Just before the year 1000 a young Viking named Thorvald the Far-farer turned his back on the pagan gods of his fathers to preach the Christian gospel, travelling to Jerusalem, the golden heart of all medieval world maps. A thousand years later Victoria Clark retraces his epic voyage to discover how the dramatic events of Thorvald’s Europe still resonate today. This is a compelling, highly acclaimed blend of history and travel, in the manner of William Dalrymple’s bestselling From the Holy Mountain.

As you can see from the image above, my copy of this book is well-used.

The year Thorvald left Iceland was 986…he was outlawed by the Icelandic Athling (government) and went off a-travelling.

The sticky notes mark salient points that I use to compare with a different timeline/history.

P.S. I keep getting the impression that travel in those days was nowhere near as arduous as we have been led to believe!!!