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The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles, "Viking atrocity and Skaldic verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle", "Icelandic Sagas and other Historical Documents Relating to the Settlements and Descents of the Northmen on the British Isles VolumeIII The Orkneyinger's Saga", Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages, "An Anatomy of the Blood Eagle: The Practicalities of Viking Torture", "Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study finds: But victims would have died long before the torturous execution concluded", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Blood_eagle&oldid=1150810754, This page was last edited on 20 April 2023, at 08:25. In each of the extant nine accounts, the victim is captured in battle and has an eagle of some sort carved into their 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. had Ella's back Photos: 10th-century Viking tomb unearthed in Denmark, 1,200-year-old pagan temple to Thor and Odin unearthed. The blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to the Norse god Odin, who is referenced throughout the Vikings series. There was a time when George Custer was a genuine American hero; now, not so much. Matthew Townend (ed.) 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. 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. 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. Study co-authorsMonte GatesandHeidi Fuller, both medical scientists at Keele University in England, were spurred to investigate the blood eagle by the Vikings series. 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 the blood eagle on his nemesis, King Rhodri. If the Vikings did perform the blood eagle, does that mean the Middle Ages were as brutish, nasty and dark as stereotypes suggest? "The victims hands and legs were tied to prevent escape or sudden movements. Your Privacy Rights Depends on who you ask. She also reports on general science, covering climate change, paleontology, biology, and space. "Class War" is Back in the Headlines. 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. Others are more graphic, aligning with the extreme versions depicted in contemporary popular culture. A Note to our Readers I'll 'vengeThee well; With a broad sword 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). Real Executions Downplayed in Film and TV, Execution and Infamy in 18th Century Britain, Details About The Blood Eagle, One Of History's Most Nightmarish Torture Methods. Blood-Eagle lines on Thy foe shall be flowing.". Find Blood Eagle stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round. These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, They further concluded that, were it performed in the most extreme versions depicted in the sagas and the subject of the torture still lived at that point, death would have followed the severing of the ribs from the spine within seconds, due either to exsanguination or asphyxiation. had Ellas back 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". Work on the anatomical limits of the ritual spurred me to consider the wider social and cultural limits within which any historical blood eagle would have had to have taken place, Murphy says. 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. baki ristinn. Vikings told the story of legendary Norse figure Ragnar Lothbrok (Travis Fimmel) and his travels and raid alongside his Viking brothers, from the beginning of the Viking Age (marked by the Lindisfarne raid, as seen in season 1) onward. cut with [an] eagle.[1]. Unless archaeologists find a corpse bearing clear evidence of the torture, well likely never know. 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. 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. Each rib was then meticulously separated from the backbone with an ax, which left the victims internal organs on full display.". You know like an eagle. carved on the back 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. "The 'blood eagle' plays a prominent role in our early 21st-century constructions of 'Vikings,' which generally favor an [understanding that] violence was commonplace in the Iron Age Nordic region. York, cut. Next, take an axe there's nothing about sharpening it first and use the axe to hew the victim's ribs from the spine. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). The blood eagling started as a punishment but became something more spiritual and everybody sorted wanted him to show. In the 1970s Alfred Smyth supported the historicity of the rite, stating that it is clearly human sacrifice to the Norse god Odin. | The work of scholars is to understand how this violence fit into a complex societyand a new study does just that. 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. As this new article helps demonstrate, perhaps the pendulum needs to stop. Its important to remember that historical records on Vikings and their way of living are scarce and most information is based on sagas, poems, tales, and more, so there were going to be elements that would have to be changed, embellished, or created in order to tell a cohesive story in Vikings. Viking warriors were known to go to extreme lengths to protect their reputations, and the blood eagle appears to have been reserved for exacting revenge for the dishonorable killing of a father (or other male relative). who rule land breium hjrvi We won't go into detail here, but watch our new horror video to see how bad torture was in the past, and how you pretty much have it made living in 2020. 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. His co-authors conducted several simulations using modern anatomy software, while Murphy re-assessed the stories, archaeological evidence, and historical accounts in light of their findings. Some precision is called for here, since . Ergo, "even if the ritual was carefully performed the victim would have died very quickly," the authors wrote. They then looked at weapons from that era, to see how diverse blades might have been used for a task so laborious and grisly. All of that exposed tissue then gets salt rubbed into it, which certainly puts "lemon juice on a paper cut" into perspective, doesn't it? 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. 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. It consists of having the ribs severed from the spine and the lungs pulled through the opening to simulate a pair of wings. Behind the scenes pictures of blood eagle execution of king Aelle from the TV series VIKINGSMusic by: Bensound.com 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. 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. Ragnars legacy and presence could still be felt until the end of the series, and he left behind various memorable moments, both good and violent, and falling into the latter category is the death of Jarl Borg (Thorbjrn Harr). Some scholars believe that the Blood Eagle was connected to earlier human sacrifices made to Odin, although whether or not those sacrifices every took placeremains controversial. [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]. No exact date is attached to its origins, nor is therea specific legal prohibition as to its use, but popular culture depictions keep it alive and well. The debate among historians about whether or not the Blood Eagle actually occurred continues. Matthew Gillis, a historian at the University of Tennessee and the author of an upcoming book on medieval horror, describes medieval Christian authors as horror experts. He says that textual vignettes like the ones featured in the new study were intended to teach a lesson, such as frighten[ing] their audiences into returning to God. Though some of the Old Norse sources detailing the practice predate Christianitys rise in the region, they were read and retold for centuries after their creation. 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. Scan this QR code to download the app now. 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. Ragnar performs theblrn (blood eagle) on Borg, a gruesome process of ritualized torture and execution allegedly carried out during the Viking Age (c. 7501050). 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.