However, the victim inevitably would have died from shock and blood loss very early on in the process, so the final fluttering of the lungs is likely poetic license. Scan this QR code to download the app now. [7], Afterwards, Earl Einarr went up to Halfdan and cut the "blood eagle" on his back, in this fashion that he thrust his sword into his chest by the backbone and severed all the ribs down to the loins, and then pulled out the lungs; and that was Halfdan's death.[8]. The Icelandic ritual is the most commonly used in television and film, seeing as it is recognized as being the most painful. Study co-authors Monte Gates and Heidi Fuller, both medical scientists at Keele University in England, were spurred to investigate the blood eagle by the Vikings series. Frithiof's Sagamentions that the methodcould be called "Blood Owl," a term used by later antiquarians and authors who wrote about the Vikings. DOI: Speculum, 2021. It consists of having the ribs severed from the spine and the lungs pulled through the opening to simulate a pair of wings. The blood eagle is referred to by the 11th-century poet Sigvatr rarson, who, some time between 1020 and 1038, wrote a skaldic verse named Kntsdrpa[9] that recounts and establishes Ivar the Boneless as having killed lla and subsequently cutting his back. "For the slayer by a cruel death of their captive father, Ragnar's sons act the blood-eagle on Ella, and salt his flesh.". That's especially the case with the blood eagle ritual, which has long been dismissed as mere legendwhether because of repeated misunderstandings during translations of the poems or perhaps a desire by Christian scholars to portray the pagan Vikings as barbaric. Terms of Use baki ristinn. When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs! They then looked at weapons from that era, to see how diverse blades might have been used for a task so laborious and grisly. This they did at the appointed time; and when they had captured him, they ordered the figure of an eagle to be cut in his back, rejoicing to crush their most ruthless foe by marking him with the cruellest of birds. The conventional interpretation of the Blood Eagle stipulates that the shape of an eagle was carved onto the victim's back, after which the skin was pulled back and the ribs were detached from the spine. No contemporary accounts of the rite exist, and the scant references in the sagas are several hundred years after the Christianization of Scandinavia. Vikings didn't leave many written records behind and the blood eagel is one of those things that leaves no archeological traces. Instead,"We suspect that a particular type of Viking spearhead could have been used as a makeshift tool to 'unzip' the rib cage quickly from the back," the authors wrote in an accompanying essay for The Conversation. Historical evidence for the blood eagle is scant. Ok Ellu bak, The 'Blood Eagle' ritual was allegedly practiced from the 8th to the 11th centuries by Scandinavian sea raiders. ok hugin gladdi.[12]. Then, the person seeking vengeance stabbed the victim by his tailbone and up towards the rib cage. In the Orkneyinga saga, the blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to Odin. cut with [an] eagle. These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. The History Channel series Vikings is a fictional account of legendary Norse hero Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel), who was born a farmer and became a Scandinavian king. cut with [an] eagle.[1]. What Is The Blood Eagle According To The Vikings? Unless archaeologists find a corpse bearing clear evidence of the torture, well likely never know. But they were also a society that reveled in brutality, that was structured around enslaving people and trafficked in sexual violence. Human anatomy is complex, and the authors noted three distinct anatomical challenges to performing the ritualparticularly if the goal was to keep the victim alive for the entire process. by A brutal, ritualized method of torture and execution that was allegedly practiced by Nordic people during the Viking Age was so gruesome that some scholars questioned whether it was even possible to perform on a human body. Has the lore of the Blood Eagle surpassed the historical accuracy of its existence? s er fold rr, They make it look beautiful in the most horrific way possible This is technically possible, although it would require tremendous strength and coordination, and the ribs would likely need to be fractured again somewhere on the victim's side. 'Vikings' creator on frightening, spiritual death - Chicago Tribune Vikings, like many medieval people, could be spectacularly violent, but perhaps not more so than other groups across a range of time periods. Blood Eagle Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images It's described as a sacrifice to Odin in thanks for Einarr's victory. