Berserker - armor, weapons. Military elite - berserkers Berserkers and battles

What do we know about berserkers? That they fought like animals, bit shields and almost went into battle with their bare hands. That's how they told us about them. Meanwhile, scientists are still arguing about who the berserkers really were.

Ambiguities with berserkers begin already from their name. Where did this word come from? It is first mentioned in the Elder Edda, then used by the skald Thorbjorn.

For a long time, before mid-19th century, none of the experts had any doubt that berserkr means “shirtless.” However, Sveinbjörn Egilsson suggested in his dictionary that "berserker" means "bear shirt". The assumption was readily accepted, although there is no alliance between bears and berserkers in the tribal Irish sagas. Since then there has been confusion.

The image of berserkers was influenced by pre-Christian ideas about werewolves, so the translation “bear shirt” was even greeted by mythologists with enthusiasm. He opened up a lot of room for interpretation.

There is still no consensus on where this word came from.

Berserkers were first mentioned by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi in a poem about the victory of King Harald Fairhair at the Battle of Havrsfjord (presumably 872). The skald wrote about them: “The berserkers roared, / the battle was in full swing, / dressed in wolf skins, howled / and shook their swords.”

Berserkers are also mentioned in the Edda. Twice. Both times they are like semi-legendary heroes. The wives of the berserkers who fight in the Songs of Harbard with Thor himself are also semi-legendary. But here, probably, as often happens in mythology, there was an overlap of images, and the author means by the wives of berserkers the mythological giantesses.

The main source of information about berserkers was the chapter dedicated to Odin from the “History of the Norwegian Kings”, written by Snorri Sturluson: “Odin knew how to make his enemies blind or deaf in battle, or they were overcome by fear, or their swords became no sharper than sticks, and his people went into battle without armor and were like mad dogs and wolves, biting shields and comparable in strength to bears and bulls. They killed people, and they could not be taken with either fire or iron. It's called going into a berserker rage."

That is, here the berserkers act as “people of Odin,” which is quite remarkable, since nowhere before in the sagas and myths is Odin accompanied by any retinue of warriors.

There are also Icelandic ancestral sagas. In them, berserkers are already quite real people, but, to put it mildly, unattractive. They come to houses ordinary people on the eve of Christmas and wreak havoc there, robbing and raping women. The positive hero in such stories is usually some brave Icelander who defeats berserkers either with a club (because they are supposedly invulnerable to fire and iron), or by cunning, because he admits as an axiom that berserkers are stupid.

Historically, it is this image of the berserker that is closest to the truth. The adoption of Christianity, centralization, “reformation of the army,” the collapse of the Viking squads - all these factors left a large group without a source of food former soldiers who knew nothing more than to fight. Therefore, they robbed and caroused until the “anti-berserker” law of 1123 was passed in Iceland, in which it was written in black and white: “Any berserker caught in a rage will be punished with 3 years of exile.”

It is significant that the law speaks specifically about “berserker rage” as a special state, and not a professional trait of warriors. We will return to this later.

Did berserkers eat fly agarics?

Having understood a little about where berserkers actually came from, we need to answer the main question...

The “fly agaric theme” is constantly discussed in conversations about berserkers. However, these ideas do not have any objective basis.

First, the Islan skald Snorri spoke about the intoxication of berserkers, he assured that berserkers drink the drink of the trolls. There is not a single mention of anything like this in the berserker sagas.

Then, in late XVIII century, researcher S. Edman spoke about the intoxication of berserkers with psychotropic drugs. At the same time, he connected the Viking religion with East Siberian shamanism. Why? Only he knew this... but the myth began to take root. Scientists, such as, for example, Rakeborn-Hjennerud, even if they admit that some of the berserkers actually fought in a state of intoxication, point out that this is not confirmed by any facts, so talk on this topic is sheer nonsense.

If you think logically, it is highly doubtful that the king would surround himself with 12 drug addicts with swords and axes.

Berserkers we know

We owe the idea of berserkers that we have today to the medievalist historian, one of the theorists of Nazism, member of the NSDAP and employee of the Annenerbe, Otto Höfler.
It was he who developed the idea that berserkers are warriors of Odin himself, a certain male caste of chosen warriors who, for their fearlessness, go straight to Valhalla after death, where they form an alliance and enjoy life. Meanwhile, according to mythological ideas, warriors in Valhalla do not form any alliances. During the day they indulge in “military fun,” that is, they fight and kill each other, and at night they indulge in fun. Such an “eternal battle”.

It was the image of the berserker created by Hoefler and his ideas about the state-forming function of male unions that became for the scientist a “pass” both to the National Socialist Party and to the Annenerbe. This was the new mythology of Nazism, in which racially correct berserkers were recognized as real “dogs of war”, not attached to life, recklessly following Odin. Such glorification was beneficial to the new German government; it fit well within the framework of propaganda.

Berserker or berserker- a warrior who dedicated himself to the god Odin, who drove himself into a rage before the battle.

In battle he was distinguished by great strength, quick reaction, insensitivity to pain, and madness. They did not recognize the shield and chain mail, fighting in only shirts, or naked to the waist. The sons of the Danish king Canute - berserkers - sailed on a separate longship, since the Vikings themselves were afraid of them. The word berserk is derived from the Old Norse berserkr, which means either "bearskin" or "shirtless" (the root ber- can mean either "bear" or "naked"; -serkr means "skin", "silk" - (fabric) ). Berserkers were first mentioned by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi in a poem about the victory of Harald Fairhair at the Battle of Havrsfjord, which supposedly took place in 872.

Snorri Sturluson in The Earthly Circle writes:

“One knew how to make his enemies go blind or deaf in battle, or they were overcome by fear, or their swords became no sharper than sticks, and his people went into battle without armor and were like mad dogs and wolves, biting shields and comparing force with bears and bulls. They killed people, and they could not be taken with either fire or iron. It's called going into a berserker rage."

In the Russian tradition, the “berserker” option is more often used. "Berserker" originated as a loanword through the English language.

Story

More than a thousand years ago, Harald Fairhair founded the Kingdom of Norway. This was far from a peaceful enterprise, since noble families did not want to lose their lands. He needed an army. He chose especially strong, determined and young men, those very berserkers, for the front battle formations. They dedicated their lives to Odin, the god of War, and at the decisive battle of Boxfjord, dressed in bearskins, they stood on the bow of the ship, “biting the edge of their shield in rage and rushing at their enemies. They were possessed and did not feel pain, even if they were hit by a spear. When the battle was won, the warriors fell exhausted and fell into deep sleep.”

