Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study finds But victims would have died long before the torturous execution concluded. Brutal Viking 'blood eagle' ritual execution was anatomically possible Borg later attacked Kattegat when Horik excluded him from their raids and battled Ragnar and his men. The "blood eagle" execution method: Sagas made Vikings look scary, but The tallest guy in recent history was a man named Robert Wadlow, who stood at 8 11 and did indeed need braces to stand due to his enormous height. The Blood Eagle is one of the most graphic, cruel, and lengthytorture methodsever described. The Norse god Odin was traditionally the recipient of Blood Eagle sacrifices before and after battles. When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs! Guillermo del Toro said hi to her once. Free or royalty-free photos and images. He dedicated the victim to Odin as a victory offering.. We wouldnt wish the Blood Eagle upon our worst enemyOK, except for maybe that one guy who did that one thing one time. 'Vikings' creator on frightening, spiritual death - Chicago Tribune The bones and skin are then peeled back, to sort of kind of make them look like wings. Jarl Borg was aleader from Gtaland who was introduced in Vikings season 1, and it was clear from the beginning that he was going to bring a lot of trouble to Ragnar and Kattegat. 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. In line with the studys interdisciplinary bent, the authors paired this analysis with historical and archaeological data about the specialized tools available within Viking society. Others are more graphic, aligning with the extreme versions depicted in contemporary popular culture. But What is it, Really. 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. 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. 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". [19][20], Ragnar Lodbrok's sons and King lla of Northumbria. 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. "For the slayer by a cruel death of their captive father, Ragnar's sons act the blood-eagle on Ella, and salt his flesh.". So it remains unclear whether or not the Blood Eagle was real. NY 10036. A posterior view of the thorax (back), without the skin, illustrating the anatomical structures encountered during the initial phase of cutting the blood eagle. 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. The second account comes from Norse poet and historian Snorri Sturluson: "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.". I watched midsommar last night, and it is full of nordic tropes. And Ella's back, Was Wyatt Earp a brave, courageous, bold lawman, or a pimp? So it probably comes as no surprise that the group known as the Vikings gets a new veneer every few years or so. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. 10 Methods Of Execution For Utah That Are Way More Fun Than FiringSquads. Each rib was then meticulously separated from the backbone with an ax, which left the victims internal organs on full display.". They then looked at weapons from that era, to see how diverse blades might have been used for a task so laborious and grisly. 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. In TheOrkneyingaSaga, Hdlfddn(Halfdan) underwent the Blood Eagle after he was defeated in battle: "Next morning they found Hdlfddn Hdlegg on Kinar's Hill. The blood eagle is a method of execution detailed in late skaldic poetry. Vikings from different areas had slightly different methods. 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. (The correct answer is: All of the above.). 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. Mindy Weisberger is a Live Science editor for the channels Animals and Planet Earth. 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. Haralds Saga, from the Orkney Islands, states that Viking Earl Torf-Einar had his enemys ribs cut from the spine with a sword and the lungs pulled out through the slits in his back. The sources are often vague, referencing legendary figures of dubious veracity or mixing up accepted historical chronology. 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. Certain types of Viking knives, swords and spears may have been wielded for different parts of the blood eagle ritual, and prior archaeological discoveries include examples of weapons that would have been well-suited for this gruesome practice. The ritual was only known about from sagas until the University of Iceland team discovered that it 'could have' been performed with Viking weapons . Jennifer Ouellette - 1/10/2022, 11:22 AM. 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. Popular opinion ebbs and flows, especially regarding history. The execution method shows up twice in the popular History Channel drama series Vikings as aritual reservedfor the protagonists worst enemies,Jarl BorgandKing lla, a fictionalized counterpart to the actualNorthumbrian ruler. Horik then told Ragnar to reestablish their alliance with Borg, and after the latter accepted the offer, Ragnar captured him and sentenced him to death by blood eagle (in season 2s episode appropriately titled Blood Eagle). She also reports on general science, covering climate change, paleontology, biology, and space. varr ara, 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. His latest book, co-authored with David M. Perry, isThe Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe(Harper, December 2021). 