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Word to him: And maybe about the berserker wars? I wonder if I did it or not :)”

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The history of mankind is full of legends and myths. Each epoch inscribes a new page in this volume covered with the dust of time. Many of them have sunk into oblivion, never surviving to this day. But there are traditions over which centuries have no power. Tales of warriors possessing inhuman abilities - immune to physical pain and unafraid in the face of death - are among this number. References to super-soldiers can be found in almost every nation. But berserkers stand apart in this row - heroes Scandinavian sagas and epics, the very name of which has become a household name. And here's an interesting piece of legend. 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 the worst nightmare in Europe. When the snake-headed boats of brutal aliens appeared on the horizon, the population of the surrounding lands, seized with chilling horror, sought salvation in the forests. The scope of the devastating campaigns of the Normans is amazing even today, after almost a thousand years. 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 Active participation in life Kievan Rus and Byzantium. In the west, the Vikings, since the 8th century. having settled Iceland and the south of Greenland, kept in constant fear Irish and Scottish coasts.

And from the 9th century. moved the boundaries of their raids not only far south - to the Mediterranean Sea, but also deep into European lands, ruining London (787), Bordeaux (840), Paris (885) and Orleans (895) . Red-bearded foreigners seized entire estates, 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 to Palestine long before the Crusaders. Terrorizing the population of European cities, warlike Scandinavians even had the honor of being mentioned in prayers: "God, deliver us from the Normans!". But there were warriors among the northern barbarians, before whom the Vikings themselves experienced mystical awe. They knew perfectly 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 ONE IN THE FIELD WARRIORS

The ancient Scandinavian sagas brought to us legends about invincible warriors who, overwhelmed by fighting fury, burst into the ranks of enemies with one sword or ax, 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 the established tradition, we will call them berserkers (although a more accurate term is bjorsjörk, 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 who are called berserkers were nicknamed “Wolf” (ulf), “Wolf skin”, “Wolf mouth”, etc. However, the name “Bear” (bjorn) is no less common.

It is believed that for the first time berserkers are mentioned in a drape (long poem) by the skald Thorbjorn Hornklovi, an Old Norse literary monument. It is about the victory of King Harald the Fair-Haired, the founder of the Kingdom of Norway, in the battle of Havrsfjord, which took place presumably 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 felt no 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 references to berserkers are in the sagas of the 9th-11th centuries, when the Vikings (Normans) on their high-speed dragon ships terrified the peoples of Europe. It seemed that nothing could resist them. Under the blows of the Vikings, already in the VIII-IX 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. Often, in the occupied territories, they created their own states, for example, the Duchy of Normandy and the Kingdom of Sicily.

Who were these fighters? Vikings were called berserkers or berserkers, with early years who devoted themselves to serving Odin, the supreme Scandinavian deity, the lord of the wonderful hall of Valhalla, where, after death, the souls of warriors who heroically fell on the battlefield and deserved the favor of heaven allegedly went to an eternal feast. Before the battle, the berserkers introduced themselves into a special kind of combat trance, due to which they were distinguished by great strength, endurance, quick reactions, insensitivity to pain and increased aggressiveness. By the way, the etymology of the word "berserk" is still controversial in scientific circles. Most likely, it is formed from the Old Norse "berserkr", which translates either as "bear skin" or "shirtless" (the root ber can mean both "bear" and "naked", and serkr - "skin", "shirt "). Supporters of the first interpretation point to a direct connection between the berserkers, who wore clothes made of bearskins, and the cult of this totem animal. The “naked shirts”, on the other hand, emphasize the fact that the berserkers went into battle without chain mail, naked to the waist.

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

Fragmentary information about the berserkers can also be gleaned from the Younger Edda, a collection of Old Norse mythical tales written by Snorri Sturluson. The Ynglinga Saga says the following: “The men of Odin rushed into battle without chain mail, but raged like mad dogs or wolves. In anticipation of a fight, from the impatience and rage that bubbled in 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 smashed the enemy, and neither fire nor iron harmed them ... ". An Old Norse poet claimed that "Odin could make his enemies go blind or deaf in battle, or be overcome with 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 numerous names indicates his insane and furious nature: Wotan ("possessed"), Ygg ("terrible"), Heryan ("militant"), Hnikar ("sower of discord"), Belverk ("villain"). To match their heavenly patron were the nicknames of the berserkers, who gave the "lord of wrath" a vow of fearlessness. For example, Harold the Merciless, who got involved in battle earlier than others, or the Norman leader John defeated in 1171 near Dublin, who had the nickname Wode, that is, “The Madman”.