This is what one of the participants in that battle said - Thorbjorn Hornklofi; This is also confirmed by lines from the Norwegian and Icelandic sagas.

“The men of Odin went into battle without chain mail, and they were wild like wolves. They bit their shields and were as strong as bears or bulls. They killed enemies when neither fire nor sword could take them; it was the fury of fierce warriors. »

It is likely that the old songs were somewhat embellished. However, it is striking that all the descriptions depict ferocious warriors who fought with a wild, downright magical passion.

“As soon as they reached adulthood, they were allowed to grow hair and a beard, and only after killing the first enemy could they style it... Cowards and others walked around with their hair down. In addition, the bravest wore an iron ring, and only the death of the enemy freed them from wearing it. Their task was to anticipate each battle; they always formed the front line."

Only such warriors could continue the tradition of berserkers. In literature, berserkers often appear in pairs, often twelve of them at once. They were considered the personal guard of the Old Scandinavian kings. This indicates the elitist nature of this warrior caste. Unwavering loyalty to one's ruler goes down in legends and old saga tales. But only the king could not have berserkers.

Tacitus mentions a special caste of warriors, which he calls “Harier” and who bear all the signs of berserkers, this was 800 years before the Battle of Boxfjord: “... they are stubborn warriors. They are characterized by natural wildness. Black shields, painted bodies, choose dark nights for battle and instill fear in opponents. No one can resist their unusual and seemingly hellish appearance. »

"Harier" means "Warrior" and Odin was called among them "Herjan", "Lord of Warriors". Moreover, none of them had their own house or field, or any care. They came to anyone, they were treated to food, they took advantage of strangers, they were careless in their affairs, and only the weakness of old age made them unsuitable for military life. They considered it a shame to die in their own beds from decrepitude and near death they were stabbed with a spear.

The further fate of the berserkers was as follows. 200 years after the Battle of Boxfjord, Christian missionaries came to Scandinavia. Old pagan customs and lifestyles were prohibited, in particular, wrestlers wearing animal skins. A law passed in Iceland in 1123 states: “Any berserker caught in a frenzy will be sentenced to 3 years of exile.”.

Since then, the bearskin warriors have disappeared without a trace.

Scandinavian berserkers

Animal-like “transformations”, which are highest form development of combat rage are known among all Germans. Late ancient historians report on the “Frankish fury”, on the “wolf warriors” of the Lombard people. At the same time, such uncontrollable forces were released that even a close, disciplined formation and the art of “correct combat” could not always resist them.

We can judge what the image of the warrior-beast was, first of all, from Scandinavian sources, for in Scandinavia such warriors existed until the 12th-13th centuries, however, the last 200 years of their existence were already a frightening anachronism. Following established tradition, we will call them berserkers (although a more accurate term is bjorsjork, that is, “bear-like”). Along with the bear warrior, there was also an ulfhedner - “wolf-headed”, wolf warrior. Probably, these were different incarnations of the same phenomenon: many of those called berserkers bore the nickname “Wolf” (ulf), “Wolf’s skin”, “Wolf’s mouth”, etc. However, the name “Bear” (bjorn) is no less common.

During the attack, the berserker seemed to “become” the corresponding beast. At the same time, he threw away defensive weapons (or did things with them that were not intended: for example, he bit into his shield with his teeth, plunging the enemy into shock), and in some cases, offensive ones; all Scandinavian Vikings knew how to fight with their hands, but berserkers clearly stood out even at their level. Many paramilitary groups considered unarmed combat shameful. Among the Vikings, this postulate took the following form: it is shameful not to be able to fight with weapons, but there is nothing shameful in the ability to fight unarmedly. It is curious that as an auxiliary (and sometimes main - if he fought without a sword) weapon, the berserker used stones, a stick picked up from the ground, or a club stored in advance.

This is partly due to the deliberate entry into the image: it is not appropriate for an animal to use weapons (a stone and a stick are natural, natural weapons). But, probably, archaism is also manifested in this, following the ancient schools of martial arts. The sword entered Scandinavia quite late, and even after widespread use, it was for some time out of favor with berserkers, who preferred the club and ax, with which they struck in a circular manner from the shoulder, without connecting the hand. The technique is quite primitive, but the degree of mastery of it was very high.

On Trajan's Column in Rome we see a “strike force” of such animal warriors (not yet berserkers). They are included in the Roman army and are partly forced to follow customs, but only a few have helmets (and no one has armor), some are dressed in animal skin, others are half naked and clutch a club instead of a sword. One must think that this did not reduce their combat effectiveness, otherwise Emperor Trajan, whose guard they were part of, would have been able to insist on rearmament.

The berserker's transformation during battle (more profound than that of the Celtic Fenian) sometimes not only psychologically prepared him for the fight, but also affected the enemy's psyche - in exactly the opposite spirit. Few people retained composure at the sight of a warrior-beast howling with rage, splashing foam, not noticing either wounds or fatigue in his frenzy.

However, it is still impossible to call this a military trick, a “psychic attack”. The Berserker was seriously convinced that he was possessed by an “animal spirit”; and everyone around either also believed in it, or kept their doubts to themselves - this was much healthier. This “obsession with the beast” was manifested, among other things, in the fact that the berserker deliberately imitated the movements of the bear, not only in battle, but also during frequent ritual and magical ceremonies, dances, etc. And this is “animal school” in its purest form! One of the most powerful styles of “animal” wushu is the bear style.

Even the Vikings themselves treated berserkers in their pure form with a feeling halfway between admiration, fearful respect and contempt. These are the true “dogs of war”; if they were able to be used, it was mainly in the position of “tamed animals.” But elements of berserker training, weaponry, and most importantly, specific psychotechnics penetrated the life of many warriors in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and especially Iceland. They kept berserkerism under control, “turning it on” only during battles.

True, it was not always possible to make this control absolute: sometimes the “beast” awakened in the soul of a warrior, despite his desires. Here we touch upon a very interesting, largely unexplored problem. There is evidence that the Scandinavians used natural narcotic substances to fall into a state of berserkerism. But - like the Celts - not always and not even often. However, most likely, drug addiction really took place here - not “external”, but “internal”!

