. The Normans were conquering heroes, but they were also transmitters of a culture they had adopted, not created. The Vikings, on the other hand, were the Old Guard, the guardians of a culture they had invented, and which had served them for several hundred years, since the first Northmen had left the Scandinavian countries in search of conquest and the space to grow and prosper. The author knows this, and so the clash of cultures is all the more fascinating.
As to social and cultural institutions, the novel is all the more interesting. Britain is an amalgam of many cultures, and the Vikings and Norman cultures figure prominently. The differing manner of speech is presented well, as in the sentence "Give you joy of your foster-cub, Haethcyn," (p. 79), in which the Viking Jarl looks down from his High Seat and talks to Aikin of Harpers.
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