Viking historian Luke John Murphy of the University of Iceland decided to enlist the aid of actual anatomical specialists to assess whether performing the blood eagle would even be feasible. Stay up to date on the latest science news by signing up for our Essentials newsletter. 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? In the 1970s Alfred Smyth supported the historicity of the rite, stating that it is clearly human sacrifice to the Norse god Odin. Cookie Settings, The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, Five Places Where You Can Still Find Gold in the United States, Scientists Taught Pet Parrots to Video Call Each Otherand the Birds Loved It, Balto's DNA Provides a New Look at the Intrepid Sled Dog, The Science of California's 'Super Bloom,' Visible From Space, What We're Still Learning About Rosalind Franklins Unheralded Brilliance. who rule land 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. 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. So it remains unclear whether or not the Blood Eagle was real. Sign in BLOOD. [11], Another possible oblique reference to the rite appears in Norna-Gests ttr. Please read the rules before participating, as we remove all comments which break the rules. A Note to our Readers David M. Perry is a freelance journalist covering politics, history, education, and disability rights. "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. 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. 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. He's currently the senior academic advisor in the History Department at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. 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. published 27 January 2022 It literally turned victims inside out. 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. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. "Therefore any attempts to reshape the ribs into 'wings' or remove the lungs would have been performed on a corpse. A posterior view of the thorax (back), without the skin, illustrating the anatomical structures encountered during the initial phase of cutting the blood eagle. Others are more graphic, aligning with the extreme versions depicted in contemporary popular culture. 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. A lively and magisterial popular history that refutes common misperceptions of the European Middle Ages. 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. [The early references] merely envisage someone scratching, as deeply as possible, a picture of an eagle upon Ellas back. Matthew Gabriele is a professor of medieval studies and chair of the Department of Religion & Culture at Virginia Tech. The 'Blood Eagle' ritual was allegedly practiced from the 8th to the 11th centuries by Scandinavian sea raiders. Answers must be in-depth and comprehensive, or they will be removed. So it probably comes as no surprise that the group known as the Vikings gets a new veneer every few years or so. 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. 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. However, ribs could potentially be "unzipped" from the spine with a small, barbed spearhead, and such weapons have also been recovered from Viking burials, the researchers reported. People are messy, and, by extension, history is, too. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. Borg distracted Ragnar with the supposed real Yggdrasil (the tree of life) while he manipulated Ragnars brother, Rollo (Clive Standen), into betraying him. Scan this QR code to download the app now. The torturer would then complete the ritual by pulling out the victim's intact lungs and laying them over the extended ribs (by this point, the victim was certainly deceased, the researchers wrote). If you know anything about history, its that they winners are never content simply winningthey need to justify their victory by claiming their victims were evil and deserved it. Your Privacy Rights 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. Spectacular executions, displaying of dead bodies, and "deviant burials" did occursuch as the skeleton of a beheaded noblewoman buried with her head tucked under arm and her jawbone replaced by a pig's mandible. Matthew Gabriele is a professor of medieval studies and chair of the Department of Religion & Culture at Virginia Tech. Unless archaeologists find a corpse bearing clear evidence of the torture, well likely never know. Next, take an axe there's nothing about sharpening it first and use the axe to hew the victim's ribs from the spine. Some precision is called for here, since they're supposed to be removed one at a time. The answer is complex. You know like an eagle. The best we can do is say "we don't know". 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". It consists of having the ribs severed from the spine and the lungs pulled through the opening to simulate a pair of wings. Then, the person seeking vengeance stabbed the victim by his tailbone and up towards the rib cage. 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. [19][20], Ragnar Lodbrok's sons and King lla of Northumbria. 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. 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. What I've been wanting to know is if anyone has information about the torture method known as the blood eagle. Thus, the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. According to sometranslations of the Viking saga, a less invasive Blood Eagle could be performed by simply carving an eagle with outstretched wings on the victim's naked body; however,for added cruelty, the eviscerating method could be performed from the front. The work of scholars is to understand how this violence fit into a complex societyand a new study does just that. Vikings, like many medieval people, could be spectacularly violent, but perhaps not more so than other groups across a range of time periods. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine It was great. Lots of people become victims of other people's press, and more than a few have tripped over their own feet and created image problems forever after. 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. 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". These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. 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. Photos: 10th-century Viking tomb unearthed in Denmark, 1,200-year-old pagan temple to Thor and Odin unearthed. "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. 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 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.". cut with [an] eagle. 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.". The historian community believes that the blood eagle ritual is a piece of complex poetic misunderstanding due to the lack of information. But they were also a society that reveled in brutality, that was structured around enslaving people and trafficked in sexual violence. Carved on the back. | 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. Ragnar performs theblrn (blood eagle) on Borg, a gruesome process of ritualized torture and execution allegedly carried out during the Viking Age (c. 7501050). Select from premium Blood Eagle of the highest quality. Orkneyinga Saga envisages the tearing out of ribs and lungs and provides the information that the rite was intended as a sacrifice to Oinn. 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. Many historians suggest that even the earliest literary references to the Blood Eagle were in poems rather than in historical accounts, which may mean they were merely intended for entertainment and not to be taken literally. The blood eagle was an execution method done by the Vikings of Scandinavia. 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). These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. 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. Each rib was then meticulously separated from the backbone with an ax, which left the victims internal organs on full display.". 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. 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. Prior to Screen Rant, she wrote for Pop Wrapped, 4 Your Excitement (4YE), and D20Crit, where she was also a regular guest at Netfreaks podcast. The gruesome 'Blood Eagle' method is a real nasty way to go that' Vikings saw Jarl Borg being killed through the "blood eagle" ritual, and while some texts talk about this method, it might have not been real. Study co-authorsMonte GatesandHeidi Fuller, both medical scientists at Keele University in England, were spurred to investigate the blood eagle by the Vikings series. Experts have long debated whether the blood eagle was a literary trope or an actual punishment. The blood eagle scene was a real parallel to Athelstan's crucifixion. "The victims hands and legs were tied to prevent escape or sudden movements. and gladden the raven.
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