Modern science knows that the human nervous system - including those parts of it that are amenable to conscious control - is capable of producing substances that are similar in composition and action to drugs. They act directly on the “pleasure centers” of the brain. If these substances are released when a person falls into a certain state of consciousness, then in this state he experiences a complete analogue of a “high,” and when he leaves it, “withdrawal” begins. “Professional” berserkers became hostages of their own rage. They were forced to look for dangerous situations that would allow them to engage in combat, or even provoke them. Hence the berserker asociality, which arouses wariness even among those who admired their courage and combat effectiveness. And from here comes this very combat capability, which manifests itself in the condition of “opening the floodgates.” The phrase: “There is ecstasy in battle” took on a literal meaning.

Later Vikings for the most part still managed to control such attacks. Sometimes they even entered a state that in the East is called “enlightened consciousness” (although they usually went to it not through detachment, not through meditation, but through fighting rage; such a path is sometimes fraught with the fact that the “beast” will prevail over a person) . This made them phenomenal warriors: “... Thorolf was so furious that he threw the shield behind his back and took the spear with both hands. He rushed forward and hacked and stabbed enemies left and right. (Some types of Scandinavian spears made it possible to deliver slashing blows.) People ran away from him in different directions, but he managed to kill many…” (“The Saga of Egil”). The sagas (which, as modern experts have found, convey events with amazing accuracy) are replete with references to how a skilled warrior fights off one against many, manages to pave the way to the leader of an enemy detachment through a wall of shields and a crowd of bodyguards, cuts the enemy from shoulder to thigh, etc. .P.

Now is the time to talk about another semi-mythical property of the berserker: his invulnerability. A variety of sources unanimously claim that the beast warrior could not actually be killed in battle. True, the details of this invulnerability are described differently. A berserker supposedly could neither be killed nor wounded with a military weapon (from which it followed that non-combat weapons must be used against him: a wooden club, a hammer with a stone top, etc.); sometimes he was invulnerable only against throwing weapons (arrows and darts); in some cases it was clarified that with skillful use of weapons he could still be wounded, even fatally, but he would die only after the battle, and before that he would not seem to notice the wound.

Everywhere and always, legends have formed around high-level martial art. But I think here we can get to the bottom of the truth. The easiest way to resolve the issue of invulnerability with military weapons: while the sword remained among the Scandinavians the weapon of a small elite (somewhere before the 8th-9th centuries), such “elite” warriors very often could not cope with their competitors - animal warriors, who used ancient techniques of club fighting. Eventually, the two fencing techniques merged: many berserkers became the “elite,” and many of the “elite” mastered berserker skills.

Berserkers were protected from throwing (and also from striking) weapons by a kind of “wisdom of madness.” Disinhibited consciousness enabled extreme responsiveness, sharpened peripheral vision, and likely enabled some extrasensory skills. The berserker saw (or even predicted) any blow and managed to parry it or bounce away.

King Harald, who first united Norway, had a “special forces” formed from berserkers who joined the military elite. By that time, there were no “wild” animal warriors who were not part of squads and similar formations left in Norway. One of the battles with their participation looked like this: “The king’s twelve berserkers were at the bow of the ship. The king's ship went forward, and there was a fierce battle. When the army was checked, many were killed and many had dangerous wounds. There was no one on the king’s ship who stood in front of the front mast and was not wounded, except those whom the iron did not take, and these were the berserkers.”

One of the best warriors in Iceland, who by the way did not consider himself a berserker, describing his actions in battle against a numerically superior enemy, utters the following words: “Then I took a sword in one hand and a spear in the other and began to chop and stab. I didn’t cover myself with a shield, and I don’t even know what protected me” (“Njal’s Saga”).

It was berserkerism that protected him - already “civilized” and therefore not considered as such. This is all the more remarkable since the Viking, who had mastered only “technique,” needed a shield: he could not fully fight back with offensive weapons. Berserkerism helped to fend off dangerous blows, but if the blow was missed, it made it possible to “not notice” it. It’s hard to believe, but many independent sources report: the Viking to some extent retained combat capability even after monstrous wounds, from which a modern person would instantly lose consciousness. With a cut off leg or arm, a cut chest, a pierced stomach, he continued to fight for some time - and could take his killer with him to Valhalla.

And yet, descriptions of cases have been preserved when a berserker not only avoided a wound, and not even just endured it, but, having received a blow, remained unharmed! Also an exaggeration? Maybe, but it is very similar to the eastern “iron shirt method,” in which hardening of bones and muscles, and most importantly, the ability to concentrate internal energy, in certain cases makes the body difficult to vulnerable even to a blade. But the Viking blades are no match for the eastern ones: no matter how much the northern warriors admired them, this admiration stems from a lack of material for comparison. At least in the time of the berserkers, the hardening of the blade was only superficial and it was far from the sharpness and elasticity of the samurai katana.

Moreover, even “energy” did not always save the berserker. Sometimes a missed blow with a sword did not actually cut the body, but caused such a serious bruise that it could ensure the end of the fight. After all, the berserkers’ opponents were a match for them. And not every berserker knew how to competently use internal energy. Sometimes they spent it too extensively - and then after the battle the warrior fell into a state of “berserker impotence” for a long time, which could not be explained only by physical fatigue. The attacks of this powerlessness were so severe that the beast warrior could sometimes die after the battle, without even being wounded in it! Intuitive penetration into the depths of martial art clearly needed to be “polished” by creating a school that would provide a culture of movements, stances, and combinations of techniques.

In the “land of the Vikings,” local martial arts schools, not without their shortcomings, managed to merge into a single stream of ART, summing up the technique of movements, a set of techniques, energy and the possibility of transformations of consciousness. Ancient berserkerism, born as a destructive (albeit effective) system, has come a long way. In the end, his idea not only complemented the combat achievements of the “civilized warriors,” but also unique “pagan monasteries” were created, incorporating the berserker elite.

From a semi-wild “pack” to a clear formation. From episodic “breakthroughs to the beast” - to a training system. From anarchic individualism to conscious discipline. From intuitive achievements - to a developed complex (at higher stages it does not exclude reliance on the semi-mystical intuition of biodvaska). All this provided a rather rare combination, ensuring equal readiness to act alone, in a small group and in a large, disciplined formation.

His word: “ Can we talk about the berserker warriors? I wonder if I made it or not :)"

We made it, we can. An interesting topic of ancient legends, let's find out more...