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Skaldic verse, a common medium of Norse poets, was meant to be cryptic and allusive, and the idiomatic nature of Sighvatr's poem as a description of what has become known as the blood eagle is a matter of historical contention, particularly since in Norse imagery the eagle was strongly associated with blood and death. She compared the lurid details of the blood eagle to Christian martyrdom tracts, such as that relating the tortures of Saint Sebastian, shot so full of arrows that his ribs and internal organs were exposed. In the paper, the authors move methodically through the medieval sources before discussing what would happen to the human body if the fullest version of the procedure was carried out (in short, nothing good). The blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to the Norse god Odin, who is referenced throughout the Vikings series. The conventional term for this ancient form of persecutionrefers to eagles, though it has also been historicallyassociated with owls. Nec vulnus impressisse contenti, laceratam salivere carnem. In the numerous sagas that mention the Blood Eagle practice, revenge and pure disdain often preceded its usage. This would be sufficient if the ritual was merely the carving of an eagle into the victim's back, then folding back large flaps of skin and muscle to either side of the body to make "wings." The victim was offered up as a ritual sacrifice to Odin, the Nordic god of war. Matthew Townend (ed.) The blood eagle is a punishment where the person is strangled and stabbed with an ax by their tailbone and up towards the rib cage, separating every rib from the backbone. 2012, Sigvatr rarson. Matthew Gabriele Unless performed very carefully, the victim would have died quickly from suffocation or blood loss; even if the ritual was conducted with care, the subject wouldve almost certainly died before the full blood eagle could be completed. the late ttr af Ragnars sonum gives a full, sensational report of the event by the beginning of the 19th century, the various sagas motifseagle sketch, rib division, lung surgery, and saline stimulantwere combined in inventive sequences designed for maximum horror. TheSagagoes on to explain thatthe Earl Einarsubjected Hdlfddnto the Blood Eaglebecause he had killed the Earl's father. In popular lore, few images are as synonymous with Viking brutality as the blood eagle, a practice that allegedly found torturers separating the victims ribs from their spine, pulling their bones and skin outward to form a set of wings, and removing their lungs from their chest cavity. carved on the back Around 1300 AD in the saga Norna-Gests, another reference appears, but it, too, is vague: Now the blood eagle [5], Einarr made them carve an eagle on his back with a sword, and cut the ribs all from the backbone, and draw the lungs there out, and gave him to Odin for the victory he had won.[6]. Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights. Answer (1 of 6): The jury is still out on this one. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. A detail from a Viking-era picture stone in Gotland, Sweden, shows a ritual execution resembling a practice described in Nordic texts as the "blood eagle. The Earl made a blood eagle be cut on his back with the sword, and had his ribs severed from the back-bone, and his lungs pulled out.". Finally, for the final stage of removing the lungs through the cuts along the spine, one would need to fold the ribs outward to create wings. Seeing that fullness, that richness of our subjects in the past, allows us to not only better understand them but ourselvesas well. In each of the extant nine accounts, the victim is captured in battle and has an eagle of some sort carved into their back. And then, as a grand finale, the recipient's lungs are sort of, kind of removed but left sort of attached, so that the audience can watch them kind of "flutter" as the victim tried to take a few last breaths. Please read the rules before participating, as we remove all comments which break the rules. Thousands of new, high-quality pictures added every day. For instance, there is an account in the "Tale of Ragnar's Sons" of Ivar the Boneless performing the blood eagle on Kinglla of Northumbria because the latter killed his father, Ragnar. Here's your blood eagle how-to, as related by Smithsonian Magazine: First, fasten the victim, face-down, and carve the image of an eagle, wings outstretched, on the victim's back. He was previously a professor of medieval history at Dominican University from 2006-2017. Brutal Viking Blood Eagle Execution 'Could' Have Happened The victim had become a slimy, bloody bird. The give-and-take nature of the pairs collaboration with Luke John Murphy, a historian of religion at the University of Iceland, proved eminently fruitful, with the different perspectives of history and medicine pushing the scholars in unexpected ways. While dissecting a living human body in this way was within the realm of possibility, surviving such torture was not. The Portal for Public History. What Is the 'Blood Eagle' Execution Method? - Smithsonian Magazine "The blood eagle was thus no mere torture: it had meaning," the researchers wrote in the study. In the video game Assassins Creed: Valhalla,Ivarr the Boneless, a character based on the Viking chieftain who invaded the British Isles in the ninth century C.E., performs theblood eagleon his nemesis, King Rhodri. Why Did Madison Write the Second Amendment? Borg doesn't get an easy death when his schemes ultimately fail and he is captured. Saxo Grammaticus in Gesta Danorum tells the following about Bjrn and Sigvard, sons of Ragnar Lodbrok and king lla: Idque statuto tempore exsecuti, comprehensi ipsius dorsum plaga aquilam figurante affici iubent, saevissimum hostem atrocissimi alitis signo profligare gaudentes. The victim was allegedly alive the entire time, and his last breaths would cause a final fluttering of the lungs, akin