Review of Poulsen, Bjørn, and Søren Micheal Sindbæk (ed.), 'Settlement and Lordship in Viking and Early Medieval Scandinavia' (The Medieval Countryside, 9), Turnhout, Brepols, 2012; hardback; pp. xvii, 337; 20 b/w illustrations, 7 b/w tables, 16 b/w line art; R.R.P. €95.00; ISBN 9782503531311.

'Settlement and Lordship in Viking and Early Medieval Scandinavia covers' and further develops the research presentations of Aarhus University's 2008 Interdisciplinary Conference on 'Land and Lordship: Settlement and Social Power in Viking and Early Scandinavia'. Editors Bjørn Poulsen and Søren Sindbæk are recognizable as current academic leaders in the fields of medieval Scandinavian and Viking history and archaeology, enabling the volume to bring these two disciplines together extremely successfully. Like many areas of medieval study, much needs to be done to breathe new life into academic research rather than relying on the scholarship from last century, and volumes like 'Settlement and Lordship in Viking and Early Medieval Scandinavia' are one of the most effective ways of achieving this goal.