Student med vikinghjelm i praksis på St. Hallvard skole

Viking History and Old Norse Literature Exchange programme

Vestfold makes a perfect place to study how the Viking Age society, culture and economics worked within Scandinavia, as well as how this period was remembered in the Old Norse literature of the Middle Ages.

  • Apply from: 01. Mar 2025
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Study facts

  • Campus: Vestfold
  • Study level: Exchange programmes, bachelor level
  • Progression of study: Full time
  • Start up: Autumn 2025
  • Teaching model: Campus
  • Credits: 30
  • Charge: No tuition fee. Fees connected to (non-mandatory) excursions/trips related to the courses may apply.
  • Closing dates: 15.04.2025
  • Semesters: 1
  • Teaching Language: English
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Why study Viking History and Old Norse Literature?

When you study Viking Age and Old Norse in Vestfold, you will be able to visit the places mentioned in the sagas and skaldic poetry, and to look over the shoulder of the archaeologists who uncover the mysteries of the Vikings.

What you will learn

Some of the most famous monuments from the Viking Age have been found in Vestfold, such as the Oseberg and Gokstad ships. Other, less well known, memorials from the Viking Age still dominate the landscape in Vestfold, such as the stone mounds at Mølen and the large chieftaincy at Borre. At the Viking town Kaupang, the major trading port in Viking Age Norway, archaeologists have uncovered a rich material culture that indicate trading routes to England, the continent, and eastwards to the Baltic Sea, Russia and the caliphate in Baghdad. Smaller ports of trade as well as farming communities have also been excavated more recently, showing the impact of the trade and raiding further down on the social scale.

In this programme, you will have two modules each of 15 ECTS:

Viking Age in Vestfold (15 ECTS) 

  • You will get a better understanding of one of the central regions of Viking Age Scandinavia
  • We will discuss the background and meaning of the extraordinary rich monuments in Vestfold, including Oseberg, Gokstad and Borre
  • We will see unique sites, weapons and other material traces, and discuss their religious, social and political functions
  • You will learn about the impact of the far-reaching relations to the continent, the British Isles, and Eastern regions
  • We will study how kingship and Christianity transformed the society and landscape of Viking Age Vestfold

Norse literature (15 ECTS) 

This course examine points of contact between Norse and European (especially English) literary culture:

  • You will learn about the main literary traditions developed in Norway and Iceland, including eddic poetry, skaldic verse, family sagas, kings’ sagas, religious texts, and ballad literature
  • We will examine some of the ways in which Norse myth has been retold and reshaped in different historical periods up to our own time
  • In-class work will be combined with excursions connecting the literary topics studied with some of the prominent historical sites in the region, such as Tønsberg, stave churches, excavated Viking ships, the burial mounds at Borre etc.

Course plan

A course plan will give you a description of the academic content of the course and your learning outcome. You will find reading lists and relevant information on how each course is taught.

Admission requirements

The programme is open to international exchange students studying at one of USN's bilateral partner institutions. Exchange students at the bachelor-level must have completed at least 60 ECTS or equivalent within the relevant study field, and be officially nominated by their home university in order to apply. Admission to the programme requires a good command of the English language, both spoken and written. An English proficiency equivalent to B2 (Cambridge) level is recommended.

This course is also available to all EDUC GAP-year students. 

Any questions?