted to it—what he sees is assessed sagely and described beautifully." Christopher Hadley, author of Hollow Places and The Road

"A beautiful, beautiful book. Archaeology is changing so much about the way we view the so-called Dark Ages. [Williams] is just brilliant at bringing them to light.” - Rory Stewart on The Rest is Politics

"Fresh, vivid and impeccably researched. The most rip-roaring work of nonfiction I read this year." Tom Holland, The Observer, Books of the Year

"Williams’ infectiously enthusiastic book gives you everything you could want from a history of the Vikings." - Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times, Books of the Year

"A debut that pulses with the author’s passion for his subject and his mastery of written sources, archaeology and legend. Williams narrates a complex story in enjoyable, lusty prose.” Dan Jones, The Sunday Times (London)

"Williams is a master at conveying the atmosphere of Viking Britain. We are guests at a sensory feast, at times immersed and at others guided by the comforting hand of firm historical evaluation. Viking Britain is a giddy ride. A real treat.” The Literary Review

"Williams’ evocative prose puts flesh on sturdy academic bones. Viking Britain is a pleasure to read . . . a lively, colourful book that explores in high definition what being a Viking really meant. Williams . . . succeeds where many have failed: to make the truth about the Vikings as entertaining as the fiction.” The Times (London)

"A fundamentally new history of the Vikings in Britain: authoritative, at times controversial, and above all a personal journey through the byways of life under Scandinavian military occupation . . . A real pleasure to read.” Price Professor Neil Price