Viking berserker beowulf corsair gyrfalcon. Berserker - armor, weapons

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...

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.

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.

Previously, the Middle Ages were an era full of horrific examples of violence and barbarism. 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.

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.

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.

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 any 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 him either believed in it too, or kept their doubts to themselves - this was much healthier...

The historical fact of the transformation of a warrior into a wild beast is known (of course, not in the literal sense, but in the ritual and psycho-behavioral sense). 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, ending 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 and magical ceremonies, dances, etc.

One of the first references to us about invincible warriors 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 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..."

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 more late 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 the 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 made it possible to “turn on” qualities that are not characteristic of humans 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 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, fed up with the seizure of foreign lands, the Normans 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 frenzy 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”...

The ancient Germans and Vikings called a berserker a warrior, distinctive features which was impeccable martial art, lack of armor, a ritual bearskin on the shoulders and, probably, the ability to put oneself into a state of altered perception (battle trance). Berserkers wore exclusively bear skins, warriors dressed in wolf skins were called ulvhendars (or wolfhendars), this is a fundamentally different military cult, which also existed in Northern Europe in the early Middle Ages.

The word "berserker" (sometimes - berserker) comes from the Old Norse form "berserkr", which is obtained by merging the stems of "ber" (which means "bear", in fact in Ancient Rus' the bear was also called ber) and "serkr", which translates as "skin" " or "fabric". Some linguists have suggested that "ber" in Old Norse can also mean "naked".

Thus, the word "berserker" literally means "bearskin" or "without clothes." Both options perfectly describe the Viking berserkers, because according to historical evidence that has come down to us, they did not wear armor and often even shirts, covering their shoulders and head with bear skin. In traditional English, the form "berserkr" became "berserk", which today is translated as "furious".

It is believed that before the battle the Viking berserker (photos of images from archaeological finds are presented below) praised Odin and received his blessing. There is not a single unambiguously proven hypothesis about whether the Norman berserkers used any pharmacological drugs. Many researchers believe that we are talking about decoctions and tinctures of hallucinogenic mushrooms, or herbs and rhizomes, which could act as powerful stimulants.

Historical evidence of berserkers

Many researchers agree that skaldic poetry significantly embellishes the image of the berserker, and here it should be noted that in traditional Eddic texts there is no mention of these frantic warriors. The berserker first appears in the Glimdrapa saga, which was written by the famous skald Thorbjorn Hornklovi, who lived in Norway in the 9th century. This epic work tells about the military campaigns of the Norwegian king Harold I Fairhair, and the very mention of the Viking berserker is found in the description of the legendary Battle of Hafsfjord (872).

In The Circle of the Earth, Snorri Sturluson's epic collection of sagas, the expression "fall into a berserk rage" is also found. Snorri uses this phrase when describing the Scandinavian warriors who “flew into a rage, bit their shields and the layer could be compared to bears.” Snorii further points out that “such a Viking could not be defeated by either steel or fire.”

The most important and very interesting description the Viking berserker is given in Tacitus’s “Germania”. In Chapter XXXI, he writes that berserker warriors prepared for their role from childhood; they were not allowed to grow hair or beard until adulthood. Then future berserkers had to walk with their hair down until they defeated their first enemy. Also, each of the “warriors of Odin” wore an iron ring, which he could remove only after the first murder, and only then he was recognized as a berserker. Tacitus also mentions that among the Normans, berserkers always formed the first row of the attacking formation.

At the same time, Tacitus does not use the word “berserker” itself; he replaces it with the form “harier” (the etymology is unclear), which, in general, is understandable, because “Germany” was written in the 1st century AD, when the forms “berserkr” could still does not exist in the Scandinavian language. Tacitus, describing the frantic Germanic warriors, says that they were “stubborn and wild”, wore black shields, and their bodies were “artfully painted.” According to Tacitus, berserkers attacked enemies with lightning speed and surprise, choosing the darkest nights to instill fear in them.

