All this happened, more or less

 

Looking into the berserker’s wild stare as he knaws on his shield, it is clear he is not someone to be caught on the wrong side of. You are staring at one of the most fearsome warriors of early medieval warfare. The figure is one of the Lewis Chessmen; a set of game pieces from the island of Lewis, in the Outer Hebrides. The set was carved from walrus ivory and dated to the Viking Age (AD 793-1066). During the Viking Age much of Scotland was colonised by Norwegian Vikings. Excavations in Trondheim, Norway have revealed that a lucrative trade of ivory gaming pieces was operating in the city at the time. The game pieces were found within a hoard of ninety-three other artefacts, many of which were game pieces. This evidence and the apparent lack of wear suggests to archaeologists that the chessmen were part of a traders stock, brought from Norway to Lewis, that was never sold.

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The Lewis Chessmen

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Berserkers enter the imagination through their offering to the English language; the word berserk (furiously violent or out of control) finds its origin in their name. The berserkers were warriors who were famed for abandoning their inhibitions during a battle in a frenzied trance. Scholars argue about how this trance was achieved but Old Norse writings tells us alcohol and psychoactive substances may have been common. The desired affect of the trance was to become ‘like a beast’. Sources tell us that berserkers could be found howling and roaring, foaming at the mouth and gnawing on their shields (just like the chessmen itself). Rumoured to be fearless, the berserker tradition was likely born out of a desire to honour and please Odin, the head of the Norse God. Odin was a god of war (amongst other things) and was also famed for his ferocity in battle. Furthermore, the etymology of Odin’s name is disputed but all agree the name derives from old germanic words of a similar theme: ‘frenzy’, ‘rage’, ‘possessed’, ‘thrill’, ‘violent agitation’ and ‘loss of control’.

 

To the Norse the slaying of men in battle gladdened Odin. In Norse Mythology, Odin was said to collect the bravest of slain warriors for his hall, Valhalla, where they would live in triumph until the last battle of the apocalypse (Ragnarok). Subsequently, those who ere proficient killers were providing the All-Father with more men for his personal army.

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The berserkers got their name from animal hides that they wore in battle. Sources suggest bear and wolf pelts were popular. When in a trance the berserkers were said to be unable to distinguish between friend or foe and it is likely they wore the pelts so that friendly soldiers could spot them and keep their distance. The effectiveness of the warriors is attested to in legend: During the battle of Stamford Bridge (AD 1066) A single berserker was said to have been guarding the bridge against the English while the Norwegian King was preparing for battle. The berserker was said to have killed forty men before an English soldier, floating downriver in a barrel, stabbed him in the groin through the slats of the bridge. 

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The Berserker at Stamford Bridge

 

 

 

Outside of legend, one source, given by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII offers first hand accounts of the berserkers and their famous, furious frenzies.

 

'This fury, which was called berserkergang, occurred not only in the heat of battle, but also during laborious work. Men who were thus seized performed things which otherwise seemed impossible for human power. This condition is said to have begun with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and chill in the body, and then the face swelled and changed its colour. With this was connected a great hot-headedness, which at last gave over into a great rage, under which they howled as wild animals, bit the edge of their shields, and cut down everything they met without discriminating between friend or foe. When this condition ceased, a great dulling of the mind and feebleness followed, which could last for one or several days'

 

The quote suggests that the trance achieved by Berserkers may not always have been voluntary. It is for this reason the clinical psychiatrist Jonathan Shay suggests  a new theory: that there is an unequivocal link between the Berserker's ‘frenzy’ and the hyperarousal experienced by sufferers of post traumatic stress disorder.