[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]. It was great. 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. A BRUTAL Viking torture ritual rubbished by researchers may have actually been a thing, according to a new study. Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla contains an account of the same event described in Orkneyinga saga, with Einarr actually performing the deed himself: gkk Einarr jarl til Hlfdanar; hann reist rn baki honum me eima htti, at hann lagi sveri hol vi hrygginn ok reist rifin ll ofan alt lendar, dr ar t lungun; var at bani Hlfdanar. cut with [an] eagle. The blood-eagle ritual-killing rite appears in just two instances in Norse literature, plus oblique references some have interpreted as referring to the same practice. Around 1300 AD in the saga Norna-Gests, another reference appears, but it, too, is vague: Now the blood eagle The Disturbing Truth About The Vikings' Blood Eagle Execution. The victim had become a slimy, bloody bird. 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. The bones and skin are then peeled back, to sort of kind of make them look like wings. 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. Early in the series, a rival leader named Jarl Borg (Thorbjrn Harr) of nearby Gtaland leads an attack on Ragnar's men and even convinces Ragnar's brother to betray him. The execution methods recurring appearances in medieval texts, often without extensive explanation, suggests a common understanding among Viking-age readers and listeners, many of whom would have learned the tales through oral tradition. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. 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. The debate among historians about whether or not the Blood Eagle actually occurred continues. 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. ("They caused the bloody eagle to be carved on the back oflla, and they cut away all of the ribs from the spine, and then they ripped out his lungs. Popular opinion ebbs and flows, especially regarding history. Some believed that the brutal rite resulted from . The Oxford English Dictionary provides a very brief description of the method: A Viking method of killing someone, usually the slayer of a mans father, by cutting out the ribs in the shape of an eagle. Before we get into the details, remember that this one specialized in keeping the subject alive throughout the proceedings. 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. . The victim was offered up as a ritual sacrifice to Odin, the Nordic god of war. 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. A posterior view of the thorax, illustrating some deeper structures encountered while exposing the ribs. The Real Housewives of Atlanta The Bachelor Sister Wives 90 Day Fiance Wife Swap The Amazing Race Australia Married at First Sight The Real Housewives of Dallas My 600-lb Life Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. So it probably comes as no surprise that the group known as the Vikings gets a new veneer every few years or so. According to descriptions of the blood eagle in poems and prose dating from the 11th century to the 13th century, victims were typically captured in battle. In the Orkneyinga saga, the blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to Odin. Thorbjrn Harr played Jarl Borg of Gtaland in the first two seasons of the History Channel series. In each of the extant nine accounts, the victim is captured in battle and has an eagle of some sort carved into their back. A posterior view of the thorax illustrating the results of detaching or cutting the ribs. "It was physically possible, in line with broader social habits regarding execution and the treatment of corpses, and reflected a cultural obsession with demonstrating your honor and prestige. But he likely would have died of shock, suffocation, and/or exsanguination within seconds of the blade being thrust into his back to cut the ribs. 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). There was a time when George Custer was a genuine American hero; now, not so much. 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. I watched midsommar last night, and it is full of nordic tropes. with a broad sword This worked doubly well for the Victorians as a means of demonstrating the superiority of the native English over the Viking invaders. The answer, according to an interdisciplinary team of medical doctors, anatomists and a historian, is a resounding yes. See more at profgabriele.com. However, when it comes to the depictions of blood eagle, Murphy pointed out one crucial aspect regarding the perception of Vikings in the 21st century. s er fold rr, During the 1980s, Murphy says, the prevailing attitude in scholarship [was] that the Vikings had been unfairly maligned as bloodthirsty barbarians, and that they were really savvy [and rational] economic actors. The pendulum had swung the other way. With a broad sword In the 1970s Alfred Smyth supported the historicity of the rite, stating that it is clearly human sacrifice to the Norse god Odin. 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. In TheOrkneyingaSaga, Hdlfddn(Halfdan) underwent the Blood Eagle after he was defeated in battle: "Next morning they found Hdlfddn Hdlegg on Kinar's Hill. One would also need to sever the muscles attaching the ribs to the lower back. Such a knife could have been used to cut and peel back the skin and muscle layers for the first part of the blood eagle ritual. Some precision is called for here, since they're supposed to be removed one at a time. 