The semi-mythical Danish king Hrolf Kraki, the hero of many Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sagas, repeatedly appears on the pages of works surrounded by his berserker bodyguards. In general, the motive of the elitism of the Viking berserkers can be traced in many sagas; they often act as something like the king’s personal guard. A.N. also mentions this. Tolstoy, in his epic “Peter the Great,” in particular, writes that berserker means “possessed by rage.” Tolstoy explains that berserkers are warriors who drank a tincture of fly agaric and became so cruel and ferocious that even the Scandinavians themselves began to fear them, and therefore in the army of King Canute the berserkers had their own ship.

It is important to note that the Norman berserkers, apparently, could not adapt to peaceful life. “The Saga of Egil”, “The Saga of Gisla”, “The Saga of Njal” and many other skaldic works tell how, outside the military circle, berserkers became murderers, maniacs, robbers and rapists.

In the 12th century, after the final Christianization of Scandinavia, the cult of berserkers began to decline and references to frantic warriors gradually disappeared. This is probably due, among other things, to a legislative act that was adopted in Iceland in 1123. This law prohibited the wearing of bearskins, and it also stated that a person who was seen “in a berserker frenzy” would be punished by three years of exile.

Versions about the “battle rage” of berserkers and common myths

As already mentioned, the main hypothesis accepted today in the scientific community is the version that the Viking berserkers (pictures based on this image are presented above) used psychotropic tinctures, in particular those based on fly agarics. In this regard, some researchers have expressed the opinion that after taking such a tincture, berserkers literally went crazy, feeling invincible, but when the effect of the drug wore off, the warriors quite obviously experienced severe withdrawal symptoms. In order to minimize negative sensations, only one of the berserkers drank the tincture, and the rest then drank his urine, which also contained the active substances, but in a lower concentration and without toxins.

There are also versions according to which the Viking berserkers did not use any drugs, and their “battle rage” is the result of a congenital disease, possibly mental and inherited. According to this hypothesis, berserkers could be subject to severe forms of hysteria.

There are other versions according to which the special state of berserkers is explained by directed meditation. Warriors could consciously put themselves into a combat trance through special psychological and spiritual practices. In this sense, the closest analogue is the combat trance of Muay Thai fighters; this practice is called “ram muay” and has ancient roots.

However, you need to understand that all of these are just hypotheses, and none of them has clear confirmation. In the same way, some researchers suggest that a warrior who wanted to become a berserker had to defeat a wild bear in a duel. And although this assumption is quite epic and generally corresponds to the spirit of the Viking warriors, there is not a single historical fact or evidence that could confirm this.

Thus, we don’t know much about the Viking cult of berserkers, although this image is very popular in popular culture. We do not know whether berserkers used any special weapons, whether they performed any rituals, and whether it was a full-fledged military subculture or whether the concept of a “professional berserker” actually did not exist. One thing we know for sure is that these were great warriors who possessed exceptional courage and were excellent in the art of war.

And here it is enough to cite just one fact: according to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in the Battle of Stamford Bridge (1066), during the crossing of the English army across the bridge, their onslaught was held back for several hours by only one warrior. As a result, the Scandinavian was killed, but he gave King Harald enough time to form an army into battle formation, and in doing so managed to kill 40 Englishmen. Despite the fact that the information about this warrior and the course of the battle itself varies, many researchers are inclined to believe that we were talking about a berserker. Probably about the last berserker, because with the defeat of Harold the Severe at Stamford Bridge, the “Viking Age” actually ended.

"...Thorolf became so furious that he threw his shield behind his back and took the spear with both hands. He rushed forward and chopped and stabbed enemies right and left. People ran away from him in different directions, but he managed to kill many..."

("The Saga of Egil").