The history of mankind is full of legends and myths. Each era writes a new page into this volume covered with the dust of time. Many of them have sunk into oblivion without living to this day. But there are legends over which centuries have no power. Stories about warriors with superhuman abilities - impervious to physical pain and not knowing the fear of death - are from this number. Mentions of supersoldiers can be found in almost every nation. But berserkers stand apart in this series - heroes of Scandinavian sagas and epics, whose very name has become a household word. And this is what an interesting thing about a legend is. Sometimes truth and fiction are so intertwined in them that it is hardly possible to separate one from the other.

For several centuries, the Vikings were Europe's worst nightmare. When the snake-headed boats of brutal aliens appeared on the horizon, the population of the surrounding lands, gripped by chilling horror, sought salvation in the forests. The scale of the devastating campaigns of the Normans is amazing even today, almost a thousand years later. In the east, they paved the famous path “from the Varangians to the Greeks”, gave rise to the princely dynasty of Rurikovich and for more than two centuries took an active part in life Kievan Rus and Byzantium. In the west, the Vikings, since the 8th century. having settled Iceland and southern Greenland, they kept constant fear Irish and Scottish coasts.

And from the 9th century. moved the boundaries of their raids not only far to the south - to the Mediterranean Sea, but also deep into European lands, ravaging London (787), Bordeaux (840), Paris (885) and Orleans (895) . Red-bearded strangers captured entire fiefdoms, sometimes not inferior in size to the possessions of many monarchs: in the north-west of France they founded the Duchy of Normandy, and in Italy - the Kingdom of Sicily, from where they made campaigns in Palestine long before the Crusaders. Terrorizing the population of European cities, the warlike Scandinavians even received the honor of being mentioned in prayers: “God, deliver us from the Normans!” But among the northern barbarians there were warriors, before whom the Vikings themselves felt mystical awe. They knew very well that falling under the hot hand of a berserker tribesman was like death, and therefore they always tried to stay away from these brothers in arms.

WITH ALONE IN THE FIELD WARRIORS

Ancient Scandinavian sagas brought to us legends about invincible warriors who, overwhelmed by battle rage, with one sword or ax burst into the ranks of enemies, crushing everything in their path. Modern scientists do not doubt their reality, but much of the history of berserkers remains an unsolved mystery today.

Following established tradition, we will call them berserkers (although a more accurate term is bjorsjork, that is, “bear-like”). Along with the bear warrior, there was also an ulfhedner - “wolf-headed”, wolf warrior. Probably, these were different incarnations of the same phenomenon: many of those called berserkers bore the nickname “Wolf” (ulf), “Wolf’s skin”, “Wolf’s mouth”, etc. However, the name “Bear” (bjorn) is no less common.

It is believed that berserkers were first mentioned in a drape (long poem) by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi, an Old Norse literary monument. It talks about the victory of King Harald Fairhair, the founder of the Kingdom of Norway, in the Battle of Havrsfjord, which supposedly took place in 872. “The berserkers, dressed in bearskins, growled, shook their swords, bit the edge of their shield in rage and rushed at their enemies. They were possessed and did not feel pain, even if they were hit by a spear. When the battle was won, the warriors fell exhausted and fell into a deep sleep,” this is how an eyewitness and participant in those events described the entry into battle of the legendary warriors.

Most of the mentions of berserkers are in the sagas of the 9th-11th centuries, when the Vikings (Normans) terrified the peoples of Europe on their fast drake ships. It seemed that nothing could resist them. Already in the 8th-9th centuries such big cities like London, Bordeaux, Paris, Orleans. What can we say about small towns and villages, the Normans devastated them in a matter of hours. They often created their own states in the territories they captured, for example, the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of Sicily.

Who were these fighters? Vikings were called berserkers or berserkers, who from an early age devoted themselves to serving Odin - the supreme Scandinavian deity, the ruler of the wonderful palace of Valhalla, where after death the souls of warriors who heroically fell on the battlefield and earned the favor of heaven were supposedly sent to an eternal feast. Before the battle, berserkers put themselves into a special kind of combat trance, due to which they were distinguished by enormous strength, endurance, quick reaction, insensitivity to pain and increased aggressiveness. By the way, the etymology of the word “berserker” still causes controversy in scientific circles. It is most likely derived from the Old Norse "berserkr", which translates either as "bearskin" or "shirtless" (the root ber can mean either "bear" or "naked", and serkr - "skin", "shirt" "). Supporters of the first interpretation point to a direct connection between the berserkers, who wore clothes made of bear skins, and the cult of this totem animal. The “Holo Shirts” focus on the fact that berserkers went into battle without chain mail, naked to the waist.

Bronze plate of the 8th century. Thorslunda, Fr. Öland, Sweden

Fragmentary information about berserkers can also be gleaned from the Prose Edda, a collection of Old Icelandic mythical tales written by Snorri Sturluson. The Saga of the Ynglings says the following: “The men of Odin rushed into battle without chain mail, but raged like mad dogs or wolves. In anticipation of the fight, from the impatience and rage bubbling within them, they gnawed their shields and hands with their teeth until they bled. They were strong, like bears or bulls. With an animal roar they struck the enemy, and neither fire nor iron harmed them...” The Old Norse poet claimed that “Odin knew how to make his enemies go blind or deaf in battle, or be overcome by fear, or their swords become no sharper than sticks.” The connection of berserkers with the cult of the main god of the Scandinavian pantheon has other confirmations. Even the translation of Odin's many names indicates his mad and furious nature: Wotan ("possessed"), Ygg ("terrible"), Heryan ("militant"), Hnikar ("sower of discord"), Belverk ("villain"). The nicknames of the berserkers, who gave the “lord of wrath” a vow of fearlessness, also matched their heavenly patron. For example, Harold the Merciless, who got involved in battle before others, or the Norman leader John, who was defeated in 1171 near Dublin, who had the nickname Wode, that is, “Madman.”

It was no coincidence that berserkers were a privileged part of the military class, a kind of “special forces” of the Vikings. And it was not spontaneous rioting or sacrificial extravagance on the lists that made them so. They just always opened the battle, conducting a demonstration, and in most cases, a victorious duel in full view of the entire army. In one of the chapters of “Germany,” the ancient Roman writer Tacitus wrote about berserkers: “As soon as they reached adulthood, they were allowed to grow hair and a beard, and only after killing the first enemy could they style them... Cowards and others walked around with their hair flowing. In addition, the bravest wore an iron ring, and only the death of the enemy freed them from wearing it. Their task was to anticipate each battle; they always formed the front line.” A squad of berserkers made their enemies tremble with their very appearance. Storming cities as a combat vanguard, they left behind only mountains of corpses of defeated enemies. And behind the berserkers, well-armed infantry protected by armor advanced, completing the rout. If you believe the literary monuments, the Old Scandinavian kings often used berserkers as personal guards, which once again confirms their military elitism. One of the sagas says that the Danish king Hrolf Krake had 12 berserkers as his bodyguards.

