Dale Nelson sends this link, to an article from the London Telegraph about James MacMillan, an “accessible” contemporary composer who is a devout Catholic, and who has written a piano concerto called “The Berserking.”
Dale Nelson sends this link, to an article from the London Telegraph about James MacMillan, an “accessible” contemporary composer who is a devout Catholic, and who has written a piano concerto called “The Berserking.”
That’s a question I meant to ask you in the interview. Where does the idea or reality of strong, stupid, short-tempered men called Berserkers come from?
We know of the berserkers both from the sagas and from the old skaldic poems, which are contemporary with the events.
I’ve always assumed that berserkers were just psychopaths who found a niche in a warrior society where they could make themselves valuable.
However, I’ve seen information recently (I forget where) that suggests that they were actually a religious sect devoted to Odin. They may have used drugs such as mushrooms to induce their frenzies.