Berserkers or berserkers are the rarest and most terrible of warriors, feared throughout the world for their superhuman strength, brutal nature and complete lack of fear. The essence of this phenomenon was the conditional “reincarnation” of a person into a ferocious beast - a bear or a wolf with a human face. Beast-like transformations were considered the highest form of manifestation of combat rage in many military traditions. These were suicide warriors, seeking in battle not to save their lives, but to sell them as dearly as possible, taking more enemies to the next world. Berserk is typical for many European peoples.
We can judge what the image of a warrior-beast was, first of all, from Scandinavian sources, for in Scandinavia such warriors existed until the 12th-13th centuries. Ber - “bear” (in Old Scandinavian - “bersi”), and "serk" can mean "shirt". Most often this is how this term is interpreted - “bear shirt”; in literal translation from Old Norse, “berserker” means “one who is in the skin of a bear”. However, bad luck, the totem of the berserkers was the wolf, and they had nothing to do with the bear; sometimes they were also called “ulfhedners,” that is, wolf-heads. These were probably 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. Not everything is in order with the shirt either, since among the characteristics of the berserker is his demonstrably naked torso; they usually fought half naked - dressed to the waist, or in bear or wolf skins. Berserkers decorated their bodies with a red or black tattoo, which had a magical meaning. There is another interpretation of the meaning of the roots of the word “berserker”. The Old German "berserker" can be translated in different ways, "Berr" translated from Old Low German means... "naked"! Thus, no “bears” or “shirts” have anything to do with the berserker. This concept is literally translated - naked slasher.” In “The Saga of the Tomsk Knights” the root “serker” is used, which comes from the concept of “axe”. Hence, the not entirely correct version of the name has been preserved - “berserker”. In the Russian tradition, the “berserker” option is more often used. The form "berserker" originated as a borrowing from English; English berserk means "furious, furious."
The only documented evidence of their existence is the poetic images preserved in the Scandinavian sagas about invincible warriors who, overwhelmed by battle 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.

In written sources, berserkers were first mentioned by the skald Thorbjörn Hornklovi, in a song about the victory of King Harald Fairhair in the Battle of Hafsfjord, which supposedly took place in 872. There is a high probability that his description is documented: 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 at the bow of the ship, “ 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 by the famous Icelandic poet Snorri Sturlusson: “ Odin's men 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 and, like rabid animals, foam flowed from their mouths..." In battle, berserkers entered a state of combat trance, they fell into an uncontrollable rage (amok) which the Vikings called fighting spirit, and demonstrated a complete disregard for death. The berserker could remove the spear from the wound and throw it at the enemy. Or continue to fight with a severed limb - without an arm or a leg. Probably, we should look for an analogy in this with the invulnerability of werewolves, who could not be killed with conventional weapons, but only with a silver bullet or an aspen stake. From a physiological point of view, this can be explained by the release of excess adrenaline into the blood. Then a person can endure pain for a long time and not feel tired.

During the attack, the berserker seemed to “become” the corresponding beast. At the same time, he threw away defensive weapons, and in some cases, offensive ones; all Scandinavian Vikings knew how to fight bare hands, but the 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. In chapter 31 of Germania, the Roman writer Tacitus writes: As soon as they reached adulthood, they were allowed to grow hair and beard, and only after killing the first enemy could they style it... Cowards and others walked with their hair loose, in addition, they wore 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. Tacitus mentions a special caste of warriors, which he calls "Harier" and who bear all the characteristics of berserkers (800 years before the Battle of Hafsfjord): " ...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". None of them had their own house or field, any care. They came to anyone, they were treated, they used someone else's , 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 decrepitude. near death they were stabbed with a spear. Among the Celts, for example, the Sequani tribe, which in the East Slavic tradition could sound like “Vyatichi berserkers,” plunged the ancient Romans into panic with the sight of the wild rage of their naked warriors. It was in 385 BC when the Celts took Rome. 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.
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: “Bedvar, Bjarki, Hjalti, Hochgemut, Zvitserk, Kun, Wert, Veseti, Bajgud and the Svipdag brothers.”