to the fluttering of a bird's wings. Unless archaeologists find a corpse bearing clear evidence of the torture, well likely never know. Two separate episodes of the hit History Channel show Vikings depict an unimaginably grisly and horrific torture method that is known as the "Blood Eagle." In the first, the villain Karl Borg is murdered through the extremely cruel and brutal method; in the second, the corrupt King Ella is tortured to death using the "Blood Eagle" method. The answer, according to an interdisciplinary team of medical doctors, anatomists and a historian, is a resounding yes. According to Saxo, the term eagle was used by men who rejoiced in "[crushing] their most ruthless foe by marking him with the cruellest of birds.". Archaeologists have never found human remains that display signs of having endured this ritual. Finally, it would be extremely challenging to reposition the ribs in the shape of an eagle's wings, and then pull the lungs through the opening. with a broad sword The blood eagles prominence within Viking societyboth during the medieval era and as ascribed in the centuries sincestems from its emphasis on ritual and revenge. and gladden the raven. They used anatomical modeling software to effectively recreate extreme versions of the blood eagle, simulating the effect of each step of the torture on the human body. In popular lore, few images are as synonymous with Viking brutality as the " blood eagle ," a practice that allegedly found torturers separating the victim's ribs from their spine, pulling. "Contrary to established wisdom, we therefore argue that the blood eagle could very well have taken place in the Viking Age," the authors concluded in their essay. The blood eagle was a method of ritually executing a chosen member as detailed in late skaldic poetry.According to the two instances mentioned in the Sagas, the victims (in both cases members of royal families) were placed in a prone position, their ribs severed from the spine with a sharp tool, and their lungs pulled through the opening to create a pair of "wings". They were intrepid, fearless oceangoing explorers who beat Columbus to North America by, well, a lot, and according to the National Museum of Denmark, they had no actual horns on the actual helmets, which ruins a lot of optics but you have to admit it makes absolute sense. Borgs involvement in Vikings was through his conflict with King Horik, as they both wanted control over mineral-rich lands and Horik sent Ragnar as his emissary. According to Saxo Grammaticus'sGesta Danorum, after the previously detailed mutilation, the flesh was rubbed with salt. In other words, rituals like the blood eagle had meaning because they were a wayin practice or on the pageof drawing lines between groups of people and warning outsiders of the dangers of crossing that boundary. The sources are often vague, referencing legendary figures of dubious veracity or mixing up accepted historical chronology. Depends on who you ask. The authors also re-assessed archaeological and historical data and concluded that the blood ritual was in keeping with the behavior of the Viking Age warrior elite. A detail from a Viking-era picture stone in Gotland, Sweden, shows a ritual execution resembling a practice described in Nordic. Victims likely lost consciousness early in the process as flesh was removed from their backs; the quantity of blood loss and subsequent lung collapse would have killed them long before the grisly ordeal was finished, and "much of the procedure would have been performed on a corpse," the scientists reported. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. [19][20], Ragnar Lodbrok's sons and King lla of Northumbria. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Some precision is called for here, since . The blood eagle was an execution method done by the Vikings of Scandinavia. According to 12th and 13th century authors, the Blood Eagle had a long tradition in Scandinavia, often being associated with Vikings, and was used against the most heinous enemies. It was great. Recent Events That Will Most Likely Make It Into History Books 50 Years From Now, 21 Historical Figures Who Would Dominate Social Media If They Were Alive Today. However, the first literary reference to this practice didnt emerge until sometime between 1020 and 1038 AD in this simple passage from the Viking saga The Tale of Ragnars Sons, which describes Ivarrs murder of King Ella: And varr, the one Behind the scenes pictures of blood eagle execution of king Aelle from the TV series VIKINGSMusic by: Bensound.com It is alleged that the practice was invented by Ivarr the Boneless, a Viking military leader in occupied England who lived in the 800s and disappeared from the historical record by 870 AD. The lungs were then pulled out and over the ribs, mimicking the image of the wings of a spread eagle. Gillis observation builds on the earlier work of scholar Valentin Groebner, who wrote in 2004 that terror tends to disorient. Violence (and how that violence was portrayed) in the European Middle Ages was a way of making meaning, of rendering visible important ideas that had previously remained unseen. The Vikings rubbed salt on the wound to make things more painful and pulled the victim's lungs over their shoulders. One would also need to sever the muscles attaching the ribs to the lower back. varr, with eagle,
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