FROM THE DOSSIER. “Berserk is a mechanism exploded by ferocious passion, adrenaline, ideological attitude, breathing techniques, sound vibrations and a mechanical program of action. He doesn't fight for anything, but only to win. The berserker does not have to prove that he will survive. He must pay back his life many times over. The berserker not only goes to die, he goes to receive furious pleasure from this process. By the way, that’s why he most often stays alive.”

“THERE IS A DROP IN BATTLE...”

EVERY SINGLE piece of evidence portrays berserkers as ferocious fighters who fought with a wild, almost magical passion. So what is the secret of the rage of berserkers, as well as their insensitivity to wounds and pain: was it a consequence of drug intoxication, hereditary disease or special psychophysical training?

Currently, there are several versions explaining this phenomenon. The first is possession by an “animal spirit.” Ethnographers confirm that something similar was observed among many peoples. At the moments when the “spirit” takes possession of a person, he does not feel any pain or fatigue. But as soon as this state ends, the possessed person almost instantly falls asleep, as if he is turned off. In general, werewolfism as a military practice was widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Traces of “transformation into a beast,” of course, not in a literal sense, but in a ritual and psycho-behavioral sense, can be found in modern military lexicons and heraldic symbols. The custom of naming special forces after predatory animals in order to emphasize their elitism also dates back to the deep past. The ancient Germans imitated the beast; it played the role of a mentor during initiation, when a young man, joining the ranks of adult warriors, demonstrated his fighting skills, dexterity, courage and bravery. The victory of a person over a totem animal, considered the ancestor and patron of a given tribe, meant the transfer of the most valuable animal qualities to the warrior. It was believed that in the end the beast did not die, but was embodied in the hero who defeated it. Modern psychology has long identified the mechanisms by which a person “gets used to” the image of the creature whose role he is currently playing. Berserkers who growled and put on bear skins seemed to actually become bears. Of course, the animal masquerade was by no means the know-how of the Normans.

The famous Munich ethnologist Professor Hans-Joachim Paprot is confident that the cult of the bear appeared much earlier and was more widespread. “Already in Stone Age paintings, for example in the Trois-Frerets cave in Southern France, we find images of dancers in bearskins. And Swedish and Norwegian Laplanders celebrated an annual bear festival until the last century,” says the scientist. The Austrian Germanist Professor Otto Hoefler believes that there was a deep meaning in animal disguise. “It was understood as a transformation not only by the audience, but also by the person changing clothes themselves. If a dancer or warrior dressed in a bearskin, then the strength of the wild animal, of course, in a figurative sense, passed into him. He acted and felt like a bear. Echoes of this cult can still be seen today, for example in the bearskin caps of the English royal guards guarding Tower of London", he states. And in Danish folklore there is still a belief that anyone who puts on an iron collar can turn into a werebear.

Modern science knows that the human nervous system can produce substances that are similar in composition and action to drugs. They act directly on the “pleasure centers” of the brain. It can be assumed that the berserkers were, as it were, hostages of their own rage. They were forced to look for dangerous situations that would allow them to engage in combat, or even provoke them. One of the Scandinavian sagas talks about a man who had 12 sons. All of them were berserkers: “It became their custom, when they were among their own people and felt a fit of rage, to go from the ship to the shore and throw large stones there, uproot trees, otherwise in their rage they would have maimed or killed their relatives and friends.” The phrase “there is ecstasy in battle” took on a literal meaning. Later, the Vikings, for the most part, still managed to control such attacks. Sometimes they even entered a state that in the East is called “enlightened consciousness.” Those who mastered this art became truly phenomenal warriors.

Many paramilitary groups considered unarmed combat shameful. Among the Vikings, this postulate took the following form: it is shameful not to be able to fight with weapons, but there is nothing shameful in the ability to fight unarmedly. It is curious that as an auxiliary (and sometimes main - if he fought without a sword) weapon, the berserker used stones, a stick picked up from the ground, or a club stored in advance.

On Trajan's Column in Rome we see a “strike force” of such animal warriors (not yet berserkers). They are included in the Roman army and are partly forced to follow customs, but only a few have helmets (and no one has armor), some are dressed in animal skin, others are half naked and clutch a club instead of a sword... One must think that this did not reduce their combat effectiveness, otherwise Emperor Trajan, whose guard they were part of, would have been able to insist on rearmament.

Usually it was the berserkers who started each battle, terrifying their enemies with their very appearance. According to the sagas, they did not use armor, preferring bearskin instead. In some cases, a shield is mentioned, the edges of which they gnawed furiously before the battle. The main weapons of the berserkers were a battle ax and a sword, which they wielded to perfection. One of the first references to us about invincible warriors was left by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi, who at the end of the 9th century wrote a saga about the victory in the battle of Havrsfjord of King Harald Fairhair, the creator of the Norwegian kingdom. There is a high probability that his description is documented: “The berserkers, dressed in bearskins, growled, shook their swords, bit the edge of their shield in rage and rushed at their enemies. They were possessed and did not feel pain, even if they were hit by a spear. When the battle was won, the warriors fell exhausted and fell into deep sleep.” Similar descriptions of the actions of berserkers in battle can be found in other authors.

For example, in the saga of the Ynglings: “The men of Odin rushed into battle without chain mail, but raged like mad dogs or wolves. In anticipation of the fight, from the impatience and rage bubbling within them, they gnawed their shields and hands with their teeth until they bled. They were strong, like bears or bulls. With an animal roar they struck the enemy, and neither fire nor iron harmed them...” Notice that this time it is mentioned that they were warriors of Odin, the supreme deity of the Scandinavians, to whom, after death in battle, the souls of great warriors go to feast with brave men like them and enjoy the love of heavenly maidens. Apparently, berserkers were representatives of a special group (caste) of professional warriors, who were trained for battles from childhood, devoting them not only to the intricacies of military skill, but also teaching the art of entering a combat trance, which heightened all the senses of the fighter and allowed hidden capabilities to manifest themselves. human body. Naturally, it was extremely difficult to defeat such fighters in battle. Fear, as they say, has big eyes, which is why similar lines appeared in the sagas: “One knew how to make his enemies go blind or deaf in battle, or they were overcome by fear, or their swords became no sharper than sticks.”

