Abstract
THE author of this work has persuaded himself that the invaders who conquered and settled in Britain after the departure of the Romans were not, as we have been taught to believe, Low Dutch tribes, but Norsemen. It is unfortunate that he should have hampered himself in his researches by so arbitrary a theory. Of course, no one disputes that there is a strong Scandinavian element in England; the fact has always been perfectly well understood by historians, and has received from them due attention. But to say that the English people are wholly or mainly descended from Scandinavians is to advance a proposition opposed to all the most vital evidence we possess on the subject. The evidence of language alone would suffice to dispose of so crude a doctrine. Mr. Du Chaillu has not approached the consideration of the question in a scientific spirit, and has too lightly brushed aside the difficulties in his way.
The Viking Age; the Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations.
By Paul B. Du Chaillu. Two Vols. 1366 Illustrations, and Map. (London: Murray, 1889.)
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P., F. The Viking Age; the Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations. Nature 41, 173 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/041173a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/041173a0