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.". The give-and-take nature of the pairs collaboration withLuke 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. The answer, according to an interdisciplinary team of medical doctors, anatomists and a historian, is a resounding yes. In the new study, the researchers evaluated the blood eagle practice by first analyzing human anatomy, breaking down the sequence of the torture step by step and approximating how it might have been accomplished in a public ritual. varr, with eagle, Historians are divided as to whether the Blood Eagle was a real practice or simply a myth that originated from misinterpretation of ancient Nordic sagas. Set to be published inSpeculum: A Journal of Medieval Studieslater this month, the article sidesteps the question of whether the ritual actually took place during the Viking Age, instead asking whether the blood eagle could feasibly serve as a torture method. 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. But in the nine known written accounts of the blood eagle ritual, the people who ordered the torture and their victims were men of elevated social status, and most of them were royal, according to the study. Answers must be in-depth and comprehensive, or they will be removed. Whats more, its spectacular brutality would have ensured that everybody who heard about it would be keen to tell the story in all its gory detailsjust as were still telling them today.". This, in turn, led to a more nuanced discussion of not only what could have happened, but how and why. According to Saxo Grammaticus'sGesta Danorum, after the previously detailed mutilation, the flesh was rubbed with salt. Borg doesn't get an easy death when his schemes ultimately fail and he is captured. 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. "For the slayer by a cruel death of their captive father, Ragnar's sons act the blood-eagle on Ella, and salt his flesh.". 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. The blood eagling started as a punishment but became something more spiritual and everybody sorted wanted him to show. Thus, the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. Either way, the rituals appearance in these texts is intended to send a message tied to honor and revenge. York, cut. Jrvk, skorit.[9]. Single-edged "fighting knives" with rigid handles have been found in elite Viking burials, and some resemble large knives that are used in modern autopsies, according to the study. 10.1086/717332 (About DOIs). 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. 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 vertebral column would still present an obstacle to removing the lungs, and the primary bronchi and pulmonary veins and arteries aren't long enough to allow the lungs to be removed while they are still attached. The series prides itself on being as historically accurate as possible, which is a challenge, given that much of what we know about the Viking Age comes from epic poems telling of their achievements in spoken form, finally written down centuries later. 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 Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study finds But victims would have died long before the torturous execution concluded. Mindy studied film at Columbia University; prior to Live Science she produced, wrote and directed media for the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. Terms of Use Alfred Smyth argues that it was a historical method of execution but bear in mind he is a specialist in medieval history of the British Isles, not Viking Age Scandinavia. NY 10036. In one version, an eagle is carved on Halfdan's back with a sword, all the ribs cut from the backbone, and the lungs drawn out. Carved on the back. Guillermo del Toro said hi to her once. [19][20], Ragnar Lodbrok's sons and King lla of Northumbria. Other sources detail the practice more fully. Advertising Notice These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. Approaching the question from a different angle allowed the researchers to dig through the scholarship, place the medieval sources within the proper context and draw on modern technology to examine what actually would have happened during the ritual. After that, his exposed lungs would be pulled out of his body and spread over his wings, offering witnesses the sight of a final bird-like fluttering as he died. Second, the mere act of opening the thoracic cavity from behind would likely weaken or sever several major arteries of the body, and probably deflate the lungs. As such, the scholars conclude, the blood eagle could have formed an extreme, but not implausible, outlier to the idea of the bad death within wider Viking society: a way to avenge an earlier deviant, dishonorable or otherwise culturally condemned death. This was an act that had meaning. The Heimskringla Saga from 1230 describes the same alleged incident: There has been continuing debate about whether the rite was a literary invention, a mistranslation of the original texts, or an authentic historical practice.