It is no coincidence that berserkers were a privileged part of the military class, a kind of "special forces" of the Vikings. And it was not at all spontaneous violence or sacrificial folly on the lists that made them such. It’s just that they always opened the battle, conducting a demonstration, and in most cases a winning duel in full view of the entire army. In one of the chapters of Germania, the ancient Roman writer Tacitus wrote about the berserkers: “As soon as they reached adulthood, they were allowed to grow their hair and beard, and only after killing the first enemy they could style them ... Cowards and others walked with loose hair. In addition, the most daring wore an iron ring, and only the death of the enemy freed them from wearing it. Their task was to anticipate every battle; they always formed the front line." A squad of berserkers with their very appearance made the enemies tremble. Storming cities as a fighting vanguard, they left behind only mountains of corpses of defeated enemies. And after the berserkers, well-armed, armored infantry advanced, completing the rout. If you believe the literary monuments, then the Old Norse kings often used berserkers as personal guards, which once again confirms their military elitism. One of the sagas says that Danish king Hrolf Krake in the bodyguards went immediately 12 berserkers.

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 does not fight for anything, but only to win. Berserker does not have to prove that he will survive. He must pay for his life many times over. Berserker not only goes to die, he goes to get furious pleasure from this process. By the way, that's why he stays alive most of the time."

“There is a rapture in battle…”

EVERYTHING of the evidence depicts the berserkers as ferocious fighters who fought with a wild, downright magical passion. So what is the secret of the fury of the berserkers, as well as their insensitivity to injury and pain: was it the result of drug intoxication, a hereditary disease, or special psychophysical training?

Currently, there are several versions explaining this phenomenon. The first is the possession of the "animal spirit". Ethnographers confirm that something similar was noted among many peoples. In moments when the “spirit” takes possession of a person, he does not feel pain or fatigue. But as soon as this state ends, the obsessed almost instantly falls asleep, as if turned off. In general, werewolf as a military practice was widespread in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Traces of "turning 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 assigning the names of predatory animals to special forces in order to emphasize their elitism also originates in the deep past. The ancient Germans imitated the beast, he played the role of a mentor during initiation, when a young man, joining the ranks of adult warriors, demonstrated his combat skills, dexterity, courage and bravery. The victory of man over the totemic animal, which was considered the ancestor and patron of this 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 him. Modern psychology long ago revealed the mechanisms by which a person “gets accustomed” to the image of the being whose role he plays in this moment. Berserkers, growling and putting on bear skins, seemed to actually become bears. Of course, the bestial masquerade was by no means the know-how of the Normans.

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

Modern science knows that nervous system a person 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 to engage in a fight, if not provoke them at all. One of the Scandinavian sagas speaks of a man who had 12 sons. They were all berserkers: “It has become their custom, being among their own and feeling a fit of rage, to go from the ship to the shore and throw big stones there, uproot trees, otherwise in their rage they would cripple or kill relatives and friends.” The phrase "there is rapture 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." Those who mastered this art became truly phenomenal warriors.

During the attack, the berserker seemed to “become” the corresponding beast. At the same time, he threw away a defensive weapon (or acted with it not for its intended purpose: for example, he bit into his shield with his teeth, plunging the enemy into shock), and in some cases - offensive; all Scandinavian Vikings were able to fight with their hands, but the berserkers clearly stood out even at their level.

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

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

On Trajan's column in Rome, we see a "shock squad" 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 shells), some are dressed in animal skins, others are half-naked and clutch a club instead of a sword ... One must think that this did not reduce their combat effectiveness, otherwise the emperor Trajan, whose guard they were, would have been able to insist on rearmament.

Usually, it was the berserkers who started each battle, terrifying enemies with their very appearance. According to the sagas, they did not use armor, preferring a bearskin to them. In some cases, a shield is mentioned, the edges of which they gnawed in fury before the battle. The main weapons of the berserkers were a battle ax and a sword, which they owned to perfection. One of the first references to invincible warriors that has come down to us was left by the skald Thorbjorn Hornklovi, who at the end of the 9th century composed a saga about the victory in the battle of Havrsfjord of King Harald the Fair-Haired, the creator of the Norwegian kingdom. It is highly likely 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 felt no pain even if they were hit by a spear. When the battle was won, the warriors fell exhausted and fell into a deep sleep. Similar descriptions of the actions of berserkers in battle can be found in other authors.

