Berserkergang, Part 1

[Gunnora Hallakarva]

Berserkergang
===================================================

Portions of this paper previously appeared in Tournaments Illuminated.  The
materials dealing with the berserker motif and how it illuminates the
character of Grendel in the Anglo-Saxon peom Beowulf won the CAES Paper
Prize for 1988.

Part I:  Description of the Berserk
===================================================

        The modern popular conception of the Viking warrior is one of a
murderous savage, clad in animal skins, howling into battle.  This
conception probably owes more to literary tradition than to historical fact:
it reflects not the ordinary Scandinavian warriors, but rather a special
group of fighters known as *berserks* or *berserkers*.

        The etymology of the term *berserk* is disputed.  It may mean
"*bare*-sark," as in "bare of shirt" and refer to the berserker's habit of
going unarmored into battle.  Ynglingasaga records this tradition, saying of
the warriors of Odhinn that "they went without coats of mail, and acted like
mad dogs and wolves" (Snorri Sturluson.  Heimskringla: History of the Kings
of Norway.  trans.  Lee M. Holander.  Austin: U of Texas P. 1964. p.10).
Others have contended that the term should be read "*bear*-sark," and
describes the animal-skin garb of ther berserker.  Grettirs Saga  calls King
Harald's berserkers "Wolf-Skins," and in King Harald's Saga they are called
*ulfhedinn* or "wolf-coats," a term which appears in Vatnsdoela Saga and
Hrafnsmal (Hilda R. Ellis-Davidson,"Shape-Changing in the Old Norse Sagas, "
in Animals in Folklore.  eds. J.R. Porter and W.M.S. Russell.  Totowa NJ:
Rowman and Littlefield.  1978. pp. 132-133), as well as in Grettirs Saga
(Denton Fox and Hermann Palsson, trans.  Grettir's Saga." Toronto:  U of
Toronto P. 1961. p. 3).

        The berserker is closely associated in many respects with the god
Odhinn.  Adam of Bremen in describing the Allfather says, "Wodan --- id est
furor" or "Wodan --- that means fury."  The name Odhinn derives from the Old
Norse *odur*.  This is related to the German *wut*, "rage, fury," and to the
Gothic *wods*, "possessed" (Georges Dumezil.  The Destiny of the Warrior.
Chicago, U of Chicago P. 1969. p. 36).  This certainly brings to mind the
madness associated with the berserker, and other Odhinnic qualities are seen
to be possessed by the berserk.  Ynglingasaga recounts that Odhinn could
shape-shift into the form of a bird, fish, or wild animal (Snorri Sturluson,
p. 10).  The berserker, too, was often said to change into bestial form, or
at least to assume the ferocious qualities of the wolf or bear.  Kveldulfr
in Egils Saga Skallagrimsonar was spoken of as a shapechanger (Hermann
Palsson and Paul Edwards, trans.  Egil's Saga.  NY: Penguin.  1976.  p. 21),
and Hrolf's Saga tells of the hero Bjarki, who takes on the shape of a bear
in battle:

        Men saw that agreat bear went before King Hrolf's men, keeping 
        always near the king.  He slew more men with his forepaws than 
        any five of the king's champions.  Blades and weapons glanced 
        off him, and he brought down both men and horses in King 
        Hjorvard's forces, and everything which came in his path he 
        crushed to death with his teeth, so that panic and terror swept 
        through King Hjorvard's army..." (Gwyn Jones.  Eirik the Red and 
        Other Icelandic Sagas.  NY:  Oxford U.P.  1961. p. 313).

Dumezil refers to this phenomenon as the *hamingja* ("spirit" or "soul") or
*fylgja* ("spirit form") of the berserker, which may appear in animal form
in dreams or in visions, as well as in reality (Georges Dumezil.  Gods of
the Ancient Northmen.  Los Angeles:  U of California P.  1973. p. 142).

        Another Odhinnic quality possessed by the berserk is a magical
immunity to weapons.  In Havamal, Odhinn speaks of spells used to induce
this immunity:

        A third song I know, if sore need should come
        of a spell to stay my foes;
        When I sing that song, which shall blunt their swords,
        nor their weapons nor staves can wound
        ....
        An eleventh I know, if haply I lead
        my old comrades out to war,
        I sing 'neath the shields, and they fare forth mightily;
        safe into battle,
        safe out of battle,
        and safe return from the strife.
        (Lee M. Hollander, trans. Poetic Edda.  Austin.  
        U of Texas P.  1962. pp. 44-45)

        The berserk was sometimes inherently possessed of this immunity, or
performed spells to induce it, or even had special powers to blunt weapons
by his gaze.  Many tales say of their berserkers, "no weapon could bite
them"  or "iron could not bite into him."  This immunity to weapons may also
have been connected with the animal-skin garments worn by the berserk.  As
we saw above, while in animal form, "blades and weapons glanced off" Bodvar
Bjarki.  Similarly, Vatnsdoela Saga says that "those ebrserks who were
called *ulfhednar* had wolf shirts for mail-coats" (Ellis-Davidson, "Shape
Changing," p. 133).  This concept of immunity may have evolved from the
berserker's rage, during which the berserk might receive wounds, but due to
his state of frenzy take no note of them until the madness passed from him.
A warrior who continued fighting while bearing mortal wounds would surely
have been a terrifying opponent.

