Berserk
As berserk in is medieval Scandinavian sources a struggling intoxicated man called who perceives no pain or wounds more. This type of warrior, who fought on the side of various Germanic tribes , is also reported by Roman sources in the imperial era . They are not called "berserkers" there, but have different names.
etymology
The word berserk is an Old Norse word , formally a compound word . The second part serkr is unanimously interpreted as “robe, tunic ”. With regard to the first component, there are different assumptions, two of which are discussed: On the one hand, a connection with a word for bear is being considered, although in Old Norse this is bjorn [Lloyd / Springer]. On the other hand, McCone argues that the berserkers were, according to the descriptions, light infantry and therefore a comparison with bar “just, free” would be more appropriate. Näsström points out that for practical reasons, the use of a bearskin with a weight of around five kilograms is rather cumbersome and impractical. Alexander Jóhannesson writes: “ berserkr [...] to the adjective berr nudus , cf. Andrésson 1683: miles, qui sine armis, lorica balea & c. pugnat , also Bj. Halld. (1814): indusio tantum non lorica indutus. See also Snorri: fóru brynjulausir. “Today it is more likely that the name is taken from frenzy , like fighting like a bear or a wolf. This is associated with the metamorphoses often described in the Nordic sagas , which are also known here in connection with the werewolf .
First mentions - warriors or sick?
The word berserk appears for the first time in Haraldskvæði (verse 8), a price poem by the skald Þorbjörn hornklofi (around 872) about the decisive battle of Harald Hårfagres at Hafrsfjord:
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grenjuðu berserkir, |
the berserkers roared, |
So far it is undisputed that ecstatically screaming warriors in wolf skins are meant here. Many researchers conclude from the parallelism that the berserkers were not naked, but “warriors of the bear”. It is questionable, however, whether the berserkers can be equated with the warriors in wolf clothing.
From stanzas 20, 21 of Haraldskvæði it can be seen that the berserkers fought principally in the first row of every battle order and there also without regard to losses. However, they are remarkably rarely mentioned in the battle reports. Klaus von See probably thought that stanzas 13-23 were an addition from the beginning of the 12th century, so only the above-mentioned stanza is from the 9th century. 250 years passed before the word "berserk" was mentioned again in the literature. From this, Klaus von See concludes that it was not a fixed contemporary term, but a word creation by the poet Þorbjörn hornklofi, who took over the word connection with “ber-” from German originals, which is otherwise not found in Scandinavian literature, and adds two more word combinations with “ber-” “ber-harð” (bear hard) and “ber-fjall” (bear fur, not, as expected, “bear rock”) from Þorbjörn, which he borrowed from the German vocabulary. The word "berserkr" only became common in the 12th century.
The animal warriors often appeared in closed groups, as in the description of the battle at Hafrsfjord quoted above. The sagas unanimously report that the berserkers were posted at the bow of the ship, the most dangerous place in the fight. They were considered a royal elite troop . Their number is usually given as twelve. But it is wrong to call the berserkers “elite warriors”. Rather, berserkers are people with special characteristics who appear in the sources sometimes as elite warriors, sometimes as dangerous criminals . They occur in the most distinguished genders, but are also family- less forest people .
A passage in the Vatnsdœla saga suggests that epilepsy was also subsumed under the term “berserk”. There the brothers Þorsteinn and Þorir talk about the ranking of the brothers.
"Þórir kvaðst minnst háttar af þeim‚ fyrir það að á mig kemur berserksgangur jafnan þá er eg vildi síst og vildi eg bróðir að þú gerðir að. ' ‚Því er eg hér kominn að eg hefi spurt að Þorgrímur frændi vor hefir látið bera út barn sitt af orðum konu sinnar og er það illa gert. Þykir mér og með stórum meinum að þú ert eigi í öðli þínu sem aðrir menn. '"
"Thorir said he was the least of them - 'because I always go berserk when I least want it, and I wish, brother, you would do something about it.' 'I came here because I heard that our cousin Thorgrim had his child abandoned because of his wife's words; and that is very wrong. It also seems a great shame to me that you are not in the fullness of your health like other men. '"
But this disease is very different from the frenzy in combat, which is arbitrary.
