Historian neo-price in the children of ash and elm wants us to keep our eyes on the prize when it comes to these viking raids. He writes quote before venturing there however there is something else almost a moral imperative the cartographic viking age the raids as mapped is a useful but comfortably distant way to approach these events. A violent reality check is needed a corrective and necessary acknowledgement of what the maze of dates and place names and labeled arrows really meant he continues quote at their most immediate on the spot on the day for many the raids were the most bitter of endingsBehind every notation on our maps lay an urgent present of panic and terror of slashing blades and sharp points of sudden