A Viking Market Kingdom in Ireland and Britain
Based on my Ph.D., this book asks how Viking-Age Scandinavians and their trading partners created and sustained vast trade networks, and their underlying silver economies, that stretched from Central Asia to Britain and Ireland (Routledge 2021).
The Viking Age in Scotland
With its origins in a 2018 conference I co-organised and Graham-Campbell & Batey’s seminal 1998 book, Vikings in Scotland, The Viking Age in Scotland gathered expert authors from across the spectrum of Scottish Scandinavian archaeology to produce a book on the state of the art in the field (Edinburgh University Press 2022).
https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-viking-age-in-scotland.html
Treasures of the Vikings
Released 19th May, 2026
Amber Books: Treasures of the Vikings explores the material culture of the Viking Age, and the raiders and traders who plundered and purchased across Europe and Central Asia.
From battles in Estonia in the mid 8th-century and the apocalyptic Viking attack on the monastery at Lindisfarne on the remote northeast coast of Anglo-Saxon England in 793, until the demise of Scandinavian control of Shetland in 1472, Viking groups played a central role in history, as pirates, traders and mercenaries, leaving a trail of destruction, settlements and treasure from Newfoundland to the shores of the Black Sea.
In between, Vikings traded along the great rivers of Russia and Ukraine, conquered in Britain and France, settled in Iceland and Greenland, and enriched Scandinavia with loot.
Marvel at a Frankish Ulfberht high-carbon steel sword, prized by Viking warriors for its strength and lightness, and see the remarkable walrus ivory and whale tooth Lewis Chess Pieces, found on the eponymous Scottish isle in the 19th century.
Packed with photographs of fascinating objects and sites, Treasures of the Vikings is ideal for any enthusiast for all things Viking.
Pre-order online now!
Chapters | Reports
Hacksilver: ‘Ring-Money’, in The Earl’s Bu, Orphir. Feasting, Farming and Commerce at the Heart of the Orkney Norse Earldom, Colleen E Batey with Rachel Barrowman and Ingrid Mainland – The Orcadian on behalf of HES (2025).
Insights on networks of trade and exchange, in The Earl’s Bu, Orphir. Feasting, Farming and Commerce at the Heart of the Orkney Norse Earldom, Colleen E Batey with Rachel Barrowman and Ingrid Mainland – The Orcadian on behalf of HES (2025).
Oblate Sphere Weights, in The Earl’s Bu, Orphir. Feasting, Farming and Commerce at the Heart of the Orkney Norse Earldom, Colleen E Batey with Rachel Barrowman and Ingrid Mainland – The Orcadian on behalf of HES (2025).
Gold Hackmetal, in The Earl’s Bu, Orphir. Feasting, Farming and Commerce at the Heart of the Orkney Norse Earldom, Colleen E Batey with Rachel Barrowman and Ingrid Mainland – The Orcadian on behalf of HES (2025).
Silver Threads: How Scandinavian Scotland connected with a wider economic world, in D. Steinforth and C. Rozier (eds) Britain and its Neighbours: Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Medieval and Early Modern Europe, 69-86.
Viking and Norse Bullion Economies in Scandinavian Scotland, in The Viking Age in Scotland: Studies in Scottish Scandinavian Archaeology, 276-288.
Hacksilver?, in Sharples (ed), The Economy of a Norse Settlement. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 109.
Balance component (with R. Smith), in Sharples (ed), The Economy of a Norse Settlement. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 108-9.
Weights (with R. Smith), in Sharples (ed), The Economy of a Norse Settlement. Oxford: Oxbow Books, 106-8.
Book Reviews
The Vikings in the Hebrides, by Niall Sharples, in Archaeological Journal (2026)
Crafts and Social Networks in Viking Towns edited by Steven P. Ashby and Søren M. Sindbæk, Oxford, Oxbow Books, 2019, Archaeological Journal
References & Citations
I was delighted to see ‘A Viking Market Kingdom’ referenced in 2024’s ‘Life in the Viking Great Army – Raiders, Traders, and Settlers’ (OUP).
My thanks to Dawn M. Hadley and Julian D. Richards, and Dave Haldenby, Gareth Perry and Mark Randerson.
Oxford University Press
Google Scholar
It is a real honour to see A Viking Market Kingdom being cited by a range of scholars.
Dr Tom Horne, Viking Archaeologist 