For example, in the Ynglinga saga: “The men of Odin rushed into battle without chain mail, but raged like mad dogs or wolves. In anticipation of a fight, from the impatience and rage that bubbled in 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 smashed the enemy, and neither fire nor iron harmed them ... ". We noticed 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 not only the subtleties of military skill, but also teaching the art of entering a combat trance, which sharpened all the senses of a fighter and allowed the hidden capabilities of the human body to manifest. 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 seized by fear, or their swords became no sharper than sticks.”

Traditionally, berserkers were the vanguard that started the fight. They could not fight for a long time (a combat trance cannot last long), breaking through the ranks of enemies and laying 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 was not complete without taking certain psychotropic drugs, which allowed the berserkers, as it were, to “turn” into powerful and invincible bears. Werewolves are known among many peoples, when, as a result of an illness or taking special drugs, a person identified himself with an animal and even copied certain features of his behavior. In the sagas, it is not in vain that the emphasis is on the invulnerability of berserkers. In battle, they were guided not so much by consciousness as by the subconscious, which allowed them to “turn on” qualities that were not characteristic of a person in everyday life - a 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 repel the blow, hide behind him with a shield or evade. These were truly universal warriors, but these were needed only for the period of fighting.

The Normans fought often, which means that the berserkers often had to reincarnate. Apparently, the rapture of battle became for them something similar to drug addiction, and perhaps it was almost like that. Consequently, berserkers were, in principle, not adapted to peaceful life, becoming dangerous to society, since they needed dangers and thrills. And if there is no war, then you can always provoke a fight or engage in robbery. As soon as the Normans, having had enough of the seizures 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, who are declared a merciless war. It is curious that it was recommended to kill berserkers with wooden stakes, since "they are invulnerable" against iron. At the beginning of the XII century, special laws were even adopted in the Scandinavian countries aimed at combating berserkers, who were expelled or ruthlessly destroyed. Some of the former invulnerable warriors were able to merge into new life, it was believed that for this they must be baptized, then faith in Christ would save them from fighting frenzy. The rest, perhaps they made up the majority of the former military elite, were forced to flee to other lands or were simply killed.

FELLIA MADNESS

Other attempts were made to explain the inhuman fury of the berserkers. In 1784, S. Edman, referring to the customs of some East Siberian tribes, suggested that the berserkers drugged themselves with an infusion of fly agaric. The peoples of the Far North - the Tungus, Lamuts or Kamchadals - until recently, in the practice of rituals (fortune-telling) used powder from dried fly agarics, licking which from the palm of the hand, shamans fell into a trance. The behavior of berserkers in battle really resembles the state of intoxication with muscarine - the poison of fly agaric: dope, 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, not from wounds" . It was precisely this picture that the saga of the battle near the Norwegian city of Stavanger in 872, when the berserkers fell ashore after the victory and slept like a dead sleep for more than a day, dispassionately recorded. 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 of it can lead to death. But something else is interesting here: the state caused by the poison in one individual soon spreads to all those around him. Some historians believe that the berserkers knew about this technique, and therefore only the leaders of the detachments or the elite used fly agaric doping. However reliable evidence The "mushroom" theory still does not exist. Some ethnographers still assume that the berserkers belonged to certain sacred unions or families in which knowledge of the mysterious properties of plants was passed down from generation to generation. But in the Old Norse sagas there is no mention of psychotropic drugs at all. Therefore, the discussion on the topic “berserkers and fly agarics” is a waste of time, no matter how attractive this version may seem.

Now about one more semi-mythical property of berserkers - invulnerability. A variety of sources unanimously claim that the beast warrior could not actually be slain in battle. A kind of "wisdom of madness" protected the berserkers from throwing and impact weapons. Disinhibited consciousness included extreme responsiveness, sharpened peripheral vision, and probably provided some extrasensory skills. The berserker saw, and even predicted any blow, managing to repel it or bounce from the line of attack. Belief in the invulnerability of berserkers survived the heroic age and was reflected in Scandinavian folklore. Berserkers XI and XII centuries. skillfully used the image inherited from their ancestors. Yes, and they themselves, to the best of their ability, refined their image. For example, in every possible way fueling rumors that they can dull any sword with one glance. The sagas, with their love of the supernatural, easily absorbed such colorful details.