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. In ttr af Ragnars sonum (the "Tale of Ragnar's sons"), Ivar the Boneless has captured king lla of Northumbria, who had killed Ivar's father Ragnar Lobrk. Heres how it works. Live Science is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. In his book The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy, Ronald Hutton tends to agree with Franks analysis: The hitherto notorious rite of the Blood Eagle, the killing of a defeated warrior by pulling up his ribs and lungs through his back, has been shown to be almost certainly a Christian myth resulting from the misunderstanding of some older verse. However, researchers recently found that the act known as blorn, or "blood eagle," was in fact anatomically possible and could have been performed with known Viking weapons. If you purchase an item through these links, we receive a commission. Ragnar performs theblrn (blood eagle) on Borg, a gruesome process of ritualized torture and execution allegedly carried out during the Viking Age (c. 7501050). One would also need to sever the muscles attaching the ribs to the lower back. Thus, the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. bana Sigmundar Around 1300 AD in the saga Norna-Gests, another reference appears, but it, too, is vague: Now the blood eagle had Ellas back 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. Related: Fierce fighters: 7 secrets of Viking seamen. A posterior view of the thorax, illustrating some deeper structures encountered while exposing the ribs. 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. What Is the 'Blood Eagle' Execution Method? - Smithsonian Magazine Thorbjrn Harr played Jarl Borg of Gtaland in the first two seasons of the History Channel series. 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 Icelandic ritual is the most commonly used in television and film, seeing as it is recognized as being the most painful. 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. Some precision is called for here, since . (Warning: some graphic anatomical descriptions follow.). In the 1970s Alfred Smyth supported the historicity of the rite, stating that it is clearly human sacrifice to the Norse god Odin. In some cases, the texts suggested that a designated official was on hand to perform the blood eagle act, perhaps because it required highly specialized knowledge of anatomy and butchering. The 'Blood Eagle' Torture Method As Seen On The Show 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. Before we get into the details, remember that this one specialized in keeping the subject alive throughout the proceedings. 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. Was the blood eagle a real torture method used by nordic peoples 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. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round. Watch my SCP Explained - Story \u0026 Animation channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8JfkMtNAp44vmzdtnL4wow SUBSCRIBE TO THE INFOGRAPHICS SHOW https://www.youtube.com/c/theinfographicsshowOFFICIAL?sub_confirmation=1 MY SOCIAL PAGESDISCORD https://discord.gg/theinfoshowFacebook https://www.facebook.com/TheInfographicsShowTwitter https://twitter.com/TheInfoShow SUGGEST A TOPIChttps://www.theinfographicsshow.com SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/2dLH275ZAll videos are based on publicly available information unless otherwise noted. 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. Blood Eagle: The Grisly Torture Method Of The Vikings - All That's "[18], While taking no view on the historical authenticity of the ritual, the authors of a 2022 study concluded that the ritual as described was not inconsistent either with physiology or the tools available within the sociocultural context of the Viking era. Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study What I've been wanting to know is if anyone has information about the torture method known as the blood eagle. 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. lla and Edmund were both victims of Ivar the Boneless. 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. A Note to our Readers Was its inclusion in Viking sagas part of Christian propaganda meant to depict the Scandinavian pagans as heathens? 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. 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 references to the torture are terse. 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. kinsmen of kings, (The word translated "raven" is not hrafn but hugin, the personal name of one of Odin's ravens.). 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. Some references to the torture are terse. 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. A common element in the medieval sources, according to the authors of the new study, is that the aggressors perform the ritual on enemies who killed one of their family members. Vikings explained: Who was Jarl Borg? What happened to him? - Express The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. [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 answer is complex. "The blood eagle was thus no mere torture: it had meaning," the researchers wrote in the study. Behind the scenes pictures of blood eagle execution of king Aelle from the TV series VIKINGSMusic by: Bensound.com Captors would cut and open large flaps of skin and muscle from their living victim's back and then sever the ribs from the spine, opening the ribs out to the sides to form "wings." Vikings: The Blood Eagle Death Explained (& What It Gets Wrong) The [ritual], as it exists in popular culture today, owes a lot to the attitudes of Victorian scholars who were keen to exaggerate its role.. 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. 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. Historical evidence for the blood eagle is scant. 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. Heimskringla/Harald Harfager's Saga#Halfdan Haleg's Death. BLOOD EAGLE EXECUTION OF KING AELLE - BEHIND THE SCENES PICTURES - VIKINGS - YouTube 0:00 / 1:54 Sign in to confirm your age This video may be inappropriate for some users. 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. Frithiof's Sagamentions that the methodcould be called "Blood Owl," a term used by later antiquarians and authors who wrote about the Vikings. The value of this new scholarship lies in its imagination, in the way it manages to take something conceptual and make it more concrete. [11], Another possible oblique reference to the rite appears in Norna-Gests ttr. ok hugin gladdi.[12]. As the story progressed, Vikings shifted its focus to Ragnars sons and their own journeys, with them taking over the series after Ragnars death in season 4. 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.
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