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appearance. ‘Beserk’ has been interpreted both as ‘bare-shirt’ and ‘bear-shirt’, and there is now no way of knowing which was meant by the sagas. The beserker definitely discarded his hauberk and helmet, but it is doubtful ifhe discarded his coat or shirt also. His main strength lay in his total disregard for his own life, for his opponents were at a psychological disadvantage the moment they saw him.
The ulfheonar, the wolfskin-clad ones, probably wore a wolfskin over their normal fighting attire, but the only evidence we have of their appearance is a helmet plaąue of the 7th century, which shows a warrior with his head and upper body completely covered by a wolfskin.
The right-hand figurę in Platę C is shown wearing a helmet of the type found in the ioth-century Gjermundbu grave; it is of a similar pattern to the earlier Vendel helmets. The left-hand figurę holds an early skeggox, developing from the fransisca.
D and E: Danes and Saxons, gth-i ith centuries Little has survived to show us exactly how warriors looked in this period, while the fact that Danes and Saxons were fighting each ollier in England for a century has tended to biur the lines between the two cultures. In any event, many of their weapons came from the same sources, and by the i ith century, Danes were fighting alongside Saxons in the Saxon army, so inevitably fashions in clothing and weapons tended to merge.
Platę D illustrates at the top two typical Danish Vikings. Below them are a well-armed Dane and a Saxon peasant. The Saxon wears what might be loosely termed a 'Phrygian cap’. Various forms of this ubiąuitous hat appear in Saxon manuscripts, but it is by no means elear exactly what it is madę of, or its role. It may be boiled leather with a crest, which would provide quite a good head defence, or felt over a simple metal skuli cap, or merely a fabric. Some forms are morę ornate and are obviously not intended as defences; some of these resemble a type of woollen hat still popular in Scandinavia, but with the point curlcd downwards.
Platę E shows in the foreground an i ith-century housecarl, who might be either Saxon or Dane; he is wearing a typical Saxon mail shirt and waving a late Yiking skeggox. In the background are Saxon
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Crossbowmen are not illustrated in the Bayeux tapestry and there is no surę evidence that William’s army included them: two chroniclers are said to mention crossbows at Hastings, but there is some confusion over the translation of their texts and they may have been referring only to slingers. The Saxons and Vikings seem to have had no use for the weapon. (Gerry Embleton)
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spearmen and an archer from the Great Fyrd. Saxon dress consisted mainly of tight woollen trousers and a long woollen tunic with the sleeves puckered on the forearms. Some peasants went
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