In the early mentions, there is no mention of the uncontrollable fits of rage that puzzles science. Animal skins and the battle cry were nothing unusual for combat situations at the time.
The "berserk" since Christianization
After Christianity was established around 1025, there were no more berserkers. In the Icelandic Christian law of 1122 (chap. 7 of the Grágás ) it is forbidden to put oneself in the rage of berserk, although it is not certain that the literarily attested berserk or not simply a fit of rage is meant. Berserkers are no longer mentioned in Norwegian Christian rights at the time. Both indicate that this way of fighting was already disappearing or was already disappearing at this time, albeit differently from region to region.
Thereafter, two lines of tradition emerge: one calls particularly brave warriors berserkers without attaching any special characteristics, the other begins to stylize them as human beasts. Both strands have in common that the authors did not have their own view of berserkers and did not know any living witnesses who had experienced berserkers themselves. The berserkers were only known from hearsay .
The first line of tradition includes the Grettis saga , which was not written until 1320 . She already considers particularly brave men to be "berserkers". Because, contrary to all older reports, when describing the Battle of Hafrsfjord, she already considers the leader of Harald's opponents to be a berserk, although berserks nowhere appear as leaders:
"Haraldur konungur lagði að skipi Þóris haklangs því að Þórir var hinn mesti berserkur og fullhugi. [...] Þá hét konungur á berserki sína til framgöngu. Þeir voru kallaðir úlfhéðnar en á þá bitu engi járn. En er þeir geystust fram þá hélst ekki við. "
“King Harald placed his ship opposite Thorir, for Thorir was a great berserk and a brave man. [...] At last the king ordered his berserkers to attack; they were called "wolf skins"; no iron bit them, and where they charged, no one held out. "
The fact that Thorir fell, although he was berserk, did not bother the author, which shows that invulnerability was not ascribed to berserks everywhere.
Otherwise the form of the fight in animal disguise has been handed down. So is on a bronze plaque from the 6th / 7th A warrior with an animal mask is depicted in the 18th century, which was found in Torslunda . And in the Vatnsdœla saga it says about the battle of Hafrsfjord :
"Þá var með honum Rögnvaldur af Mæri og margir aðrir stórir Höfðingjar og þeir berserkir er úlfhéðnar voru kallaðir. Þeir Höfðu vargstakka fyrir brynjur og vörðu framstafn á konungsskipinu ... "
“... there stood with him Rögnvald von Möre and many other great chiefs, plus berserkers who were called wolf pelts; they wore wolf skins instead of the fountain and shielded the bow of the king's ship. "
The saga was written between 1260 and 1280, which is why the author has to explain the "berserker" to his readers, although it remains open whether he mixed up different elite fighters.
A group of berserkers was considered capable of turning the luck of the battle around. Due to their ruthless approach and the traditionally greatly reduced or completely neutralized pain sensation, they were able to carry out decisive but also bloody maneuvers for both sides.
In the Hrólf Krakis saga there is a lot of talk of berserkers sitting next to the king. But in this late story from the 14th century, the berserkers are no longer invulnerable and no longer have any other unusual skills. In the story of Halfdan, the protégé of the Brana , the terms "berserker" and "Viking" are even used synonymously.
The stylization of the berserkers as human beasts finds its earliest literary expression in Saxo Grammaticus . Snorri Sturluson , who lived later, is in the same tradition in some texts.
The berserker was now assigned special properties: he was insensitive to fire , and iron swords did not wound him. The berserk rage began with tremors , cold head and chattering teeth (apparently something like chills ), sometimes the head swelled and the color of the face changed, followed by loud roars and the biting of the shield . It is considered whether this biting into the shield might have had a magical significance. Näsström points to a stanza in the Havamál spoken by Odin :
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Þat can ek it ellifta: |
I can do an eleventh |
The roar was the warm-up phase for the berserk course.
