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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 different understanding of the Old Norse berserkr from that which people have now. The book sets out a challenge to rethink and reframe our perceptions of the past in a way that is less influenced by our own modern ideas.
The Myths and Realities of the Viking berserkr will appeal to researchers and students alike studying the Viking Age, Medieval History and Old Norse Literature.
Sommario
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 Haraldskvæði: the earliest reference to berserkir Bibliography
Info autore
Roderick Dale has worked as an archaeologist throughout the United Kingdom and in research roles at University College Cork and the University of Nottingham. He currently works at the University of Stavanger. His research interests include Old Norse literature, Viking Age history and the reception of vikings in popular culture.
Riassunto
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.
Relazione
This is a fascinating, authoritative analysis of one of the most widespread images of the Viking world.
- James Holloway, Fortean Times.
This is an outstanding and much-needed study of a Viking Age and medieval figure that is well-known but widely misunderstood, both in popular imagination but also within scholarship. Dale's work is exemplary in the way in its interdisciplinary approach to the sources, how it brings archaeological and anthropomorphic evidence into conversation with written sources ranging from saga literature and mythological texts to law codes and historical records, and, most importantly, how it recognized nuance, complexity, and the need to consider individual examples within their specific contexts. This will certainly be a foundational study for any scholarship on or related to not only the figure of the berserkr, but Viking Age and Old Norse society more generally.
- Natalie M. Van Deusen, University of Alberta. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture.