Berserkers trace their origins to the mysterious male unions of animal warriors that existed among many peoples of the world. The training of berserkers took place primarily in peculiar pagan monasteries. Future animal warriors took a vow of celibacy and completely devoted themselves to the god Odin, their heavenly patron. It was the word Odin (or Wotan) that meant “mad, merciless, evil.” It is no coincidence that this god of wolf warriors was depicted in a wolf mask, feeding two sacred wolves on a throne under the tree of peace. Some ethnographers suggest that berserkers belonged to certain secret unions or families in which knowledge of mysterious forces or “plants of power” was passed down from generation to generation. Others believe that there were berserker "male unions" and that the display of berserker rage was a test of courage required of every young man upon entering an adult union. Among many primitive peoples, such rituals could be observed with dancing in masks and ecstatic states. What remains inexplicable in this theory, however, is that nothing like this exists in any of the Scandinavian sources. After the adoption of Christianity in Scandinavia, old pagan customs were prohibited, in particular, fighters wearing animal skins. A law passed in Iceland in 1123 reads: Marked in a berserker rage will be imprisoned for 3 years in exile" Since then, the berserker warriors have disappeared without a trace.

What is known about Russian berserkers? Berserk is not a Slavic word. Our ancestors have their own sound for this word - borsek. There is another interesting term - “knight”, that is, a screaming warrior. But they say that a knight is an unconventional concept for us, as if it came from the German “reiter” - “horseman”. I wonder what is phonetically closer to the modern Russian word “knight” - the German “reitor”, the English “knight”, the French “chevalier” or the Old Russian “knight”? I think the answer is obvious. East Slavic Rus' has always managed with a small professional military contingent. The squad, consisting of a younger (later forming a social stratum - “children of the boyars”) and an elder, even in the Great Duchies of Rus' rarely reached 2000 people. Let me remind you that on her shoulders lay not only a massacre in an open field, but also the defense of strategically important objects, the throne, the collection of tribute containing the treasury, the formation of an army in subject territories, etc. Of course, in such an army they played a special role individual qualities everyone. In a sudden raid you cannot gather an army - it takes time. In addition, the military arsenal is also under the prince’s castle, and therefore, the men on the estates are armed with whatever they can and have no armor of any kind. Organizing an army is a complex matter. It is not enough to gather people; they need to be formed into combat units. And where to do this when the throne encampment is already surrounded from everywhere by nomads? Then the final word belonged to the lone suicide bomber, capable of neutralizing the enemy for some time.