Traditionally, berserkers formed the vanguard of the battle. They could not fight for long (the combat trance cannot last long), having broken the ranks of the enemies and laid the foundation for a common victory, they left the battlefield to ordinary warriors who completed the defeat of the enemy. Apparently, bringing oneself to a state of trance could not be done without taking certain psychotropic drugs, which allowed berserkers to “transform” into powerful and invincible bears. Werewolfism is known among many nations, when, as a result of illness or taking special drugs, a person identified himself with the beast and even copied certain features of its behavior. It is not for nothing that the emphasis is placed on the invulnerability of berserkers in the sagas. In battle, they were guided not so much by consciousness as by the subconscious, which allowed them to “turn on” qualities that are not typical for humans in everyday life - heightened reaction, expanded peripheral vision, insensitivity to pain, and possibly some kind of extrasensory abilities. In battle, the berserker literally felt the arrows and spears flying at him, foresaw where the blows of swords and axes would come from, which means he could parry the blow, cover himself with a shield or dodge it. These were truly universal warriors, but they were needed only for the period of fighting.

The Normans fought often, which means that berserkers often had to reincarnate. Apparently, the ecstasy of battle became for them something similar to drug addiction, and perhaps it practically was. Consequently, berserkers were, in principle, not adapted to peaceful life, becoming dangerous to society, since they needed danger and thrills. And if there is no war, then you can always provoke a fight or engage in robbery. As soon as the Normans, fed up with the seizure of foreign lands, began to move on to a settled, quiet life, the berserkers turned out to be superfluous. This was clearly manifested in the sagas, in which, from the end of the 11th century, berserkers from former heroes turn into robbers and villains, to whom a merciless war is declared. It is curious that it was recommended to kill berserkers with wooden stakes, since “they are invulnerable” against iron. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Scandinavian countries even adopted special laws aimed at combating berserkers, who were expelled or mercilessly destroyed. Some of the former invulnerable warriors were able to join new life, it was believed that for this they must be baptized, then faith in Christ will save them from combat madness. The rest, perhaps they made up the majority of the former military elite, were forced to flee to other lands or were simply killed.

FLY ASMIC MADNESS

There have been other attempts to explain the inhuman rage of berserkers. In 1784, S. Edman, referring to the customs of some East Siberian tribes, suggested that berserkers also stupefied themselves with an infusion of fly agarics. The peoples of the Far North - the Tungus, Lamut or Kamchadal - until recently, in the practice of rituals (fortune telling), they used powder from dried fly agaric mushrooms, licking which from the palm of their hand, the shamans fell into a trance. The behavior of berserkers in battle really resembles a state of intoxication with muscarine - the poison of the fly agaric: stupefaction, outbursts of rage, insensitivity to pain and cold, and then incredible fatigue and deep sleep, about which they wrote that “Vikings fall to the ground from fatigue, and not from wounds” . This is precisely the picture dispassionately recorded by the saga of the battle near the Norwegian city of Stavanger in 872, when the berserkers, after the victory, fell ashore and slept like a dead person for more than a day. The action of muscarine, like any other hallucinogen, is based on a change in the speed of impulses of nerve endings, which causes a feeling of euphoria. And an excessive dose can be fatal. But something else is interesting here: the condition caused by poison in one individual soon spreads to everyone around him. Some historians believe that the berserkers knew about this technique, and therefore only the leaders of the squads or a select few used fly agaric doping. However, there is still no reliable evidence of the “mushroom” theory. Some ethnographers still suggest that berserkers belonged to certain sacred unions or families in which knowledge about the mysterious properties of plants was passed on from generation to generation. But in the Old Norse sagas there is no mention of psychotropic drugs at all. Therefore, a discussion on the topic of “berserkers and fly agarics” is a waste of time, no matter how attractive this version may seem.

Now about another semi-mythical property of berserkers - invulnerability. A variety of sources unanimously claim that the beast warrior could not actually be killed in battle. The berserkers were protected from throwing and striking weapons by a kind of “wisdom of madness.” Disinhibited consciousness enabled extreme responsiveness, sharpened peripheral vision, and likely enabled some extrasensory skills. The berserker saw, or even predicted, any blow, managing to parry it or jump away from the line of attack. The belief in the invulnerability of berserkers survived the heroic age and was reflected in Scandinavian folklore. Berserkers of the 11th and 12th centuries. skillfully took advantage of the image inherited from their ancestors. And they themselves, to the best of their ability, refined their image. For example, fueling rumors in every possible way that they can dull any sword with one glance. The sagas, with their love of all things supernatural, easily absorbed such colorful details.

Doctors also made their contribution to solving the mystery of the frantic warriors. “The legendary power of the berserkers had nothing to do with spirits, drugs, or magical rituals, but was only a disease transmitted by inheritance,” says Professor Jesse L. Byock. They are ordinary psychopaths who lost control of themselves at the slightest attempt to contradict them. Over time, the berserkers learned to perform a well-rehearsed performance, one of the elements of which was biting the shield. It is well known that exhaustion that occurs after an attack of rage is typical for people with mental disorders. Hysterics easily cross the line separating pretense from reality, and the learned technique becomes a symptom of a real illness. Moreover, the psychoses that engulfed medieval society were often epidemic in nature: just remember the dance of St. Vitus or the flagellant movement. As a shining example Jesse L. Byok brings an unbridled, cruel and greedy Viking, and also the famous Icelandic poet Egil, who lived in the 10th century. So, if you believe the “Saga of Egil,” he possessed all the traits of a berserker who adopted his wild disposition from his ancestors. Moreover, his head was so massive that even after death it could not be split with an ax. Analysis of the text of the Old Norse literary monument also allowed Bayok to conclude that Egil's family suffered from Paget's syndrome, a hereditary disease in which uncontrolled bone enlargement occurs. Human bones renew themselves gradually, usually within 8 years. However, the disease increases the rate of bone destruction and new formation so much that they become significantly larger and uglier than before. The effects of Paget's syndrome are especially noticeable on the head, where the bones become thicker. According to statistics, in England today this disease affects from 3 to 5 percent of men over 40 years of age. It is very difficult to confirm or refute an exotic hypothesis due to historical remoteness.

HEROES OR VILLAINS?

FROM CHILDHOOD we have learned the immutable law of fairy tales and myths: all the characters in them are divided into “good” and “bad”. There are no halftones here, with rare exceptions - this is the specificity of the genre. What category can berserkers be classified into?

