Luit van der Tuuk (b. 1954) is specialised in the early medieval history of north-western Europe. He is conservator at the Dorestad Museum and has published works about the Vikings’s role in the Low Countries, among other subjects. Previous books include Vikings (Vikingen. Noormannen in de Lage Landen, 2015) and Praise and Slander: Women in the Early Middle Ages (Lof en laster. Vrouwen in de vroege middeleeuwen, 2019).
(Omniboek, 2021, 224 pagina's)
Twelve centuries ago, Katla, a young Viking from Sweden, sailed to the Low Countries aboard a merchant ship. It would have been a long, dangerous journey that few aside from traders, colonists and noblemen would have dared make – perhaps least of all a young merchant’s daughter travelling without a male protector. As such, she remains a historical anomaly and we know precious little about her or her extraordinary voyage. Historian and conservator Luit van der Tuuk pieces together a portrait of this remarkable woman, by bringing to life the early Middle Ages in north-western Europe in all their surprising detail.