Oh, how sweet it is for our “independent” historians to admit that East Slavic Rus' had its own berserkers. But you have to admit, where can you go, sources are stubborn things. The Byzantine writer Leo the Deacon wrote about the Russians, who, with huge shields, before going on the attack, growled, shouting something incomprehensible. The historian Klyuchevsky wrote: Demyan Kudenevich rode out to the Polovtsian army “without a helmet or armor,” and the naked hobras of Svyatoslav the Great are also eloquently described in the chronicles: “ Olbeg Ratiborich, take your bow and lay an arrow, and strike Itlar in the heart, and beat up his entire squad...". The Nikon Chronicle about Ragdai speaks no less eloquently: “ And this man went against three hundred soldiers" What is this, hero worship? Where there! The chronicler is disgusted by the “ungodliness” of the bloody showdowns. Barbarian beauty is not his path at all. This is the real point. Remember Evpatiy Kolovrat. With one regiment he liberated the Ryazan region from the Tatars for six months, at the very height of the invasion. And Evpatiy did not give up his last battle. The Tatars were never able to take his warriors in hand-to-hand combat. They were simply pelted with stones from throwing weapons. A gesture of despair and at the same time resourcefulness of Batu. This beast was so amazed by what he saw that, having won, he ordered the living to be dug up and released, and the dead to be buried with honors. The “Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu,” written by the medieval writer Eustathius from Zaraysk, says that for each of these soldiers of the “desperate regiment” there were up to a thousand Tatar-Mongols. Let us restore the true picture of the events of those days. In the fall of 1237, Evpatiy Kolovrat had to stay in Chernigov. The Tatar-Mongols have already trampled the Ryazan region. Evpatiy returned in December to the ashes. Instead of Ryazan - charred firebrands. It didn’t take him long to look for something to do, he gathered 1,700 people ready to tear the enemy with their teeth. There was no time left to prepare for battle. But his people are new to martial art it was impossible to name. The "Regiment of Desperados" chased the retreating hordes. " And they began to flog without mercy, and all the Tatar regiments were mixed up. It seemed to the Tatars that the dead had risen...“- this is what the chronicler says. There was no Eurasian policy in Rus' yet, and Kolovrat did what he had to do. The frightened Batu allocated the best regiments under the command of his brother-in-law Khostovrul. The Great Slaughter took place on Suzdal land. The commanders themselves started the battle. They converged in front of the frozen shelves. The spears broke as they were being knocked down, but neither the horses nor the riders wavered. Let's use the sabers. And then Kolovrat cut Khostovrul in half, right down to the saddle. The Horde trembled and ran. But the Russian success was temporary. Batu surrounded the “desperate”. They repelled all attacks, and then Batu ordered to shoot them with stone throwers. The fighters were covered with stones. Only five remained alive. Batu ordered to dig up Kolovrat’s body. Batu’s words over the dead berserker are known: “ If such a man served with me, I would keep him close to my heart!“Batu gave Kolovrat’s body to the five surviving Ryazan residents and demanded that the knight be buried with proper honors. He let them go, something he had never done to an enemy before. The number of the Tatar army is not officially indicated anywhere and it is generally accepted that there were up to half a million of them. But the fact itself remains a fact. It is reliably known that such an event took place. Only one thing is absolutely clear: a simple person could not do such a thing, no matter how much rage he possessed, this is the limit of human strength (physical).

What exactly is “Kolovrat”? Kolovorot, that is, “rotating in a circle.” This is the nickname of a berserker. Space, as you know, is organized according to the principle of a circle. The zone of motor convenience for an ordinary person is the half-radius circle in front of him. To build movement in other directions, a person involves more complex and even structurally dangerous evolutions of the musculoskeletal system. For example, with an incorrectly organized movement behind the back, the menisci of the knee joints often “scatter” when turning the body, vertebral discs are pinched, etc. This happens mainly for two reasons. Firstly, a person evolves in frontally directed walking, and, secondly, he also does not have a special motor skill in constructing an atypical action. That is, not only is this method of movement structurally unjustified, it has also not been mastered. Human body has a large margin of safety, but it must, of course, be used intelligently. For a berserker, in this case, the concept of a back does not exist. Otherwise, he could not fight in the thick of battle, surrounded on all sides by the enemy. The half-radius of action “in front of your eyes” is an ordinary, combatant army. For him, no matter how you turn around, the idea of ​​inconveniently repelling attacks from behind and the usual frontal attack will remain. The movements of the berserker are structured in such a way that he always slides along the blows, displacing the blow and moving himself. As a result, not a single blow hits a penetrating lesion. The berserker's reflexes react not to the blow as a whole, but to its individual phases! This is a very important circumstance. For example, if you are hacked with a sword year after year, you first begin to suppress the panic fear caused by the instinct of self-preservation, and then you notice that there are some patterns in the actions of the enemy. And really; If you learn to use them, then it becomes not scary at all. The body itself carries within itself a gigantic action potential. Of course, motor abilities, like abilities in general, are developed differently in each person.