        It is likely that the berserk was actually a member of the cult of
Odhinn.  The practices of such a cult would have been a secret of the
group's initiates, although the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII refers in
his Book of Ceremonies to a "Gothic Dance" performed by members of his
Varangian guard, who took part wearing animal skins and masks:  this may
have been connected with berserker rites Hilda R. Ellis-Davidson.  Pagan
Scandinavia.  NY: Frederick A. Praeger. 1967. p. 100).  This type of
costumed dance is also seen in figures from Swedish helmet plates and
scabbard ornaments, which depict human figures with the heads of bears or
wolves, dressed in animal skins but having human hands and feet.  These
figures often carry spears or swords, and are depicted as running or
dancing.  One plate from Torslunda, Sweden, may show the figure of Odhinn
dancing with such a bear figure.

        Other ritual practices attributed to berserks may represent the
initiation of the young warrior into a band of berserkers.  Such bands are
mentioned in the sagas, oftentimes numbering twelve warriors.  Another
commin feature of these bands is the name of the leaser, which is often
"Bjorn" or a variant, meaning 'bear."  The form of this initiation is a
battle, either real or simulated, with a bear or other fearsome adversary.
Grettirs Saga tells of a situation of this sort, when a man named Bjorn
throws Grettir's cloak into the den of a bear.  Grettir slays the bear,
recovers his claok, and returns with the bear's paw as a token of his
victory (Fox and Palsson, pp. 62-67).  Bodvar Bjarki has a protege, Hjalti,
who undergoes a simulated encounter as his initiation in Hrolf's Saga.
Bodvar first slays a dragon-like beast, then sets its skin up on a frame.
Hjalti then "attacks" the beast and symbolically kills it before witnesses,
earning his place among the warriors (Jones, pp. 282-285).  Bronze helmet
plates from locations in Sweden and designs upon the Sutton Hoo pyrse lid
seem to show examples of these initiatory encounters, where a human figure
is seen grappling with one, or often two, bear-like animals (Margaret A.
Arent.  "The Heroic Pattern:  Old German Helmets, Beowulf, and Grettis
Saga."  in Old Norse Literature and Mythology.  ed. Edgar C. Polome.
Austin, U of Texas P.  1969.  pp. 133-139).  

        Modern scholars believe that certain examples of berserker rage to
have been induced coluntarily by the consumption of drugs such as the
hallucinogenic mushroom *Amanita muscaria* (Howard D. Fabing.  "On Going
Berserk: A Neurochemical Inquiry."  Scientific Monthly.  83 [Nov. 1956] p.
232), or massive quantities of alcohol (Robert Wernick.  The Vikings.
Alexandria VA:  Time-Life Books.  1979.  p. 285).  While such practices
would fit in with ritual usages, other explanations for the berserker's
madness have been put forward, including self-induced hysteria, epilepsy,
mental illness or genetic flaws (Peter G. Foote and David m. Wilson.  the
Viking Achievement.  London: Sidgewick & Jackson.  1970. p. 285).  

        The physical appearance of the berserk was one calculated to present
an image of terror.  Dumezil draws parallels between the berserk and the
tribe of Harii mentioned in Tacitus's Germania who used not only "natural
ferocity" but also dyed their bodues to cause panic and terror in their
enemies, just as the berserk combined his fearsome reputation with animal
skin dress to suggest the terrifying metamorphosis of the shape changer
(Dumezil, Destiny of the Warriro, p. 141).  Indeed, berserkers had much in
common with those thought to be werewolves.  Ulf, a retired berserker, is
mentioned in this light in Egils saga Skallagrimsonar:

        But every day, as it drew towards evening, he would grow so 
        ill-tempered that no-one could speak to him, and it wasn't long 
        before he would go to bed.  There was talk about his being a 
        shape-changer, and people called him Kveld-Ulf ["Evening Wolf"]  
        (Palsson and Edwards, Egil's Saga, p.21).

        In Volsunga Saga, Sigmund and his son Sinfjolti steal the wolf-skins
which belong to two "spell-cound skin-changers" to change into wolves
themselves so that they might go berserking in the woods (R. G. Finch,
trans.  The Saga of the Volsungs.  London:  Thomas Nelson Ltd.  1965.  pp.
10-11).  

        In the sagas, berserks are often described as being fantastically
ugly, often being mistaken for trolls, as were Skallagrim and his kinsmen in
Egils saga Skallagrimsonar (Palsson and Edwards, Egil's Saga, p. 66).  Egil
himself is described as being "black-haired and as ugly as his father"
(Ibid., p. 79), and at a feast in the court of the English king Athelstan,
Egil is said to have made such terrible faces that Athelstan was forced to
give him a gold ring to make him stop:

        His eyes were black and his eyebrows joined in the middle.  
        He refused to touch a drink even though people were serving 
        him, and did nothing but pull his eyebrows up and down, now 
        this one, now the other.. (Ibid., pp. 128-129).

In Arrow-Odd's Saga, the berserk Ogmund Eythjof's-killer is similarly
described as having a horrible appearance:

        He had black hair, a thick tuft of it hanging down over his face 
        where the forelock should have been, and nothing could be 
        seen of his face except the teeth and eyes.... for size and 
        ugliness they were more like monsters than like men (Paul 
        Edwards and Hermann Palsson, trans.  Arrow-Odd: A Medieval 
        Novel.  NY:  New York U. P.  1970.  p 37).  

===================================================
See Part II:  Going Berserk --- a Description of the Berserkergang
in the next post.

If you wish to print any or all of this paper in a newsletter for the S.C.A.
or Asatru, please contact me for permission first.  In general, I will grant
permission so long as a copy of the publication that my work appears in is
mailed to me for my files. 

::GUNNORA::

   


Gunnora Hallakarva
Herskerinde
===========================================
Ek eigi visa (th)ik hversu o(dh)lask Lofstirrlauf-Kruna
heldr hversu na Hersis-A(dh)al