“This Sigvald had seven sons so enamored with sorcery that, in sudden fits of frenzy, they often let out terrible roars, bit into their shields, swallowed hot coals , and leaped across the fire. And once that broke out, there was no other way to stop their madness than either to conquer them and tie them up, or to give them a way to quench their thirst for blood. Either it was their wild nature or it was some mental illness that created this terrible frenzy in them. "
and
“At that time a man named Hartben came from Hälsingland. He considered it a great act to kidnap and rape royal daughters , and he used to kill anyone who tried to prevent him from his erotic adventures. He preferred the highborn to the simpler, and said himself that the more distinguished women he managed to rape, the greater the man he was. And no one who said he could measure himself up to him in bravery got away with it. So strong was he that he was nine cubits tall. He had 12 fighters with him who had the task of chaining him every time to contain his intractable ferocity when he was seized by this frenzy, heralded by scratches. These challenged Halfdan to meet face-to-face with Hartben and his fighters; and he (Halfdan) not only promised to fight him, but also announced in extremely self-assured turns that he would win. When Hartben heard this, he was instantly angry: furiously, he bit off the whole tip of his shield and did not hold back from swallowing a glowing coal: he took the glowing coal with his mouth and immediately let it slide inside , ran across deadly flaming fire and in the end became so completely berserk that in his frenzy he turned his sword against six of his own men. Whether this madness came from his combative spirit or from some innate savagery cannot be said. Then he turned against Halfdan with his fighting force behind him. But Halfdan crushed him with his mighty club and stole his life and victory, and so he came to pay for his actions, not only against Halfdan, whom he had challenged, but also against the kings whose children he had stolen. "
Later the term "berserker" referred to men who fell victim to the so-called "battle frenzy", which can also be described as a bloodlust . Such warriors were initially believed to be beloved sons of the gods, especially Odin. His self-sacrifice in the Hávamál is also interpreted as an “archetypal proto-initiation into a men's union”, from which it is then deduced that there were berserk associations. A source-based proof cannot be given.
Snorri Sturluson later wrote as Saxo Grammaticus. It is believed that he wrote the Egils saga . The Egils saga begins with the words:
"Úlfur hét maður, sonur Bjálfa and Hallberu, dóttur Úlfs hins óarga. Hún var systir Hallbjarnar hálftrölls í Hrafnistu, föður Ketils hængs. Úlfur var maður svo mikill and sterkur, að Eigi voru hans jafningjar, en er hann var á unga aldri, lá hann í víkingu og herjaði. Með honum var í félagsskap sá maður, er kallaður var Berðlu-Kári, göfugur maður og hinn mesti afreksmaður að afli og áræði; hann var berserkur. Þeir Úlfur áttu einn sjóð báðir, og var með þeim hin kærsta vinátta. "
“Ulf was the name of a man, son of Bjalfi and Hallbera, daughter of Ulf the hearted. She was the sister of Hallbjörn Halbtroll in Rabenhorst, Hetil Hakenlachsens father. Ulf was so big and strong that he was nothing like him. In his youth he traveled to the army as a Viking. His companion on these was Berdla-Kari, a distinguished man with strength and courage. He was berserk. He and Ulf lived out of a bag, and there was the most loyal friendship between them . "
While here the berserk quality does not stand in the way of refinement and friendship, the berserk Ljot is portrayed negatively and his berserk attack in the Holmgang is described:
"Þá gekk Gyða að Agli og mælti:" Eg mun segja þér, Egill, tíðindi þau, sem hér eru með oss. Maður heitir Ljótur hinn bleiki; hann er berserkur og hólmgöngumaður; hann er óþokkasður; hann he óþokkasæéró min .ðokkas. en vér svöruðum skjótt og synjuðum honum ráðsins; síðan skoraði hann til hólmgöngu á Friðgeir, son minn […] Nú kom þar Ljótur með lið sitt; bjóst hann þá til hólldönlegur oð hannö haferkur he hann gekk fram á völlinn að hólmstaðnum, þá kom á hann berserksgangur, tók hann þá að grenja illilega og beit í skjöld sinn. "
“Then Gyda went to Egill and said: 'I will tell you Egil how things are here with us. One man is called Lyot the pale. He's a berserk and a gangsman. Nobody loves him. He came here and freed my daughter, but we replied briefly and refused to be engaged. Then he challenged Fridgeir, my son, to the Holmgang. ' […] Now Lyot came there with his entourage. He was preparing for a duel. He wore a shield and a sword. Lyot was a very strong and vigorous man. As he stepped forward on the square around Holmgange, the berserk rage came over him. He started howling viciously and bit his shield. "
After the attack subsided, it is said to have developed a weakness that could even have led to death. Egils saga explicitly refers to this type of berserk course in Chapter 27, when the named (Kveld-) Ulf, Egil's grandfather, kills Hallvarad's sleeping team in "Berserwut" together with his son Skala-Grimm (Egil's father) (cf. Bryntröll ). Ulf is exhausted, lies down on his bed, falls ill, gives instructions in the event of his death and dies soon afterwards, during the journey together to take the land on Iceland.
