The Myths and Realities of the Viking Berserkr

This book challenges the orthodox view of the Viking berserkr, examining 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 berserkr and his place in Viking Age 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 eighteenth- and nineteenth-century mythologizing.