The Myths and Realities of the Viking Berserkr [Paperback]

List of Figures Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Explanatory Notes Introduction Chapter 1 Defining the berserkr Chapter 2 The monstrous berserkr Chapter 3 Berserksgangr: fit or frenzy? Chapter 4 The etymology and meaning of berserkr Chapter 5 The Viking Age reality of berserkir Chapter 6 Towards new paradigms for berserkir Appendix 1 Incidence of names of berserkir and where to find them in Old Norse literature Appendix 2 Haraldskv??i: the earliest reference to berserkir Bibliography

The Viking berserkr is an iconic warrior normally associated with violent fits of temper and the notorious berserksgangr or berserker frenzy. This book challenges the orthodox view that these men went berserk in the modern English sense of the word.

The viking berserkr is an iconic warrior normally associated with violent fits of temper and the notorious berserksgangr or berserker frenzy. This book challenges the orthodox view that these men went berserk in the modern English sense of the word. It examines all the evidence for medieval perceptions of berserkir and builds a model of how the medieval audience would have viewed them. Then, it extrapolates a Viking Age model of berserkir from this model, and supports the analysis with anthropological and archaeological evidence, to create a new and more accurate paradigm of the Viking Age berserkr and his place in society. This shows that berserkir were the champions of lords and kings, members of the social elite, and that much of what is believed about them is based on 17th-century and later scholarship and mythologizing: the medieval audience would have had a very diffelæ