The Long Ships or Red Orm (original Swedish: Röde Orm meaning Red Orm, lit. Red Serpent or Red Snake) is an adventure novel by the Swedish writer Frans G. Bengtsson. The narrative is set in the late 10th century and follows the adventures of the Viking Röde Orm - called "Red" for his hair and his temper, a native of Scania. The book portrays the political situation of Europe in the later Viking Age, Andalusia under Almansur, Denmark under Harald Bluetooth, followed by the struggle between Eric the Victorious and Sven Forkbeard, Ireland under Brian Boru, England under Ethelred the Unready, and the Battle of Maldon, and then the Byzantine Empire and its Varangian Guard, Kievan Rus and its neighbors the Patzinaks - all before the backdrop of the gradual Christianization of Scandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic Norse pagan outlook with the exclusiveness of Islam and Christianity.
The novel is divided into two parts, published in 1941 and 1945, with two books each. It used to be one of the most widely read books in Sweden. The first part was translated into English by Barrows Mussey as Red Orm in 1943, but later editions and newer translations by Michael Meyer use the title The Long Ships. The book has been translated into at least 23 languages.
Characters
Main characters
Orm Tostesson: The son of a Scanian chieftain. Åsa: Orm's mother. The family matriarch. Toke Grey-Gullsson (Toke Grågullesson): An adventurer from Blekinge who joined Krok's company. He becomes the lifelong friend of Orm. Father Willibald: A priest assigned as physician to King Harald's court. Ylva Haraldsdotter: King Harald's daughter with an Obotrite slave-girl. Later Orm's wife.
Secondary characters
Krok: The leader of the expedition to Spain. Rapp: A member of the expedition, then a galley slave with its other survivors. Later a retainer of Orm. Gudmund: A landowner who has a tense relationship with Orm. Olof Styrsson: An experienced chieftain from Finnveden. Ludmilla Ormsdotter: Orm's restless daughter. Betrothed to Olof.
Recurring characters
Solomon the Jew: A Sephardi silversmith rescued by Krok's company. Lady Subaida: The young daughter of a Leonese margrave. This is the name given to her after she becomes a concubine of Almanzor. The Erin Masters: Two jester brothers (Felimid and Ferdiad) from Ireland. Rainald: A Lotharingian priest sent to Scandinavia to replace a priest held as a thrall. Mirah: An Andalusian slave-girl at King Harald's court. Also Toke's future wife
Plot
The first book covers the years 982 to 990. While still a youth, Orm is abducted by a Viking party led by Krok and they sail south. They fall captive to Andalusian Muslims and serve as galley slaves for more than two years, later becoming members of Almansur's bodyguard for four years, raiding Santiago de Compostela under his command. They return to Denmark to King Harald Bluetooth's court where Orm meets Ylva. Orm later returns to Scania with Rapp. Orm and Rapp join a Viking party raiding England again after a brief period of peace in that area following the reconquest of the Danelaw in the mid-10th century by King Edgar, Ethelred's father. Orm joins a party led by Thorkell the High in England and when he learns that Harald's daughter Ylva is staying in London, gets baptised and marries Ylva. They move to a neglected farm, his mother's inheritance in Göinge, northern Skåne, near the border with Småland. During the following years (992 to 995), Orm prospers, and Ylva gives birth to twin girls (Oddny and Ludmilla), a son, Harald, and later to another son (though possibly from Rainald), Svarthöfde (Blackhair in the Michael Meyer translation). Meanwhile, Orm also gets busy in converting the heathens in the district, with the help of Father Willibald.