Story Sources Create a title for each paragraph A Norse berserker by Kim Hjardar Summarise each paragraph in 1 or 2 bullet points Symbolising uncontrollable rage and bloodlust Viking berserkers were fierce warriors said to have fought in a trancelike fury But did such people ever rea ID: 997991
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1. Viking berserkers. An example of exaggerated fiction?StorySourcesCreate a title for each paragraph. A Norse berserkerby Kim HjardarSummarise each paragraph in 1 or 2 bullet points.Symbolising uncontrollable rage and bloodlust, Viking berserkers were fierce warriors said to have fought in a trance-like fury. But did such people ever really exist? There were few established military institutions in Scandinavia at the start of the Viking Age, circa 800, but a number of such organisations gradually developed as society came increasingly under the rule of a single king. The foremost institution was the retinue, a brotherhood of warriors serving a common master. It developed to become the main source of power for the medieval kings and evolved into a noble elite in the Middle Ages.But there was a more sinister brotherhood of warriors in Scandinavia that could not find any place in the post-heathen world of Christianity. Instead it only survived in the realm of the sagas, the art and the folklore, often becoming shield-biting demons of war and symbols of evildoing. But behind the myth and the shroud of history, the sources reveal the existence of men thriving on the border between life and death, fuelled by war and distinguished by their ecstatic battle fury.The description of ‘berserkers’ and ‘wolfskins’ in the sources is on the boundary between fantasy and reality, and it is difficult for us today to imagine that such people can have ever existed, possessed of uncontrollable destructive power. But they did. The berserkers and the wolfskins (also known as ‘heathen wolves’) were a special group of very skilled and dangerous warriors associated with the god Odin.Task 1Read through ‘A Norse berserker’ above. For each paragraph, you need to create a ‘title’ on one side, and a short summary (two bullet points maximum) on the other. Task 2Look at Sources A, B and C and explain how each source contributes to the legends of a berserker warrior. Then, read the article in this link and use the subheadings to summarise each theory about these warriors. Discuss each with a classmate.Task 3Using the TxxxC paragraph structure, complete a 300 word response to the following question:“The berserkers were not a work of fiction. They were a fearsome group of warriors who terrorised during the Viking Age. To what extent are these statements accurate?”AScholarship. BThe most probable explanation for ‘going berserk’ comes from psychiatry. The theory is that the groups of warriors, through ritual processes carried out before a battle (such as biting the edges of their shields), went into a self-induced hypnotic trance. In this dissociative state they lost conscious control of their actions, which are then directed subconsciously. People in this state seem remote, have little awareness of their surroundings and have reduced awareness of pain and increased muscle strength. Critical thinking and normal social inhibitions weaken, but the people affected are not unconscious.Kim Hjardar holds a MPhil in Nordic Viking and medieval culture from theUniversity of Oslo and works as a lecturer in history at St Hallvard College.C