[1][2][3]. A Viking Blood Eagle is a graphic form of execution where an individual's back would be sliced open and the ribs, intestines, and lungs pulled out while the victim was still alive. | Scan this QR code to download the app now. 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. In captivity, they may live over 50 years due to fewer hazards and veterinary care. According to the books of history, the Blood Eagle was a religious rite dedicated to the god Odin with the objective of imparting fear to the enemies of the Viking's. Answer (1 of 6): The jury is still out on this one. The victim, it is said, would still be alive at this point to experience the agony ofsaline stimulanthaving salt rubbed, quite literally, into his vast wound. 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). But they were also a society that reveled in brutality, that was structured around enslaving people and trafficked in sexual violence. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. It would have been very difficult to separate the ribs from the vertebrae, since the joints are stabilized by very strong ligaments. Created by Michael Hirst (The Tudors), Vikings premiered on History Channel in 2013 and lived on for a total of six seasons, even though it was originally planned to be a miniseries, and came to an end in 2020. So it remains unclear whether or not the Blood Eagle was real. However, theres a lot of debate on whether the blood eagle was real, a literary invention, or a mistake in the translation of the original texts. David Horspool in his book King Alfred: Burnt Cakes and Other Legends, while not committing to the historical veracity of the rite, also saw parallels to martyrdom tracts. When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs! It's described as a sacrifice to Odin in thanks for Einarr's victory. The ritual was only known about from sagas until the University of Iceland team discovered that it 'could have' been performed with Viking weapons . The blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to the Norse god Odin, who is referenced throughout the Vikings series. And Ella's back, 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. One would first need to rapidly remove all the skin and muscles of the back; it would otherwise not be possible to cut and manipulate the underlying ribs so the lungs could be removed. Free or royalty-free photos and images. [11], Another possible oblique reference to the rite appears in Norna-Gests ttr. Cut with an eagle? Well, thats sort of vague, isnt it? The primary versions share certain commonalities: the victims are both noblemen (Halfdan Haaleg or "Long-leg" was a prince; lla of Northumbria a king), and both of the executions were in retaliation for the murder of a father. The Dirty, Deadly History of Depleted Uranium Munitions, The Comics Writer Who Became a Legend-and a Martyr of Argentina's Dirty War, Emily Meggett, Preserver of Gullah Geechee Foodways of the Coastal South, Dies at 90, Documents Confirm Direct Ancestors of King Charles III Involved in Slave Trade, Academic Freedom is Vital to Developing the Critical Abilities Society Needs. 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 historian community believes that the blood eagle ritual is a piece of complex poetic misunderstanding due to the lack of information. The theory is backed by the fact that Ivar was famous for his massive size and that the skeleton was reported to be about nine feet tall. - Jan 10, 2022 7:22 pm UTC. But one thing is beyond dispute: Either the Vikings were sick individuals, or their conquerors had a sick imagination. Review: AP Program Undermines Humanities, Devalues College, and Cheats Students of Learning, SCOTUS's Stay of Mifepristone Ruling a Win for Abortion Rights, but Shows Dangerous Power of "Shadow Docket", How the Reagan Administration Used "A Nation at Risk" to Push for School Privatization, Ned Blackhawk Unmakes the American Origin Story. Perception may or may not be reality, and if you tend to see the Vikings as cruel, sadistic, muscle-bound axe-lovers, here's evidence to back it up. Photos: 10th-century Viking tomb unearthed in Denmark, 1,200-year-old pagan temple to Thor and Odin unearthed. Adrienne is very into films and she enjoys a bit of everything: from superhero films to heartbreaking dramas, to low-budget horror films. hilmis nefi, New research reveals the feasibility of the infamous execution method. Dreamstime is the world`s largest stock photography community. In his personal blog, Howard M. R. Williams, professor in Medieval archeology, explained (via Looper) that the blood eagle execution, as legendary as it is, has no historical or archeological correlate, and enduring it in silence is truly implausible". She was also a contributor for FanSided's BamSmackPow and 1428 Elm. Performing such a horrific act would have been "anatomically challenging" for the torturer but it would not have been impossible, scientists reported in the January 2022 issue of Speculum: A Journal of Medieval Studies. This was included in the show, as Aelle was killed through this ritual, though he didnt go through it as Jarl Borg did, who didnt make a sound and thus earned his place in Valhalla. had Ella's back Seemingly 'empty' burial mound is hiding a 1,200-year-old Viking ship, Rare, 1,000-year-old Viking Age iron hoard found in basement in Norway, Extremely rare white killer whale spotted off California coast.
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