Suddenly Vikings

I am exactly one half of the way through CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST THREE THOUSAND YEARS by Diarmaid MacCulloch. I know, I know, it's taking me forever. So many colorful distractions! Such as the abusive pierogi! In any case, we find ourselves in Kiev, the year 1015, with a saint named Gleb, which would add up nicely had the book been called CHRISTIANITY: THE FIRST TWO THOUSAND YEARS (by the way, it starts many centuries before Christianity and builds up to it, in case you were wondering about the title). But as I have mentioned, the book jumps around in time a lot. For example, just a few pages ago I was in the 17th century, enjoying "the first cup of coffee ever witnessed in the University of Oxford." And then, suddenly, back to the ninth century for Vikings! What a bunch of nogoodniks. We took care of the Vikings in like two pages.