No matter how strange it may sound, the frantic warriors were most likely anti-heroes for their contemporaries. If in early sagas berserkers were portrayed as selected warriors, bodyguards of the king, then in later family legends they are marauders and rapists. The Earthly Circle, a collection of stories compiled by Snorri Sturluson in the 13th century, contains many such evidence. Most of the episodes are stereotypical in content and composition. Shortly before Christmas, someone of enormous stature and endowed with extraordinary strength, often accompanied by eleven people, appears as an uninvited guest on a farm with the intention of taking everything of value and forcing the women into cohabitation. If the farmer is at home, he is either sick or infirm and cannot fight back the villains. But more often he is many miles from home, in a distant province of Norway. The leader of the aliens is a berserker, ready to prove in a duel his right to dispose of someone else's household. There are no people willing to fight the strongman, skilled in such fights (and all his previous opponents are dead). But just at this time, a courageous Icelander accidentally turns up on the farm, who either accepts the challenge or defeats the villains with cunning. The result is always the same: the berserkers are killed, including those who hoped to escape. When the troubles are over, the owner returns and generously rewards the savior, who, in memory of what happened, composes a visa - a skaldic poem of eight lines - thanks to which his feat becomes widely known.

It is quite natural that berserkers, to put it mildly, were disliked for such “actions”. Reliable historical evidence has been preserved that in 1012, Earl Eirik Hakonarson outlawed berserkers in Norway, and they apparently began to seek their fortune in other places, including Iceland. Most likely, berserker marauders are gangs of homeless warriors left out of work. They were born for battles: they were excellent with weapons, psychologically prepared, they knew how to intimidate the enemy with growls, aggressive behavior and protect themselves from slashing blows with thick bear skin. But when the berserkers were no longer needed, they suffered the fate of any forgotten army - moral degradation.

The end of the era of the Norman campaigns, Christianization and the formation of early feudal statehood in the Scandinavian lands ultimately led to a complete rethinking of the image of the berserker. Already from the 11th century. this word takes on an exclusively negative connotation. Moreover, berserkers under the influence of the church are credited with pronounced demonic traits. The Saga of Vatisdola tells that in connection with the arrival of Bishop Fridrek in Iceland, war was declared “possessed”. Their description is given in a completely traditional spirit: berserkers commit violence and arbitrariness, their anger knows no bounds, they bark and growl, gnawing at the edge of their shield, walk on hot coals barefoot and do not even try to control their behavior. On the advice of the newly arrived clergyman, those possessed by evil spirits were scared away with fire, beaten to death with wooden stakes, because it was believed that “iron does not hurt berserkers,” and the bodies were thrown into a ravine without burial. Other texts noted that the baptized berserker forever lost the ability to transform. Pursued and persecuted from all sides, finding themselves in the new social conditions as dangerous outcasts and criminals, accustomed to living only by raids and robbery, berserkers became a real disaster. They broke into settlements and killed local residents, ambushed travelers. And the law of ancient Scandinavia outlawed bloodthirsty madmen, making it obligatory for every resident to destroy berserkers. A law issued in Iceland in 1123 stated: “A berserker caught in a rage will be sentenced to 3 years of exile.” Since then, the warriors in bearskins disappeared without a trace, and with them the hoary pagan antiquity sank into oblivion.

NO ONE knows where and when the last berserker died: history jealously guards this secret. The only reminders of the former glory of the fierce Vikings today are heroic tales and mossy rune stones scattered along the slopes of the Scandinavian hills...

On INFOGLASE The article turned out to be a little more complete, so those who are especially interested can read it there - http://infoglaz.ru/?p=24429

sources

Roman SHKURLATOV http://bratishka.ru/archiv/2007/10/2007_10_17.php http://slavs.org.ua/berserki
http://shkolazhizni.ru/archive/0/n-29472/

Let me remind you who they are and how interesting they are The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -

This is an effective and deliberately caused combat frenzy. Among the Germanic peoples it turned into a kind of cult of the warrior-beast. Animal-like “transformations,” which are the highest form of development of combat rage, are known among all Germans. Late ancient historians report on the “Frankish fury”, on the “wolf warriors” of the Lombard people... At the same time, such unstoppable forces were released that even a closed, disciplined formation and the art of “correct combat” could not always resist them.

We can judge what the image of the warrior-beast was, first of all, from Scandinavian sources, for in Scandinavia such warriors existed until the 12th-13th centuries.

Previously, the Middle Ages were an era full of horrific examples of violence and barbarity. At the end of the 8th century, a horrific wave of violence swept through the coastal settlements of Northern Europe. These were Viking raids. They robbed and killed all people indiscriminately. The news about these people spread with each raid. The names of the Viking leaders became legendary during their lifetime - Ivar the Boneless, Eric the Red and Harald Bluetooth. Their cruelty that knew no bounds brought these people widespread fame.

The berserker does not have to prove that he will survive. He must pay back his life many times over. The berserker not only goes to die, he goes to receive furious pleasure from this process. By the way, this is why he most often remains alive.

However, it is still impossible to call this a military trick, a “psychic attack”. The berserker was seriously convinced that he was possessed by an “animal spirit”, and everyone around him either believed in it too, or kept their doubts to themselves - this was much healthier...

Famous historical fact transformation of a warrior into a wild beast (of course, not literally, and in ritual and psychobehavioral). Traces of this ancient “transformation into a beast” are preserved by military lexicons and heraldic symbols inherited from antiquity and the Middle Ages. After all, the collective memory of people, living in symbols and speech, is very strong. This is where expressions like “strong like an ox” or “brave like a lion” come from...

Familiarity with wild animals can be traced back to the ancient Germans, and in a wide variety of forms. For example, the beast was imitated; it seemed to play the role of a mentor during initiation, that is, when a young man, joining the ranks of adult warriors, demonstrated his fighting skills, dexterity, courage and bravery. One of the forms of initiation was a fight with this beast, which ended with eating its flesh and drinking its blood. This was supposed to give the warrior strength and dexterity, courage and fury of a wild beast.

This “obsession with the beast” was manifested, among other things, in the fact that the berserker deliberately imitated the movements of a bear, not only in battle, but also during frequent ritual-magical ceremonies, dances, etc.

