The Viking Herald is officially on holiday! Just like every summer, we will be taking a ten-day break to rest and recharge our batteries. As we leave you without your regular dose of Viking news for a short period, we also take the time to reflect on our year so far.
The more things change…
It is safe to say we have had a busy first half of the year. In April 2026, Jonathan Bennett took over the day-to-day running of The Viking Herald from founder Robin-Ivan Capar. Happily, there is also plenty of continuity – Jonathan has been writing for The Viking Herald for several years, fellow writer Jonathan Williamson is still here, and editor Igor Sarnavka remains on board.
We also made two new additions: the Norwegian-American duo Brian Talgo and Brynjulf Haugan, also known as the Lost Viking Writers, who have authored two novels about life in modern-day Oslo and tales of the Norse Greenlanders.
Checking the stats, we have seen nearly 100,000 visitors come to the website for their fix of Viking news and attracted more than 1,000 fresh newsletter subscribers in the first half of 2026 – welcome all!
With Patreon, our subscription platform, we have risen to more than 50 paid subscribers and more than 200 members in total – thank you very much for your support! With these contributions we have also been able to take a major step – we have removed adverts from our site and we are now a 100% reader-funded publication.
(We also added an annual payment option to our Patreon page.)
The top six
Of course, we have also enjoyed writing a wide range of stories, covering everything from Viking Age history to Norse mythology, archeological discoveries, museums and festivals. As we all know, the Viking news cycle never stops!
There have also been various developments this year on the writing front, including the introduction of exclusive long-form Patreon articles and our first ever reader-commissioned stories.
After a little bit of analysis, we have made a list of the most popular articles of 2026 so far:
The Vikings return to America! Norwegian soccer team gets in the World Cup spirit (here)
Why didn’t the Vikings bring Eurasian diseases to North America? (here)
Top 10 Viking festivals and events for spring and summer 2026 (here)
What did women really wear in the Viking Age? (here)
Reexamining the Buddha in the Oseberg Viking ship burial (here)
Seeking the final resting place of Ivar the Boneless (here)
Aiming for more
We are officially on vacation from July 27 - August 5.
But when we get back, we want to do a little bit better. As a team, it has been a big change for myself, Jonathan W and Igor S as we move away from being (part-time) employees to taking over the website and directing things ourselves.
At times we have struggled to focus on the right things, and we have probably been a little bit inconsistent in our output in the last couple of months. In the future (especially from September), we are aiming to change that. We want you to be able to look forward to regular and reliable breaking news on archeology and research, in-depth interviews and information about the latest festivals and reenactments every single month.
With this in mind, we really appreciate your feedback – what do you enjoy, and what would you like to see more of? Please write to hello@thevikingherald.com with your ideas!
Viking Herald Patreon page
Couldn't do it without you
Finally, if you enjoy our work and you are interested in supporting The Viking Herald, Patreon is the place to go. Minus Patreon’s fees, every cent you contribute will go directly to the costs of maintaining the site or to our writers, who dedicate much of their spare time to contributing articles to the website.
In other words, you really do keep us alive!
You can sign up to our Patreon page here for exclusive features and the chance to shape our content. In the meantime, thank you to all readers – we couldn’t do it without you.
Best,
Jonathan Bennett and The Viking Herald Team
We get to provide readers with original coverage thanks to our loyal supporters. Do you enjoy our work? You can become a PATRON here or via our Patreon page. You'll get access to exclusive content and early access.
Feel free to reach out to discuss potential stories that may be in the public interest. You can reach us via email at hello@thevikingherald.com with the understanding that the information you provide might be used in our reporting and stories.
