Were Vikings/Norse/Danes/Svear/Frisians actually capable of becoming berserkers? If so, how did they do it? I had read that some people 'trained', some sources claim that the trait was hereditary, and others claim that they ingested psychadelic drugs prior to battle? Can someone please explain, thanks!
"Berserkers (or berserks) were Norse warriors who are primarily reported in the Old Norse literature to have fought in a nearly uncontrollable, trance-like fury, a characteristic which later gave rise to the English word berserk. Berserkers are attested to in numerous Old Norse sources. Most historians believe that berserkers worked themselves into a rage before battle, but some think that they might have consumed drugged foods. The Úlfhéðnar (singular Úlfheðinn), another term associated with berserkers, mentioned in the Vatnsdœla saga, Haraldskvæði and the Völsunga saga, were said to wear the pelt of a wolf when they entered battle.[1] Úlfhéðnar are sometimes described as Odin's special warriors: "[Odin’s] men went without their mailcoats and were mad as hounds or wolves, bit their shields...they slew men, but neither fire nor iron had effect upon them. This is called 'going berserk.'"[2] In addition, the helm-plate press from Torslunda depicts (below) a scene of Odin with a berserker—"a wolf skinned warrior with the apparently one-eyed dancer in the bird-horned helm, which is generally interpreted as showing a scene indicative of a relationship between berserkgang... and the god Odin[3]"—with a wolf pelt and a spear as distinguishing features.[4]"
The beserkers were outlawed in Norway in 1015 and by the 12th century the beserker wargangs had disappered. What written chronicles we have from those rather distant times are mostly poetic rather than scientifically and factually precise. We can only guess what made vikings go beserk, based on the little evidence we got from those old texts describing how the beserkers acted. We can also compare the beserkers' behaviour to other similar displays of wild power, and it turns out the beserkers actions were quite similar to some shamanic traditions where the participants used known psychoactive and hallucinogenic substances such as mushrooms. You could read about it in "The One-eyed God" by Kris Kershaw or "The Viking Way" by Neil Price.
It's hard to tell, there is no archaeological evidence. Talking about mushrooms is just speculation, and as likely as psychological disorders or PTSD.
However, to understand the ideas behind berserks, one has to look at the social system behind it, and at the literary sources themselves. The idea of a berserk as a special category of a person (not just a regular warrior, but a 'specialist') is found in the Icelandic literature, particularly the ancestor sagas but also in Ynglinga saga. The idea here is that a berserk is a special professional warrior involved in the cult of Odin. He is particularly heroic, but also unpredictable, and often just a bit scary. This can be contrasted with the pictoral evidence, which suggests that animal transformation (and use of symbolic, totemic animals) is much wider spread in first millennium northern warrior society. Looking at other literature, the motive of the relation between particular animals (like the wolf, raven, and eagle) and the warrior is actually pretty common, and not related to a class of society.
Being a berserker is made illegal as Iceland becomes a Christian society. This does suggest that the practice is related to pagan worship too. But we know too little of the structure of Scandinavian paganism to make much sense of that; were they warrior-priests, or was the ability to be a berserk something one receives from the god? Possibly, Nordic paganism was too diverse to make a definite statement about this. Similarly, the idea of a 'berserk' (or bear-warrior, wolf-warrior, or troll-warrior) was possibly also not a fixed thing, but what the concept meant could differ over time and place. Unfortunately, it is mostly the later (post-Christianisation) sources that have survived to us, and these give more of a caricature of the ideal of the berserk, than the actual practice.
hi! there have been a few questions about berserkers here that you may be interested in.
These posts include at least some discussion on 'going berserk'
other info on berserkers
Would you mind linking your post? I'd like to see the picture it describes towards the end.
Can you elaborate on the way that you are using the term berserk? I'm assuming you mean that maybe there was some kind of tactical order to "go crazy and kill all the things" ?