Berserker

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For other uses of the term, see Berserker (disambiguation) and Berserk (disambiguation).

In Norse mythology, Berserkers (or Berserks) were warriors who fought naked, in an uncontrollable rage or trance of fury, the berserkergang.

The Úlfhéðnar (singular Úlfhéðinn) mentioned in the Vatnsdœla saga, Haraldskvæði and the Völsunga saga were said to wear the pelt of a wolf upon their heads when they entered battle.

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[edit] Etymology

The term berserker is from Old Norse berserkr (plural berserkir) is most typically translated as "bear’s skin" referring to the bear skin clothing viking warriors wore into battle.

It has also been translated as either "bare of shirt", meaning a warrior fighting without armor (debated), or "bear shirt", alluding to wearing clothing made of bear fur.[1]

[edit] Literary references

The earliest surviving reference to the term berserker is in Haraldskvæði, a skaldic poem written by Thórbiörn Hornklofi in the late ninth century in honour of King Harald Fairhair, the famous ruler of Norway. The poem was preserved by Snorri Sturluson. In this poem, Harald's army includes a warrior gang of berserkers fighting under his name at the battle of Hafrsfiord. In it, they are described as Ulfheðnar = "men clad in wolf skins". This grounds a connection between bears and wolves in Norse warrior culture and the common assumption that the word "berserker" itself originates from men wearing the skin of the bear. Snorri Sturluson goes on to mention berserkers in the Ynglinga saga: "his [Odin's] men rushed forward without armor, were as mad as dogs or wolves, bit their shields, and were as strong as bears or wild bulls, and killed people at a blow, but neither fire nor iron told upon themselves" (Ch. 6). Berserkers appear prominently in a multitude of other sagas and poems including The Saga of Hrólf Kraki, many of which describe berserkers as ravenous barbarians who loot, plunder, and kill indiscriminately.

Much can be derived about berserkers from Egils saga. Egil's grandfather was named Kveld-Ulf meaning "evening wolf", and this is generally ascribed as meaning he was a werewolf. Kveld-Ulf's son, referred to as Skalla-Grimm, was a berserker. Kveld-Ulf and Skalla-Grimm are both depicted as irascible and violent throughout the saga. One commits suicide and the latter kills his offspring. Egill Skallagrímsson himself is described in the saga as attacking opponents with his teeth (namely when he ripped out a beserker's jugular vein during a duel). Patently, violence and gruesome tragedies permeate the berserker ethos described in Icelandic sagas such as this one.

[edit] Historicity

In 1015 Jarl Eiríkr Hákonarson of Norway outlawed berserkers. Grágás, the medieval Icelandic law-code, sentences berserker warriors to outlawry. By the 1100s organized berserker warbands had disappeared.

King Haraldr Fair-Hair's use of berserker "shock troops" became a sphere of influence. Other Scandinavian kings used berserkers as part of their army of hirðmen and sometimes ranked them as equivalent to a royal bodyguard. It may be that at least some of those warriors just adopted the organization or rituals of berserk warbands or used the name as a deterrent or claim of their ferocity, as it is doubtful any king would have accepted a band of maniacs as his closest men.

Still, some scholars consider the frenzied and indomitable berserker and his bear-skin coat to stand right alongside horned Viking helmets as a "feature of later literary [works] rather than contemporary historical ones", placing the legitimacy of Norse sagas as historical records into question.

[edit] Theories on the causes of the berserkergang

Theories about what causes berserker behavior include spiritual possession, ingestion of materials with psychoactive properties, psychological processes, and medical conditions.

A Horizon Book on Vikings claims that some chieftains would hold their berserkers in reserve during a battle. Once a portion of the enemy line appeared to tire or weaken, the chieftains would send the berserkers charging into the enemy ranks to hopefully open a break and even panic the enemy. The book also claimed that while on sea voyages close to land, the berserkers would sometimes ask to go ashore to find objects on land to wrestle or bash to vent their fury.

From an evolutionary-genetic viewpoint, in many cold Nordic lands it helps to be a bit hyperactive to deal with the cold. [citation needed] Under highly dispersed living conditions, where people have to store food to make it through the winters, it also helps to be able to explode with fury to fend off people who might come to steal one's food. Hence, one of the simplest explanations for the beserk phenomenon is (a) there is a valid tactical requirement in battle for "shock" warriors to use their fury to create breaches in enemy lines and (b) within a Nordic population there is a certain hyperactive percentage of the population who can cultivate turning on their natural proclivity towards rage and fury (as in what the Romans called "furor Germanicus") at strategic moments for military use.

According to a theory of spirit possession, the berserk rage was achieved through possession by the animal spirit of either a bear or a wolf. Berserkers would cultivate an ability to allow the animal spirit to take over their body during a fight. This is seen as a somewhat peculiar application of animal totemism.

Botanists have suggested the behavior might be tied to ingestion of bog myrtle (Myrica gale syn: Gale palustris), a plant that was one of the main spices in alcoholic beverages in Scandinavia. The drawback is that it increases the hangover headache afterwards. Drinking alcoholic beverages spiced with bog myrtle the night before going to battle might have resulted in unusually aggressive behavior.

The notion that Nordic Vikings used the fly agaric mushroom to produce their berserker rages was first suggested by the Swedish professor Samual Ödman in 1784. Ödman based his theory on reports about the use of fly-agaric among Siberian shamans. The notion has become widespread since the 19th century, but no contemporary sources mention this use or anything similar in their description of berserkers. In addition, the injection of bufotenine from Bufo marinus toad skin into humans was shown to produce similar symptoms to the "Berserker" descriptions. These findings, first examined by Howard Fabing in 1956, were later linked to the induction of zombie characteristics by ethnobotanists in 1983.