Berserk is a mechanism exploded by ferocious passion, adrenaline, ideological attitude, breathing techniques, sound vibrations and a mechanical program of action. 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. Is the berserker a fanatic? Yes. But not the religious one who kills himself “for the sake of Allah.” No one has yet proven that Allah exists at all. God exists as long as there is faith in him. A berserker does not perform a spiritual feat. For him, the highest application of spiritual forces is the norm of behavior. How to shave for you. He experiences death and rebirth dozens of times, but a fanatic only once. But this is precisely where one of the amazing manifestations of barbaric superhumanity lies. I am ready to agree that berserkers are an exceptional phenomenon. But isn’t it the deformation of the barbarian’s personality, largely tamed by Christian doctrine, that makes such phenomena exceptional? Berserk is a necessity, it is an imprint of the struggle of the Northern European peoples for survival. If the East is capable of putting tens and thousands of people “under arms,” then the barbarian squads of Europe numbered only hundreds of warriors. Hence the military principle in barbarism is always a problem of the Personality. Something that the East has never known, completely devaluing the very concept of human life. " The filthy ones had 9 hundred mines, and Rus' had ninety copies. Those who hope for strength, the abominations of the pond, and ours are against them... And the wallpaper was dreamed of, and the slaughter of evil happened, and the Polovtsian fled, and ours chased after them, they are slashing..."That's the whole story for you. The barbaric essence is that you should never, under any circumstances, “run away” yourself. Then the enemy will run. Because he won't have a choice.
What can make us doubt the chronicle line? Ability. The ability to do something like this. Ability in general. What God has divided so unevenly among people. It’s surprising that no one questions the composer’s gift, which explodes the silence of the world with a storm of sounds of rushing passions. Or the gift of a sculptor, gnawing on stone to delight us with the impossibility of the living in the dead. What about the art of combat? Or is this not art at all, but only a routine of mutual self-mutilation? Not at all! It would be wrong to think that a berserker is just a psychopath with a weapon in his hands. Freedom is an expensive thing. Freedom is what is asked in full. It is no coincidence that berserkers are a privileged part of the military class. The complex mechanism of military labor gives them not at all spontaneous riots and sacrificial extravagance on the lists, but a completely definite, developed role. It is this that makes berserkers the elite. Berserker opens the battle! It was specially created in order to hold an exhibition match in full view of the entire army.
Another interesting point is that the berserkers, putting themselves in a deranged state, freeing themselves from clothes, simply tore them off. Such behavior in the language of prisoners now means: “ready to kill.” So this is why people lose their heads in a Russian fight. This fight is called “hunting” and is symbolized by wolves tearing each other apart. Their image is first found on a ritual goblet-rhyton from a 10th-century mound called the “Black Grave.” They lose their heads because they activate a complex physiological mechanism that changes the course of the body’s nervous reactions. In this state, the berserker's speed of motor reflexes increases significantly. His movements are impetuous and light, the activity of peripheral receptors is inhibited, which is why the berserker does not experience, for example, pain if he is wounded at this moment. The detail may be minor, but it left its own special imprint on the mystified mind of the ancients. For example, someone fighting with an arrow in his back and not experiencing pain is unlikely to cause superstitious fear in his enemy. And the wild power of a berserker, capable of tearing apart an enemy with his hands at these moments? This is where the “cutting into halves”, known from the chronicles, comes from, that is, in half. Let me remind you that in a ritual massacre, the Horde hero Khostavrul, Evpatiy Kolovrat cut his enemy to the saddle.
Modern science knows that nervous system The human brain - including those sections 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 search dangerous situations , allowing you to enter into a fight, 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.” Later, berserkers 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. A variety of sources unanimously assert that the warrior-beast actually could not be killed in battle. True, the details of this invulnerability are described differently. The berserker supposedly could neither be killed nor wounded with military weapons (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. The 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. Berserkness 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 this 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 admire them, this admiration comes from the lack of material for comparison. At least during the time of the berserkers, the blade's hardening was only superficial and it was far from the sharpness of a 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!

