A growing treasure chamber: free knowledge PDFs with our logo, public-domain original works on Vikings and Germanic peoples, great finds and stories – plus routes to museums and rune stones.
Lovingly prepared, with our logo, free to read and share. A dedicated handbook for each runic row.
Odin’s wisdom for life – now complete: all 164 stanzas in six chapters (gnomic poem, love, Odin’s examples, Loddfáfnismál, rune song, magic songs). German after Simrock, public domain.
Download PDF Read online BilingualAll 24 runes of the oldest runic row (c. 150–800 AD) with names, sound values and meaning – to look up.
Download PDF Read onlineThe 16 runes of the Viking Age (c. 800–1100), interpreted from the Old Norse rune poem.
Download PDF Read onlineUp to 33 runes from England and Frisia, interpreted from the Old English rune poem.
Download PDF Read onlineA compact overview of Odin, Thor, Freyja, Tyr, Loki, Yggdrasil & co. – summarised in plain language.
Download PDF Read onlineSix stories that bring the world of the Vikings and Germanic peoples to life.
In the early 7th century, an entire royal ship with its treasures was buried beneath a mound in eastern England. The famous ceremonial helmet and the gold jewellery mirror almost word for word the world of the Beowulf epic – a window into the Germanic heroic age.
View at the British MuseumIn 834, two women were buried in a richly carved oak ship – the most magnificent Viking ship ever preserved. Its intricate animal ornament shows just how high the standard of woodcraft and seafaring was in the North.
Oslo MuseumAround 965, King Harald Bluetooth had a mighty rune stone raised at Jelling – ‘Denmark’s birth certificate’, bearing the oldest image of Christ in Scandinavia. Today a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a turning point between paganism and Christianity.
Kongernes JellingGermany’s most important Viking gold find came to light after storms on the Baltic island of Hiddensee: the finest filigree work from the circle of Harald Bluetooth, with Mjölnir and cross side by side – an image of the age of transition.
Stralsund MuseumOn the island of Gotland, people told their sagas in stone: riders on eight-legged horses, longships, gods and heroes – picture-narratives, centuries before the Edda was written down.
Picture-stone databaseHedeby was one of the largest trading hubs of the North, a turntable between the North and Baltic seas. Here silver from the Orient, amber, furs and crafts came together – the beating heart of the Viking economy.
Hedeby Viking MuseumA growing collection: public-domain original texts and classic translations – plus freely accessible full-text portals, scholarly studies, archaeology and runology. One of the most extensive link collections on the subject anywhere.
The Poetic and Prose Edda in Karl Simrock’s classic German rendering (1876).
Read →The Middle High German heroic epic – related to the Völsung saga, in German by Simrock.
Read →The famous ancient description of the Germanic tribes, in German.
Read →Germanic tales of gods and heroes, vividly retold.
Read →‘Nordic-Germanic Gods and Heroes’ – a classic retelling.
Read →‘Handbook of Germanic Mythology’ (1895) – a scholarly classic.
Read →A comprehensive account of the Norse pantheon (1903).
Read →Jacob Grimm’s foundational work on Germanic mythology (original).
Read →Elder & Younger Edda, English by Benjamin Thorpe.
Read →Snorri's Prose Edda, English by Rasmus B. Anderson.
Read →The mythological poems, English verse by Olive Bray (1908).
Read →H. A. Guerber's great retelling from Eddas and sagas.
Read →Snorri Sturluson's sagas of the Norse kings.
Read →Völsunga saga, trans. Morris & Magnússon.
Read →Njáls saga – one of the great Icelandic sagas (Dasent).
Read →The outlaw Grettir's tale of heroism and haunting.
Read →Grettis saga in William Morris's verse rendering.
Read →Norse folk tales by Asbjørnsen & Moe (Dasent).
Read →The Old English epic, trans. Francis B. Gummere.
Read →Grimm's „Deutsche Mythologie“, English (Stallybrass).
Read →Where you can discover the Viking Age with your own eyes.
Hedeby Viking MuseumJelling StonesGotland Picture StonesHistoriska museet StockholmNational Museum of DenmarkViking Ship Museum RoskildeViking Ships OsloSutton HooRune Inscriptions (Runor)Viking Ring Fortresses (UNESCO)Birka & Hovgården (UNESCO)Hiddensee GoldJorvik Viking Centre (York)Lofotr Viking Museum (NO)Dublinia (Dublin)