The Norse fought on both land and sea, but no matter where they fought, Viking warriors were essentially foot soldiers, or infantrymen. They utilized basically the same armor and weapons whether fighting in a field or on the deck of a ship. Their equipment was not unusual for its day. In fact, the frequent success of Viking fighters did not derive from some specialized weapon or other unusual device; rather, the vast majority of these warriors used the same armor and weapons as most other medieval European soldiers. Also, there is little or no evidence that Viking fighters were any more skilled with these weapons than other warriors of the age.
What made Viking warriors different, and quite often feared, was their reputation for bravery and fierceness. This status was built partly on the brutal hit-and-run tactics and general lack of mercy they employed in their initial raids on western Europe. Also, their ships were fast and their leaders bold and aggressive. And many of their opponents, particularly those who had never actually seen or fought them before, were put off by the fact that the early Vikings were pagans, which added to their scary image as primitive wild men of the north.
Still another psychological factor that reinforced the image of the fierce Viking warrior was a series of legends about invincible Norse fighters called berserkers. These were supposedly men who, just prior to battle, entered into trancelike states and thereafter fought with a mindless ferocity that made them unstoppable. (This is the source of the English word berserk, meaning violently out of control.) In his Ynglinga Saga, Snorri Sturluson describes the charge of some berserkers, who "rushed forwards without armor, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and
Were strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon [could harm] themselves. These were called Berserker."31 Most modern experts think that the berserkers' trances and invincibility were legendary and literary exaggerations. Nevertheless, some Viking warriors did call themselves berserkers and thereby helped to perpetuate the fearsome reputation of Norse fighting men.
World History
