As there appears to be no standard form of English spelling of early Scandinavian names, I have used whichever form seems the most appropriate in the historical context and the least intimidating for an English reader. Similarly, the title of ‘earl’ is spelled in that English form where it occurs in England, but in its original Old Norse form as jarl in a Scandinavian context. Sometimes names and terms are also given in their original spelling – set in italics and usually in parentheses – so it might be helpful to explain that the Norse character ð is pronounced ‘th’ (as in rather). I should also mention my specific use of the term viking in its original sense of ‘sea-raider’ as distinct from the modern usage of ‘Viking’ as a generic term for anyone (or anything) associated with early medieval Scandinavia. Notes have been kept to a minimum and most often used to acknowledge references to or quotations from the work of others, but there are two such authors to whom I owe a more prominent acknowledgement because Sigfús Blöndal’s The Varangians of Byzantium in the English edition revised and translated by Benedikt S.