While in the early sagas the berserkers in the Holmgang were defeated by battle-hardened men, in the course of actions of the Christian era bishops come to the fore who oppose the berserkers and take away their invincibility. All who witness this process will then be baptized. The struggle is replaced by the miracle .
"Berserker gang" without well
Snorri described in his Heimskringla , in the Yinglinga saga Cape. 6 the berserkers like this:
„Óðinn kunni svá gera, at í orrostum urðu úvinir hans blindir eða daufir eða óttafullir, en vápn þeirra bitu eigi heldr en vendir; en hans menn fóru brynjulausir ok váru galnir sem hundar eða vargar, bitu í skjöldu sína, váru sterkir sem birnir eða griðungar; þeir drápu mannfólkit, en hvártki eldr né járn orti á þá. Þat he kallaðr berserksgangr. "
"But his [Odin] own men went without Brünnen , and they were wild as dogs or wolves. They bit their shields and were strong like bears or bulls. They slew the people and neither fire nor steel could harm them. This was called berserk gang . "
The formation of myths can already be clearly seen here.
The throwing of the well before the fight is still attested for Håkon the good (935–961). In view of the fact that the fight started with arrows, this description is doubtful. It could also be a literary topos depicting the royal courage to fight.
There is other evidence that warriors went into battle without a fountain. However, from the description in Germania that the Germans had hardly any iron, rarely swords or lances, it is concluded that the reason here was less bravery than a simple lack of equipment, especially since the armaments of defeated Romans were popular. In general, the representation of naked German warriors is considered outdated. As far as possible, efforts were made to obtain armor and weapons from the Romans.
gender
In the narrative literature there are exclusively male berserkers. But after the Edda there were also female berserkers:
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Þórr kvað: |
Thor said:
I tame |
Klaus von See says that they were simply giantesses and not female berserkers. In the late Nordic sources, berserkers are only portrayed negatively: They are men who were contentious and who did not obey the law and rules of obedience. The use of "berserk" for disputes in peacetime appears to have been prohibited. In the later sagas, berserkers or berserker groups are repeatedly mentioned who appeared on farms and extorted money and women from the farmers. They were considered to be possessed by the devil and therefore lost their berserk properties with baptism. It was imagined that the berserkers came mainly from the east, the Swedish Uppland, Gästrikland and Hälsingland, but also Russia, where giants and trolls were otherwise settled. Uppland has remained pagan for the longest time and is the most common area of origin. In the Edda this is expressed in the so-called Gróttasöngr , where the giantesses say of themselves:
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En vit síðan |
Then we walked |
Näsström considers the "bears" to be a metonym for berserkers, so that the poet settled the giantesses, the bear berserkers and those armored with gray wells in Sweden.
Modern interpretations
The descriptions of the berserkers' fits of rage in Saxo Grammaticus and Snorri inspired many to try to explain.
Samuel Lorenzo Ödman, a theologian at Uppsala University , was the first to develop the theory that the berserk process was due to the ingestion of toadstools . He was guided by news about the use of the toadstool among the shamans of Siberia , without having made any observations about the mode of action of the toadstool himself. However, the muscarinic syndrome does not increase the fighting strength. In addition, the amount of muscarin contained in toadstools is too low to cause such a syndrome. The primary toxins muscimol and ibotenic acid have a sedative and hallucinogenic effect, not stimulating or analgesic. The theory is no longer upheld today.
