Viking Lives

Episodios

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  Snorri the Priest 14.07.2026 37m

  For the final episode of series 2, Kári has the story of an Icelandic chieftain who came to be known as Snorri Goði - Snorri the Priest of Thor: a manipulative and shrewd leader who devised a cunning plan to lure two extremely violent Swedish berserker warriors to their death. Viking Lives will return with series 3 on Tuesday 11 August. In the meantime, Richard and Kári will be presenting 'Viking Lives: Ghost Stories' live on stage at this year’s Byron Writers’ Festival in NSW on 14 August. Tickets available here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Thordis the Wronged 07.07.2026 48m

  This episode features the life of Thordis Sursdottir, a Viking woman from the tenth century. Thordis’s family was forced to escape Norway after her brother Gisli killed two men who wanted to marry her. The family set up a farm in the northwest fjords of Iceland, where she married her husband Thorgrim. But when Thorgrim was murdered in the middle of the night – again by Gisli – Thordis took her revenge against her brother, forcing him to become a fugitive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  The Prague Castle Warrior 30.06.2026 29m

  Today’s episode comes from forecourt of Prague Castle in the Czech Republic, recorded while Richard and Kári were in Europe. It was here, under the pavement, that the bones of a medieval warrior were excavated in 1928 … with a Viking sword buried beside him. The discovery set off a fierce struggle between Hitler and Stalin to claim his ancestry. Was this man a Germanic Viking? Or was he a Slavic warrior in the court of the king of Bohemia? The answer, they believed, would determine the rightful owners of the entire city. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Gunnlaug Serpent Tongue 23.06.2026 48m

  Gunnlaug Serpent Tongue was an arrogant and impetuous Viking, famed for his ability to compose brilliant poetry spontaneously for the kings of medieval Sweden and England. But in doing so, he became the deadly rival of another poet, who spitefully married the woman Gunnlaug had known since childhood. Relations between the two men became poisonous, and they descended into a cycle of pointless violence that neither could escape until one of them was dead. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Egill the Broken 16.06.2026 52m

  Egill Skallagrimsson was both a vicious, murderous Viking raider and a poet of great sensitivity and feeling. He fought on behalf of an English king who rewarded him handsomely, but the queen of Norway detested him and tried to kill him. Eventually Egill retired to his family farm in Iceland, where a terrible loss brought out one of the saddest poems of the Viking Age. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Gudrun of the Springs (with Hannah Kent) 09.06.2026 53m

  Hannah Kent, author of the international bestseller ‘Burial Rites’ joins Richard and Kári to tell the story of our favourite Viking woman: Gudrun Osvifsdottir. Gudrun was an Icelander of the tenth century, who was famous for her high-mindedness and fine manners. But when her honour was slighted, and her heart was wounded, she brought down the man she loved, hated and needed all at the same time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Aud the Deep Minded 02.06.2026 41m

  The Vikings came to Ireland at the end of the eighth century, first as raiders, then as settlers, and they founded the cities of Dublin, Wexford and Limerick as slave trading centres. In this episode, Kári and Richard tell the story of a Viking queen of Dublin known as Auð the Deep-Minded, who was forced to flee to Iceland, where she became one of its most powerful chieftains. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Melkorka the Silent 25.05.2026 44m

  Melkorka was an Irish woman who was enslaved by Vikings in the ninth century AD. She was brought to Scandinavia, where she was bought by an Icelandic farmer named Hoskuld, who made her his concubine. But Melkorka was mute, and so Hoskuld knew nothing of her origins, until he caught her talking by a stream one day.Special guest Lisa Bennett, author of Viking Women: Life & Lore. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Ingolf the Icelander 19.05.2026 42m

  In this episode, Kári tells the story of the foundation of Iceland as a new kind of Viking society on the rim of the Arctic Circle, and of Ingolf, the man who led a party of settlers to the smoky bay he named Reykjavik. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Harald Finehair 12.05.2026 44m