One of the first mentions of invincible warriors that have come down to us was left by the skald Thorbjorn Hornklovi, who at the end of the 9th century wrote a saga about the victory in the battle of Havrsfjord of King Harald Fairhair, the creator of the Kingdom of Norway. There is a high probability that his description is documented: “The berserkers, dressed in bearskins, growled, shook their swords, bit the edge of their shield in rage and rushed at their enemies. They were possessed and did not feel pain, even if they were hit by a spear. When the battle was won, the warriors fell exhausted and fell into deep sleep.”

Similar descriptions of the actions of berserkers in battle can be found in other authors. For example, in the saga of the Ynglings: “The men of Odin rushed into battle without chain mail, but raged like mad dogs or wolves. In anticipation of the fight, from the impatience and rage bubbling within them, they gnawed their shields and hands with their teeth until they bled. They were strong, like bears or bulls. With an animal roar they struck the enemy, and neither fire nor iron harmed them..."

Both their own and their enemies attributed various magical qualities to such warriors. It was believed, for example, that they had the gift of invulnerability, like King Harold the Merciless, who got involved in battle before anyone else, causing death left and right. They were also considered unusually fierce and strong. Therefore, just the sight of the beast warriors was terrifying.

Even the Vikings themselves treated berserkers in their pure form with a feeling halfway between admiration, fearful respect and contempt. These are the true “dogs of war.” If they were able to be used, it was mainly in the position of “tamed animals”.

But elements of berserk training, weaponry, and most importantly, specific psychotechnics penetrated the life of many warriors in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and especially Iceland. They kept berserkerism under control, “turning it on” only during battles.

In later times, the term "berserker" became synonymous with the word "warrior", or rather "robber", because it meant a warrior who was subject to fits of rage, unbridled rage. In short, he was extremely aggressive, did not feel pain, and at the same time was completely unable to control his own behavior. However, in more ancient times things were different, as evidenced by the etymology of the term.

"Berserker" is "someone in a bear's skin, incarnated as a bear." Please note: embodied in a bear, and not just dressed in its skin. The difference is fundamental. Behind the mundane fact of a warrior in bearskin lies a deeper truth. She says he is a man possessed by a bear, a "bear with a human face" if you will. The bearskin here is a kind of “magic cage” that helps to carry out the witchcraft act of such a transformation. Side by side with the berserker, dressed in the skin of a bear, or better yet, the warrior-bear, stands “ulfhednar,” that is, “someone dressed in the skin of a wolf, embodied in a wolf.” The kinship between the wolf warrior and the bear warrior is so close that both terms look like synonyms. The sagas claim that the “ulfhednars” and “berserkers” sometimes acted alone, but most often in small groups, similar to wolf packs.

The sagas also speak of their ferocity, ruthlessness, shamelessness (that is, the lack of moral standards in behavior) and addiction to orgies. So the legends about “wolves” and “werewolves” look quite plausible. In pagan times, before the conversion of the Germans and Scandinavians to Christianity, it was believed that berserkers and ulfhednars possessed simply supernatural powers.

Naturally, it was extremely difficult to defeat such fighters in battle. Fear, as they say, has big eyes, which is why similar lines appeared in the sagas: “One knew how to make his enemies go blind or deaf in battle, or they were overcome by fear, or their swords became no sharper than sticks.”

Apparently, bringing oneself to a state of trance could not be done without taking certain psychotropic drugs, which allowed berserkers to “transform” into powerful and invincible bears. Werewolfism is known among many nations, when, as a result of illness or taking special drugs, a person identified himself with the beast and even copied certain features of its behavior.

It is not for nothing that the emphasis is placed on the invulnerability of berserkers in the sagas. In battle, they were guided not so much by consciousness as by the subconscious, which allowed them to “turn on” qualities that are not typical for humans in everyday life - heightened reaction, expanded peripheral vision, insensitivity to pain, and possibly some kind of extrasensory abilities. In battle, the berserker literally felt the arrows and spears flying at him, foresaw where the blows of swords and axes would come from, which means he could parry the blow, cover himself with a shield or dodge it. These were truly universal warriors, but they were needed only for the period of fighting.

As soon as the Normans, fed up with the seizure of foreign lands, began to move on to a settled, quiet life, the berserkers turned out to be superfluous. This was clearly manifested in the sagas, in which, from the end of the 11th century, berserkers from former heroes turn into robbers and villains, to whom a merciless war is declared. It is curious that it was recommended to kill berserkers with wooden stakes, since “they are invulnerable” against iron. 200 years after the Battle of Boxfjord, Christian missionaries descended on Scandinavia. Old pagan customs and lifestyles were prohibited, in particular, wrestlers wearing animal skins. At the beginning of the 12th century, the Scandinavian countries even adopted special laws aimed at combating berserkers, who were expelled or mercilessly destroyed. A law issued in Iceland in 1123 states: “A berserker caught in a rage will be imprisoned for 3 years in exile.” Since then, the bearskin warriors have disappeared without a trace. Some of the former invulnerable warriors were able to join a new life; it was believed that for this they must be baptized. The rest, who may have made up the majority of the former military elite, were forced to flee to other lands or were simply killed...

...Since then, the great warriors of ancient Scandinavia have remained only in legends. Perhaps they are all feasting in the halls of Odin, remembering past victories and defeated enemies over drunken goblets, watching with a grin the efforts of scientists to unravel the origin of the word “berserker”...

Berserker

Berserk (berserker) - a warrior who dedicated himself to the god Odin, who became furious before the battle.

Etymology

The word berserk is derived from the Old Norse berserkr, which means either "bearskin" or "shirtless" (root ber- could mean like "bear", so "naked"; -serkr means "skin", "shirt"). Berserkers were first mentioned by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi in a poem about the victory of Harald Fairhair in the Battle of Havrsfjord, which supposedly took place in the city.

Only such warriors could continue the tradition of berserkers.

In literature, berserkers often appear in pairs, often twelve of them at once. They were considered the personal guard of the Old Scandinavian kings. This indicates the elitist nature of this warrior caste. Unwavering loyalty to one's ruler is found in several places in the old sagas. In one of the sagas, the Danish king Hrolf Krake had 12 berserkers who were his personal guard: Bödvar Bjarki, Hjalti Hochgemuth, Zvitserk Kühn, Wörth, Veseti, Bajgud and the Svipdag brothers.

But only King Harald Fairhair could not have berserkers. Tacitus mentions a special caste of warriors, which he calls " Harier"and which bear all the signs of berserkers, this was 800 years before the Battle of Boxfjord:

Berserker - armor, weapons. Military elite - berserkers Berserkers and battles

Did berserkers eat fly agarics?

Berserkers we know

Etymology

In games

See also

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