Speidel, Michael P. Berserks: A History of Indo-European “Mad Warriors”

• Author: Speidel, Michael P.
• Title: Berserks: A History of Indo-European “Mad Warriors
• Published in: Journal of World History 13/2
• Year: 2002
• Pages: 253-90
• E-text:
• Reference: Speidel, Michael P. "Berserks: A History of Indo-European “Mad Warriors”." Journal of World History 13/2 (2002): 253-90.

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• Key words: motives, history (sagnaminni, sagnfræði)

Annotation

A history of berserk warriors and their role in battle from the bronze age to the Middle Ages. The first section discusses the appearance of berserk warriors in Mesopotamia in the late bronze age and their possible origin, while the second deals with Indo-European berserks in the bronze, iron and Middle Ages. The third section looks at the psychological and physiological state of berserk warriors ("battle madness"), while the fourth focuses on Greece and Rome and the relationship between "civilized" and "barbarian" fighting styles. Although Speidel's focus is on Indo-European berserk traditions, the final section is a discussion of "mad warriors" in other cultures. His conclusion is that the berserk warrior is a long-lived, well-defined and cross-cultural phenomenon with a three-thousand-year history and a possible Proto-Indo-European origin.

Lýsing

Hér er rakin saga berserkja og hlutverk þeirra í orustum frá því á bronsöld fram á miðaldir. Í fyrsta hluta er rætt um það þegar berserkir koma fram í orustum í Mesópótamíu seint á bronsöld og vöngum velt yfir því hver uppruni þeirra sé. Í öðrum hluta er fjallað um indó-evrópska berserki á bronsöld, járnöld og á miðöldum. Í þriðja hluta er ljósi varpað á líkamlegt og andlegt atgervi berserkja og það vígaæði sem á þá rennur en í fjórða kafla er fjallað um Grikkland og Róm og hugmyndir manna þar um siðaða og barbaríska bardagatækni. Í lokahlutanum fjallar Speidel loks um berserki í öðrum menningarheimum en þeim indó-evrópska. Niðurstaða hans er að berserkir séu skýrt skilgreint fyrirbæri sem eigi að baki þrjú þúsund ára sögu sem spanni mismunandi menningarsvæði og að rætur þess nái hugsanlega enn lengra aftur.

References

Chapter 55: annarri brúninni ofan: "When in the grip of fury, Celtic and Germanic berserks contorted their faces and bodies in frightening ways. Among Irish heroes, Cū Chulainn is famous for this. Likewise tenth-century Egil: when he came to claim the wergild for his slain brother, he showed the king how mad he was by drooping one eyebrow down towards his cheek, raising the other up to the roots of his hair and moving his eyebrows alternately up and down" (p. 260).

Links

• Written by: Katelin Parsons
• Icelandic translation: Jón Karl Helgason