When the LSD was isolated from the ergot , the ergot as the causative agent was temporarily discussed.
Later, swamp porst was also considered as an ingredient in Viking Age beer ( Grutbier ). Sandermann, who was probably the first to discuss this plant in the literature, asks in his essay Berserkerwut through Sumpfporst beer why so few people have been passed down as berserkers with such a wide distribution of beer. Elsewhere, Rätsch thinks that there is only one substance that makes you really aggressive, that is alcohol.
There is no known scientific study that suggests that substances from plants that occur in Scandinavia are the trigger for the berserk rage attacks described above.
In Scandinavian medical history, going berserk is mainly seen as a psychopathic phenomenon, perhaps associated with a certain predisposition.
Thus, the connection between the berserkers and the wolf men in the sources is given greater attention and is linked to the term lycanthropy . The “holy frenzy” as a classic initiation rite was also considered.
Høyersten considers the phenomena described to be a dissociative trance , an autohypnosis . Biting the shield, sometimes in groups, is the initiation ritual that triggers self-suggestion. The clinical picture of such self-suggestion includes the restricted perception of the environment with reduced sensitivity to pain and increased muscle strength. Critical thinking and general inhibitions would be weakened. This condition is followed by a psychological discharge in the form of tiredness, fatigue, often followed by sleep.
A final clarification stands in the way of the fact that the news about the berserking event was only drafted at a time when there had been no berserkers for generations. So these are not direct eyewitness accounts of the fits of rage. Therefore, none of these theories has so far found favor with historians.
See also
- Section Berserkir in the article Viking Age
literature
- Heinrich Beck , Hanscarl Leuner : Ecstasy. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 7, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1989, ISBN 3-11-011445-3 , pp. 91-94. ISBN 3-11-011445-3 .
- Heiko Hiltmann: From Icelandic Man to Norwegian Follower Images of masculinity, constructions of the past and concepts of political order in Iceland in the 13th and 14th centuries. (= Bamberg interdisciplinary medieval studies ; 4), University of Bamberg Press 2011, ISBN 978-3-86309-031-9 , ISSN 1865-4622 . ( Full version )
- Otto Höfler : Berserk. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 2, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 1976, ISBN 3-11-006740-4 , pp. 298-304. ISBN 3-11-006740-4 .
- Alexander Johannesson: Icelandic Etymological Dictionary. Francke, Bern 1956.
- Gert Kreutzer: Berserk . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 2019 f.
- Nils Lid: Berserk . In: Johannes Brøndsted (ed.): Kulturhistorisk leksikon for nordisk middelalder fra vikingetid til reformationstid. Volume: 1: Abbed - blide. Rosenkilde og Bagger, Copenhagen 1956, Sp. 501–503.
- Albert L. Lloyd, Otto Springer: Etymological Dictionary of Old High German. Volume 1: -a - bezzisto. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen et al. 1988, ISBN 3-525-20767-0 .
- Kim R. McCone: Dog, Wolf and Warrior among the Indo-Europeans. In: Wolfgang Meid (Ed.): Studies on Indo-European vocabulary. Institute for Linguistics of the University, Innsbruck 1987, ISBN 3-85124-591-1 , pp. 101–154 ( Innsbrucker Contributions to Linguistics. 52).
- Mischa Meier : Men's Association. In: Reallexikon der Germanischen Altertumskunde (RGA). 2nd Edition. Volume 19, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin / New York 2001, ISBN 3-11-017163-5 , pp. 105-110. ISBN 3-11-017163-5 .
- Britt-Mari Näsström: Bärsärkarna. Vikingatiden's elite soldiers. Norstedt, Stockholm 2006, ISBN 91-1-301511-7 .
- Klaus von See : Berserker. In: Journal for German Word Research. 17, 1961, ZDB -ID 200722-8 , pp. 129-135.
- Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of old Norse literature. The medieval literature of Norway and Iceland (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). 2nd, significantly increased and revised edition. Kröner, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-520-49002-5 .