Doctors also made their contribution to unraveling the mystery of the furious warriors. “The legendary power of the berserkers had nothing to do with spirits, drugs, or magical rituals, but was just a disease that was inherited,” says Professor Jesse L. Bayok. They are ordinary psychopaths who lose control of themselves at the slightest attempt to contradict them. Over time, the berserkers learned to play a well-rehearsed performance, one of the elements of which was the biting of the shield. It is well known that the exhaustion that comes after a fit of rage is characteristic of people with mental disorders. Tantrums 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 of an epidemic nature: it is enough to recall the dance of St. Vitus or the movement of the flagellants. As a striking example, Jesse L. Bayok cites the unbridled in anger, cruel and greedy Viking, and concurrently the famous Icelandic poet Egil, who lived in the 10th century. So, according to the Egil Saga, he had all the features of a berserker who adopted his wild temper from his ancestors. Moreover, his head was so massive that even after death it was impossible to split it 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 growth occurs. Human bones renew themselves gradually and this usually happens within 8 years. However, the disease so accelerates the rate of destruction and neoplasm of bones that they become much larger and uglier than before. Particularly noticeable are the effects of Paget's syndrome on the head, where the bones become thicker. According to statistics in England today, from 3 to 5 percent of men over 40 years old are affected by this disease. It is very difficult to confirm or refute an exotic hypothesis due to historical remoteness.

HEROES OR VILLAINS?

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

No matter how strange it may sound, but furious warriors were most likely anti-heroes for their contemporaries. If in the early sagas berserkers were portrayed as elite warriors, bodyguards of the king, then in later tribal tales they are marauders and rapists. In The Circle of the Earth, a collection of stories compiled by Snorri Sturluson in the thirteenth century, there are many such testimonies. Most episodes are stereotypical in content and composition. Shortly before Christmas, someone of great stature and endowed with extraordinary strength, often accompanied by eleven people, appears as an uninvited guest on the farm with the intention of taking everything of value and forcing women to cohabitate. If the farmer is at home, he is either sick or weak and cannot fight back the villains. But more often he is many miles from home, in a remote 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 economy. There are no people who want to fight a strong man who has become adept at such fights (and all his previous opponents are dead). But just at that 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 flee. When the troubles are over, the owner returns and generously endows the savior, and he composes in memory of what happened a visu - a skaldic poem of eight lines - thanks to which his feat becomes widely known.

It is quite natural that for such "actions" berserkers, to put it mildly, were disliked. Reliable historical evidence has survived that in 1012 Jarl Eirik Hakonarson outlawed berserkers in Norway, and they apparently began to seek their fortune in other parts, including Iceland. Most likely berserk marauders are gangs of homeless warriors left out of work. They were born for battle: they were excellent with weapons, psychologically prepared, they knew how to intimidate the enemy with a growl, aggressive behavior and defend themselves from slashing blows with a dense bearskin. 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 eventually led to a complete rethinking of the image of the berserker. Since the 11th century this word takes on an extremely negative connotation. Moreover, under the influence of the church, berserkers are credited with pronounced demonic features. The "Saga of Vatisdol" says that in connection with the arrival of Bishop Fridrek in Iceland, they declared war on the "obsessed". Their description is given in a completely traditional spirit: berserkers create violence and arbitrariness, their anger knows no bounds, they bark and growl, biting into the edge of their shield, walk on hot coals with bare feet and do not even try to control their behavior. On the advice of a newly arrived clergyman, those possessed by evil spirits were scared away by fire, beaten to death with wooden stakes, because it was believed that “iron does not sting berserkers,” and the bodies were thrown into a ravine without burial. Other texts noted that the baptized berserker forever lost the ability to reincarnate. Persecuted and persecuted from all sides, turned out to be dangerous outcasts and criminals in the new social conditions, accustomed to live only by raids and robbery, the berserkers became a real disaster. They broke into settlements, killed local residents, ambushed travelers. And the law of ancient Scandinavia outlawed the bloodthirsty madmen, making it the duty of every inhabitant to destroy the berserkers. A law issued in Iceland in 1123 stated: “A berserker seen in a rage will be imprisoned for 3 years of exile.” Since then, the warriors in bear skins have disappeared without a trace, and with them the gray-haired pagan antiquity has sunk into oblivion.

NOBODY knows where and when the last berserk died: history jealously guards this secret. Only heroic tales and mossy runic stones scattered along the slopes of the Scandinavian hills are reminiscent of the former glory of the furious Vikings today ...

On INFO EYE 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/