Blood-Eagle lines on Thy foe shall be flowing.". The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of. Brutal Blood Eagle Ritual from Viking Legends Is Anatomically Possible 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. "The blood eagle was thus no mere torture: it had meaning," the researchers wrote in the study. Experts havelong debatedwhether the blood eagle was a literary trope or an actual punishment. 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.". The work of scholars is to understand how this violence fit into a complex societyand a new study does just that. Regardless of whether it is fact or legend, performing such a ritual, while challenging, would have been anatomically possible with the tools available at the time, according to the authors ofa recent paper published in the journal Speculum, and would be in keeping with the Vikings' cultural mores. 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. Lists about punishments, penalties, systemic harm, and execution methods used then, now, here, and all around the world. The blood eagle seems to have been a more extreme case of this sort of behaviour conducted only in exceptional circumstances: on a captured prisoner of war who had earlier subjected the. bana Sigmundar 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. "It is clear that a victim undergoing a 'full' blood eagle would have died long before their ribs could have been formed into the shape of wings and their lungs externalized.". Terms of Use There is debate about whether the blood eagle was historically practiced, or whether it was a literary device invented by the authors who transcribed the sagas. You know like an eagle. 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. But one thing is beyond dispute: Either the Vikings were sick individuals, or their conquerors had a sick imagination. Ritual torture like the blood eagle dehumanized by literally transforming man into an animal. had Ellas back 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. Their findings indicate, for instance, that torturers may have used spears with shallow hooks to unzip the ribs from the spinea conclusion that could explain the presence of a spear inone of the few(possible) medieval visual depictions of the ritual. Per the authors, "holding a sharpened blade parallel to the underlying muscle layer, while making long cutting incisions just superficial to the muscles" would have made it possible to remove the outer skin and muscle. The answer is complex. Horrifying Viking 'Blood Eagle' torture method WAS - The Sun 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 conventional term for this ancient form of persecutionrefers to eagles, though it has also been historicallyassociated with owls. Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study finds But victims would have died long before the torturous execution concluded. Jennifer Ouellette - 1/10/2022, 11:22 AM. Frithiof's Sagamentions that the methodcould be called "Blood Owl," a term used by later antiquarians and authors who wrote about the Vikings. 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. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. 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. 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. kinsmen of kings, 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. David M. Perry who dwelt at York, Next, take an axe there's nothing about sharpening it first and use the axe to hew the victim's ribs from the spine. The Vikings may have performed the "Blood Eagle" or "Butterfly Cut" cracking the victim's ribs from the back and pulling out his lungs, and spreading them out like wings behind him. Cookie Policy The Portal for Public History. In this case, we're talking about a nifty little procedure called the blood eagle execution. The Disturbing Truth About The Vikings' Blood Eagle Execution. 2010 The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. 10 Methods Of Execution For Utah That Are Way More Fun Than FiringSquads. The use of salt was later adopted by writers; they described the process as a "saline stimulant" intended to inflict additional pain and suffering, usually applied before the lungs were spread. Ivar the Boneless: The truth behind the famous viking - History 101 The research team also stated that the ritual was 'consistent with the Viking . 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. 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. who rule land The gruesome 'Blood Eagle' method is a real nasty way to go that' had Ella's back Dreamstime is the world`s largest stock photography community. 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. Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study When she's not writing, you can find her trying to learn a new language, watching hockey (go Avs! Jennifer lives in Baltimore with her spouse, physicist Sean M. Carroll, and their two cats, Ariel and Caliban. David M. Perry is the co-author ofThe Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe. The debate among historians about whether or not the Blood Eagle actually occurred continues. 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. Study co-authorsMonte GatesandHeidi Fuller, both medical scientists at Keele University in England, were spurred to investigate the blood eagle by the Vikings series. 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). No contemporary accounts of the rite exist, and the scant references in the sagas are several hundred years after the Christianization of Scandinavia. Was its inclusion in Viking sagas part of Christian propaganda meant to depict the Scandinavian pagans as heathens? He dedicated the victim to Odin as a victory offering.. Matthew Gabriele Founded in 2010, Thought Catalog is owned and operated by The Thought & Expression Company, Inc. For over a decade, we've been at the bleeding edge of media, pioneering an infrastructure for creatives to flourish both artistically and financially. Was Wyatt Earp a brave, courageous, bold lawman, or a pimp? 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. Ragnar performs theblrn (blood eagle) on Borg, a gruesome process of ritualized torture and execution allegedly carried out during the Viking Age (c. 7501050). Thorbjrn Harr played Jarl Borg of Gtaland in the first two seasons of the History Channel series. Blood Eagle: The Grisly Torture Method Of The Vikings - All That's 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. Some references to the torture are terse. 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. New research reveals the feasibility of the infamous execution method. Behind the scenes pictures of blood eagle execution of king Aelle from the TV series VIKINGSMusic by: Bensound.com 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. 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). Severing the ribs was a trickier task particularly if the lungs needed to remain undamaged, as hacking at them with a sword or sawing with a serrated knife would have likely torn or punctured the lung tissue. Breakfast food is life and coffee is what makes the world go round. Then we come to various rituals and rites that don't involve reciting sagas and drinking a lot. There are two sources that purport to describe Torf-Einarr's ritual execution of Harald Fairhair's son, Halfdan Long-Leg, in the late 9th century. ok hugin gladdi.[12]. Some precision is called for here, since . Nec vulnus impressisse contenti, laceratam salivere carnem. Find Blood Eagle stock photos and editorial news pictures from Getty Images. cut with [an] eagle. 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. | Use them in commercial designs under lifetime, perpetual & worldwide rights. hilmis nefi, ar fundu eir Hlfdan hlegg, ok lt Einarr rsta rn baki honum me sveri, ok skera rifin ll fr hrygginum ok draga ar t lngun, ok gaf hann ni til sigrs sr. While dissecting a living human body in this way was within the realm of possibility, surviving such torture was not. 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.