First hand accounts of Viking warfare?

by Hugh_Jas97

I'm writing a research paper on Viking warfare, and while I have plenty of secondary resources to pull from, I'm struggling to find any primary sources to reference. Unfortunately all sources used have to be ones that could be found through my university's library, so it may be a long shot, but if there's the chance that any of them would work it would help me immensely.

textandtrowel

There's a pretty common core of primary sources used to discuss the Viking Age. You should be able to figure out what they are just by skimming your secondary sources for quotations. Many academic works even have a separate bibliography just for primary sources. Good ones will include both the original languages (Latin, Old English, Old Norse) and the best current translations.

If you don't have secondary sources that point you in the right directions, you might just not be finding the right ones. If you're paying university fees, your money goes in part to fund a research librarian who can answer precisely this kind of question. Just ask at the circulation desk; they should either have somebody on hand or help you set up an appointment. They should be able to get you to the right shelf or two in about 5-10 minutes.

If your librarians can't help (which would be surprising), your easiest bet is The Viking Age: A Reader. It's a greatest hits anthology for the Viking Age. Pick out the sources most interesting for you, and then check the bibliography for the full translated editions. Chances are you have this book on the shelf. If not, your library should be able to get it for you via an interlibrary loan.

As a word of caution, it's very easy to find chronicles that mention viking raids. It's much harder to find accounts that give details on a tactical level. These accounts, where they exist, tend to be highly poetic and stylized, such as the Battle of Brunanburh. Or they're vivid saga accounts, which might tell us more about the Icelandic farmers who told these stories than about the people who supposedly feature in the stories themselves. So once you start discovering the sources that are available, you might have to adjust your research questions. It's part of the process—almost a conversation between researchers and their sources—that we all have to do.

Sorry if that seems like a bit of a cop-out, but that's my two methods for finding sources: (1) check bibliographies, (2) talk to librarians. Since your assignment limits you to your own library (and books you can get through interlibrary loan?), it wouldn't help for me to recommend books that may or may not be in your library. A librarian is probably your best bet. And if you discover that your library has multiple copies of a source, such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, they should even be able to help you assess which one is best for you.