Lords of the Salt Road

For more than four centuries the Norse Earls of Orkney ruled a large swathe of Britain, from Shetland down to the Isle of Man. This new book draws a wealth of contemporary sources to expertly bring the violent and often dramatic story of these Viking rulers to life.

Lords of the Salt Road reveals the dramatic history of the Norse earls of Orkney, who owed their allegiance to the Kings of Norway and ruled their own semi-autonomous empire with lands in mainland Scotland and the Western Isles. At their military height in the 11th century, they held a 400-mile swathe of territory, stretching from Shetland down to the Clyde Estuary.

Drawing on contemporary sagas as historical sources, and capturing some of their spellbinding narrative drive, renowned historian and Orkney native Angus Konstam describes how these Norse earls and their followers led Viking raids around the British Isles and even further afield. For over four centuries their warriors and longships battled alongside Scandinavian kings and Norse rebels, and as Norse kingmakers these warlike earls sometimes paid the ultimate price for dabbling in international affairs. They were the key players in Viking Britain.

Using a wide range of historical sources such as Celtic-Scottish, Irish, Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon chronicles, this is a spellbinding tale of love, war, triumph, tragedy, treachery, murder, rebellion and greed.