Other attempts have been made to explain the "berserker rage", where the source of such power is not transcendental forces. The state of intoxication, attacks of rage, hallucinations and subsequent fatigue could be caused by chemical substances, namely muscarine, fly agaric poison. Today we know that when people are poisoned by fly agaric, they beat wildly around themselves, they are excited, and they are visited by delusional thoughts. In others and doctors, they see fairy-tale creatures, gods, spirits. The toxic effect stops after 20 hours, and then people fall into deep sleep, from which in most cases they wake up only after 30 hours. Researchers know why people become like this after consuming fly agarics: chemical processes arise due to hallucinogens similar to LSD, muscarine is one of them, changes the speed of impulses of nerve endings, causing a feeling of euphoria. But there may also be the opposite effect, due to its large amount, a bad trip (literally “bad trip”), which can end in death. However, the ongoing changes caused by this substance are surprising, which initially occur in only one person, and then spread to everyone. At any techno party you can observe a similar effect. The behavior of a person who has taken a hallucinogen, rhythmic music, monotonous clapping, stomping, lead others to the same state. This “synchronization” is carried out by activating the body’s neurotrans system, the action of which is similar to the actions of drugs. Thus, a dynamic arises that can be called "collective ecstasy." It is believed that the berserkers knew this and only a few leaders “encouraged themselves with doping” from fly agaric. It is certain that they knew what effect it has on a person. Göttingen professor of psychiatry Hanscarl Leuner: " From early times, the fly agaric has played an exceptional role as a mythological remedy in the subarctic and arctic spaces. It was used by the tribes living here for ecstatic practices". However, there is still no exact evidence of such a theory. No sources mention such a rise in strength. But this does not prevent some historians. They believe: "It was precisely because only the northern warriors knew the effect of the fly agaric, they hid this knowledge, keeping fearlessness and invulnerability of the Gods." But is this so?
Doctors also contributed to the issue of berserkers: " The legendary power of berserkers has nothing to do with spirits, drugs, or magical rituals, but was an inherited disease", thinks Professor Jesse L. Byock. The Icelandic poet Egil was hot-tempered, angry, invincible just like his father and grandfather. Stubborn in character, and his head was so massive that even after Egil’s death it was impossible to split it with an ax. This is written in the saga about Egil. The descriptions given there allowed Bayok to know that Egil's family suffered from Paget's syndrome, a hereditary disease in which uncontrolled bone enlargement occurs. Professor Bayok: Human bones renew themselves gradually and usually the bone structure is renewed within 8 years. However, the disease increases the rate of destruction and new formation so much that it changes the structure of the bones too much, and they become much larger than before."The effects of Paget's syndrome are especially noticeable on the head; its bones become thicker. In England, 3 to 5% of men over 40 years of age are susceptible to this disease. But can the myth around berserkers be attributed only to a hereditary disease?
The rampage of berserkers is proverbial. Popular speech has received repeated evidence of "biting the top of the shield." Animals bare their teeth before attacking. In the same way, we “show our teeth to someone” if we want to do something similar. Skilled fighters pursued the goal of “hardening”, but we also know about their bearskins. And this gives rise to all sorts of talk. Were they half-wild young warriors who went into battle with their bodies unprotected to prove their courage? Are we talking about sacred male unions dedicated to the God of the Dead Odin, and serving him as warriors? Were they just crazy, fighting-to-the-death fanatics? Did they have supernatural powers that protected them from injury? Or was it a drug effect? Did they suffer from hereditary diseases?
So who are the berserkers?

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Berserker

Berserk (berserker) - a warrior who dedicated himself to the god Odin, who became furious 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 King Canute - the berserkers - sailed on a separate longship, since the Vikings themselves were afraid of them.

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:

In games

See also

Links

• V. A. Kosarev. The Wrath of Hercules (a comparison of the myth of the rage of Hercules and the battle fury of the berserkers)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Berserkers

Berserk (berserker) - a warrior who dedicated himself to the god Odin, who became furious 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 King Canute - the berserkers - sailed on a separate longship, since the Vikings themselves were afraid of them.

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:

In games

See also

Links

• V. A. Kosarev. The Wrath of Hercules (a comparison of the myth of the rage of Hercules and the battle fury of the berserkers)

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

See what “Berserkers” are in other dictionaries:

Berserker (berserker) a warrior who dedicated himself to the god Odin, before the battle he became furious. 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... ... Wikipedia