- Michael P. Speidel: Ancient Germanic Warriors. Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column to Icelandic Sagas. Routledge, London / New York 2004, ISBN 0-415-31199-3 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ See also Furor Teutonicus
- ↑ a b Näsström, p. 45.
- ↑ Icelandic etymological dictionary, Bern 1956, p. 787
- ↑ Näsström, p. 46.
- ↑ Finnur Jónsson (ed.): The Norsk-Islandske Skjaldedigting B: Save Tekst I . 1912 (reprinted by Rosenkilde og Bagger, Copenhagen 1973), pp. 22-25; here p. 23.
- ↑ Otto Höfler p. 299 with further references.
- ↑ Näsström p. 104.
- ↑ a b c d Klaus von See: "Excursion to Haraldskvæði: Berserker." In: Klaus von See: Edda, Saga, Skaldendichtung . Heidelberg 1981. pp. 311-317.
- ↑ Egil's saga 9: 3; Vatnsdœla saga 9, 1.
- ↑ cf. c: Category: Torslunda helmet plate patrices
- ^ Mathias Kruse, The story of Halfdan, the protégé of the Brana. Munich 2009. p. 28, where Vikings bite into the edges of the shield, and p. 82, note 15.
- ↑ a b translation by Simrock
- ↑ Näsström p. 50.
- ↑ Ynglinga saga 6.
- ↑ Maier § 4.
- ↑ Simek / Pálsson p. 71
- ↑ Heimskringla, Story of Håkon the Good, chap. 30: “ King Håkon had now set up his army in order and it is said that the king threw off the well before they went into battle. "
- ↑ Tacitus, Historien 2, 22: " The Othonians hurled their skewers from above and therefore with all the more peppy and precise targeted throw against the daring cohorts of the Germanic tribes, who with their fathers' song and with a naked body (more patrio nudis corporibus) shaking their shields over their shoulders fighting. "
- ↑ Tacitus, Germania chap. 6th
- ↑ Hárbarðsljóð verse 37-39.
- ↑ Vargynja "she-wolf". Women who can be put together in their violence and lust for murder with "vargr" "wolf warrior". Berserk brides. (Sveinbjörn Egilsson: Lexicon poeticum ).
- ↑ Näsström p. 86.
- ↑ This reading is doubted because it does not fit into the context where the fight is mentioned. The Lexicon Poeticum therefore suggests “sneiddum brynjur” “we cut the fountains”.
- ↑ Gróttasöngr Str. 13.
- ↑ Genzmer translates here as "entboten bears". The Lexicon Poeticum indicates “to begin” for the word “beiða”. Näsström p. 92 translates as “utmanade björnar” = “challenged bears”. The etymological dictionaries by Johannesson and Jan de Vries say “ask, demand, force”.
- ^ Translation by Felix Genzmer.
- ↑ Samuel Ödman: Försök at utur Naturens Historia de förklara nordiska gamla Kämpars Berserka-gang. In: Kongliga Vetenskaps Academiens nya Handlingar. Volume 5 (1784). Pp. 240-247.
- ↑ Jon Geir Høyersten: Berserkene - hva det av gikk the? In: Tidskrift for Den norske legeforening. (Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association) 2004 No. 24.
- ↑ Christian Rätsch: Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants. Pp. 317-319; same: Urbock or real beer
- ^ W. Sandermann: Berserker rage through Sumpfporst beer. In: Brauwelt 1980, pp. 1870–1872.
- ↑ quoted in Kutalek, Introduction to Ethnobotanics (PDF; 140 kB) 2004, p. 14.
- ↑ Ø. Larsen: Sykdom i det gamle samfunn. [= Illness in early society] In: Norges Kulturhistorie. Volume 2. Oslo 1979. p. 179.
- ^ Reichborn-Kjennerud and others: Medisinens historie i Norge. Oslo 1936. pp. 55-56; George B. Palermo: The berserk syndrome: a review of mass murder. In: Aggression and violent Behavior 1997. pp. 1-8.
- ↑ Mircea Eliade: The myth of the eternal return. Düsseldorf 1953 p. 49.
- ↑ Jon Geir Høyersten is a senior physician at the Psychiatric University Clinic in Bergen-Sandviken and a forensic psychiatrist.