A UK television programme in 2004 tested the possible use of fly agaric and alcohol by training a healthy volunteer in the use of Viking weapons, then evaluating his performance under the influence of fly agaric or alcohol compared to no influence. It was shown that use of fly agaric or alcohol severely reduced his fighting ability, and the tentative conclusion drawn was that berserk state was achieved psychologically; otherwise, berserkers would have been too easy to kill. Of course, this does not take into account the mindset that the berserker likely would have attempted to place himself in.

A simple theory attributes the behavior to drunken rage. It is also possible that berserkers worked themselves into their frenzy through purely psychological processes, perhaps using frenzied rituals and dances. According to Saxo Grammaticus they also drank bear or wolf blood.

U.S. professor Jesse L. Byock claims (in Scientific American, 1995) that berserker rage could have been a symptom of Paget's disease. Uncontrolled skull bone growth could have caused painful pressure in the head. He mentions the unattractive and large head of Egill Skallagrímsson in Egilssaga. Other possibilities are mild epilepsy, rabies, and hysteria. Nevertheless, these theories are highly unlikely, as the berserkers would - seemingly - inevitably turn against each other instead of the enemies. During battle, they are consistently described in the frenzy of rage; yet, the berserkers, while sometimes purportedly felling allies, seem to have avoided attacking each other.

Going berserk — berserksgangr or berserkergang — could also happen in the middle of daily work. It began with shivering, chattering of the teeth, and a chill in the body. The face swelled and changed its color. Next came great rage, howling, and indiscriminate brawling. When the rage quelled, the berserker was exhausted and dull of mind for up to several days. According to sagas, many enemies of berserkers exploited this stage to get rid of them.

Manic Depressive (Bipolar Disorder) - Offers another possible explanation for this behavior. During a manic state, the person affected is impulsive and often seems uncontrolled, and often perceived as exhibiting aggressive behaviour. (A dysphoric mania consists of a manic episode with depressive symptoms. Increased energy and some form of anger, from irritability to full blown rage, are the most common symptoms.) After the manic high where the person has elevated energy levels, and the ability to disregard risky behaviour, the person enters a depressed state that lasts for several days.

Max Weber use them as an example of charismatic authority

[edit] Parallels in other cultures

Hilda Ellis-Davidson draws a parallel between berserkers and the mention by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII in his book De cerimoniis aulae byzantinae ("Book of Ceremonies of the Byzantine court") of a "Gothic Dance" performed by members of his Varangian Guard (Norse warriors working in the service of the Byzantine Empire), who took part wearing animal skins and masks: she believes this may have been connected with berserker rites (Hilda R. Ellis-Davidson. Pagan Scandinavia. NY: Frederick A. Praeger. 1967. p. 100).

[edit] Modern usage

See also Berserkers in popular culture.

The word "berserker" today applies to anyone who fights with reckless abandon and disregard to even his own life, a concept used ad nauseam during the Vietnam War and in Vietnam-inspired literature (Michael Herr's Dispatches) and film (Oliver Stone's Platoon). "Going berserk" in this context refers to an overdose of adrenaline-induced opioids in the human body and brain leading a soldier to fight with raging fearlessness and indifference, a state strikingly similar to that of the 9th century berserkers observed in this article. "Going berserk" is also used colloquially to describe a person who is acting in a wild rage or in an uncontrolled and irrational manner.

[edit] References

  • Beard, D. J. "The Berserkr in Icelandic Literature." In Approaches to Oral Literature. Ed. Robin Thelwall. Ulster: New University of Ulster, 1978, pp. 99-114.
  • Blaney, Benjamin. "The Berserkr: His Origin and Development in Old Norse Literature." Ph.D. Diss. University of Colorado, 1972.
  • Davidson, Hilda R. E. "Shape-Changing in Old Norse Sagas." In Animals in Folklore. Ed. Joshua R. Porter and William M. S. Russell. Cambridge: Brewer; Totowa: Rowman and Littlefield, 1978, pp. 126-42.
  • Davis, EW (1983) The ethnobiology of the Haitian zombie. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 9:85-104.
  • Fabing, Howard D. "On Going Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry." Scientific Monthly 83 [Nov. 1956].
  • Höfler, Otto. "Berserker." Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde. Bd.2. Ed. Johannes Hoops. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. 1976. pp. 298-304.
  • Ole Högberg, Flugsvampen och människan. Section concerning the berserker myth is published online [1] (In Swedish and PDF format) ISBN 91-7203-555-2
  • Holtsmark, Anne. "On the Werewolf Motif in Egil's saga Skalla-Grímssonar" Scientia Islandica/Science in Iceland 1 (1968), pp. 7-9.
  • von See, Klaus. "Berserker." Zeitschrift für deutsche Wortforschung 17 (1961), pp. 129-35; reprinted as "Exkurs rom Haraldskvæði: Berserker" in his Edda, Saga, Skaldendichtung: Aufsätze zur skandinavischen Literarur des Mittelalters. Heidelberg: Winter, 1981, pp. 311-7.
  • Michael P. Speidel, Berserks: A History of Indo-European "Mad Warriors", Journal of World History 13.2 (2002) 253-290 [2]
  • Weiser, Lilly. Altgermanische Jünglingsweihen und Männerbünde: En Beitrag zur deutschen und nordischen Alterums- und Volkskunde. Bausteine zur Volkskunde und Religionswissenschaft, 1 Buhl: Konkordia, 1927.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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