Introduction

This semester we will study three different warrior societies that underwent
change.

The Vikings were one of many groups of raiders at the periphery of the civilised
world. But became traders across the Atlantic and Europe, craftsmen of great
skill, and explorers of new lands and markets from America to Baghdad.

The Shoguns and their samurai warriors steered Japan as it moved from a feudal
system controlled by the army, resistant to European powers to a modern nation
and an international competitor.

The Mongols were a divided, yet fierce group of horse-riding nomads on the
central Asian steppe who united by the intelligence and will of a short-lived
dynasty of great leaders controlled an empire that reached from Beijing to
Vienna.

Resources

Phillip, Myths and Legends Explained
Vikings
The Norse Gods
The World Tree Myth
Sigurd the Dragon-Slayer
Samurai
The Sacred Mountain
Amaterasu Hides Away

Childrens book of mythical beasts and magical monsters, p. 90f
family tree of the Norse gods
map of World-Tree
Stories of Thor and Sigurd

Knives and Swords a Visual History
Feature on Viking warrior; swords, spears etc.
Features on Samurai, different Japanese swords, Ninjas

Pirate
Spread on Raiders of the North

History of Britain and Ireland
Viking raiders and settlers, pp. 46-47
Alfred the Great, pp. 50-51
Ireland in Viking times, pp. 54
Triumph of the Danes, pp. 56-58
William the Conqueror, pp. 68-70

The Cambridge History of Japan

New Cambridge Medieval History
vol. 2 ch. 7: On Vikings in England and France
vol. 2 ch. 8: On Scandinavia

Companion to the Early Middles Ages: Britain and Ireland
ch. 13 on Viking raids and conquest
ch. 14 on Viking settlement

A Short History of Japan

Mounted Archers of the Steppe

Bryant, Early Samurai AD 200-1500

Turnbull, Samurai Armies 1550-1615

Turnbull, Ninja AD 1460-1650

Turnbull, Genghis Khan and the Mongol Conquests

Turnbull, Samurai Commanders

Turnbull, The Samurai Capture a King: Okinawa 1609

Turnbull, Ashigaru