Berserker

warriors who purportedly fought in a trance-like fury

Berserkers (or berserks) were a special kind of Norse warrior who were widely feared.[1]Old Norse literature said they fought in a wild, trance-like fury. This later gave us the English word berserk.

Many Old Norse sources say that berserkers were real. Most historians believe that berserkers worked themselves into a rage before battle. Others think they might have eaten drugged foods. The Ynglinga saga said they charged their enemy without any armour.[2] Also that they were as mad as wolves. They could kill the enemy with a single blow of their sword while neither fire nor iron could hurt them.[2]

References change

  1. James A. Corrick, The Rough, Stormy Age of Vikings (Mankato, MN: Capstone Press, 2011), p. 12
  2. 2.0 2.1 René Chartrand; et al, The Vikings: Voyagers of Discovery and Plunder (Oxford; New York: Osprey, 2008), p. 102