  In the first episode of series 2 of Viking Lives, Richard has the story of Harald Finehair, the Norwegian chieftain who swore he would not cut his hair or beard until he became king of all of Norway. But his heavy-handed rule goaded people to board their longships and establish new Viking colonies elsewhere. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Sol the Charioteer 14.04.2026 45m

  To conclude our first series of Viking Lives, Richard & Kári are bringing you a special episode: we’re tracking the strange ride of the goddess Sól across the skies of the Norse world. The Vikings of Scandinavia lived through unimaginably harsh and dark winters, confined to their cramped longhouses for weeks at a time while blizzards raged outside. Then, when the world warmed up and the sea ice broke, they could sail out once more into the wider world. Kári also recounts here some of the rituals he remembers from his boyhood in Iceland that marked the shift from the long winter dark into the eternal light of summer. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Bjorn Ironside 07.04.2026 51m

  In this episode we follow the fleets of the Viking raiders as they break into Muslim Spain, North Africa and Italy for the first time. Richard and Kári present the story of Bjorn Ironside, famed for his brutal skill as a warrior that made him virtually invulnerable to the weapons of his enemies. In 859 AD, Bjorn led a Viking fleet on an extraordinary voyage into the Mediterranean. They seized loot and slaves wherever they went. And then, when they landed in Italy, they hatched a mad scheme to make Bjorn the emperor of Rome. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Lagertha the Shield Maiden 31.03.2026 40m

  Lagertha the Shield Maiden appears only briefly in the medieval Viking stories, but she retains a powerful hold on the modern imagination. In this episode, Richard and Kári are joined by Dr. Lisa Bennett, author of Viking Women, to explore the concept of the Norse shield maiden, and to examine the evidence for the existence of these fierce Viking warrior-women. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Ragnar the Raider 24.03.2026 37m

  Last time we brought you the mythic tale of Ragnar Lodbrok.In this episode, Richard and Kari go on the trail of the real-life, flesh-and-blood Ragnar, whose life is recorded in the chronicles of medieval Europe.This Ragnar is remembered as a ruthless chieftain, hated by the kings of Christendom, who led a Viking invasion of France, and then put the city of Paris to siege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Ragnar the Legend 17.03.2026 54m

  This is the first of two episodes on the life of Ragnar Lodbrok.Richard and Kári begin with the story of the legendary Ragnar taken from the mythic saga that bears his name. In this telling, Ragnar is an impossibly strong Viking warrior who kills a dragon, marries the princess Aslaug, and becomes a king. Ragnar’s adventures make him famous, but when his sons' reputations threaten to overshadow him, he embarks on a final disastrous invasion of Britain. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Mad Amleth 09.03.2026 48m

  Kári and Richard present the strange tale of Amleth the Mad: the Danish prince whose uncle murders his father and then marries his mother in unseemly haste. Amleth, alone and in great danger, pretends to be mad until he can figure out how to take his revenge. This was the original story that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet, and formed the basis of the recent film The Northman’, with Alexander Skarsgard. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Yngvar the Helmsman 03.03.2026 44m

  Richard and Kári dig up the remains of a Viking king named Yngvar.Yngvar was long thought to have been a figure of legend. But in 2008, a ship-grave was excavated on a Baltic island that was dated to the year 750 AD.Inside the ship were the remains of 34 wounded warriors and their mysterious leader, who was found with a gilded sword and a chess piece lodged in his mouth.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Beowulf the Strong 24.02.2026 48m

  Kári and Richard plunge into the tale of Beowulf, the legendary Norseman who sets out to kill a murderous creature named Grendel, and then must face an even more dangerous monster: Grendel’s mother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Gudrun the Vengeful 17.02.2026 42m

  Richard and Kári delve into the semi-mythic tale of the Viking heroine Gudrun the Vengeful, and her destruction of Attila the Hun. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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  Dawn on Lindisfarne 10.02.2026 11m

  Introducing a new podcast by Richard Fidler and Kári Gislason, in which they travel to the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in England where Viking plunderers stepped ashore in 793 AD, generating a shockwave that rippled across Christian Europe. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.