blood eagle real life photo

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. 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. 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. A typical Iron Age fighting knife would have been ideal for this purpose. 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. TheSagagoes on to explain thatthe Earl Einarsubjected Hdlfddnto the Blood Eaglebecause he had killed the Earl's father. 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 life span of eagles in the wild is generally around 30 years. 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. 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. Borg doesn't get an easy death when his schemes ultimately fail and he is captured. s er fold rr, In this case, we're talking about a nifty little procedure called the blood eagle execution. David M. Perry is a freelance journalist covering politics, history, education, and disability rights. Gillis observation builds on the earlier work of scholar Valentin Groebner, who wrote in 2004 that terror tends to disorient. Violence (and how that violence was portrayed) in the European Middle Ages was a way of making meaning, of rendering visible important ideas that had previously remained unseen. 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. Was Wyatt Earp a brave, courageous, bold lawman, or a pimp? 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. 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. 2023 Smithsonian Magazine 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. Others note that the early references occurred centuries after Scandinavia had been Christianized and that the Blood Eagle was merely a propagandist myth used by Christians to make the pagan Vikings appear subhuman. 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. Others are more graphic, aligning with the extreme versions depicted in contemporary popular culture. The blood eagle was a method of ritually executing a chosen member as detailed in late skaldic poetry.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". The blood eagle scene was a real parallel to Athelstan's crucifixion. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. [17], Ronald Hutton's The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy states that "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. 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In fact, he might have survived the first stage, although probably not in silence, since the removal of the soft tissue from the back would have been excruciating. These representations take their cue from medieval sources written in both Old Norse and Latin. She is an Audiovisual Communication graduate who wanted to be a filmmaker, but life had other plans (and it turned out great). Vikings from different areas had slightly different methods. 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. 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). 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. 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. The Blood Eagle - Worst Punishments in the History of Mankind The Infographics Show 12.9M subscribers Join Subscribe 104K Share Save 4.7M views 3 years ago We're back with another worst. "The blood eagle was thus no mere torture: it had meaning," the researchers wrote in the study. 2012, Sigvatr rarson. Archaeologists have never found human remains that display signs of having endured this ritual. 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. She suggests that these tales of martyrdom inspired further exaggeration of the misunderstood skaldic verses into a grandiose torture and death rite with no actual historic basis. 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. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. For Ivarr the Boneless, the feared Viking portrayed in Assassins Creed: Valhalla, the Old Norse Kntsdrpa simply says, And varr, who ruled at York, had llas back cut with an eagle. (This succinct description has led some scholars to posit that an actual eagle was used to slice open the Northumbrian kings back.) Free or royalty-free photos and images. Thus, the blood eagle was manifested in all its gory glory. 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.". Other sources detail the practice more fully. Carved on the back. 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. Theres nothing about severing the ribs from the spine or pulling the lungs over the exposed ribsthose details would be piled on, one-by-one, over the coming years. 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. This, in turn, led to a more nuanced discussion of not only what could have happened, but how and why. The Vietnam War Crimes You Never Heard Of. See more at profgabriele.com. 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 Halfdans death. In the Orkneyinga saga, the blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to Odin. 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. 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. With a broad sword The Disturbing Truth About The Vikings' Blood Eagle Execution. The victim had become a slimy, bloody bird. 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. "Class War" is Back in the Headlines. who rule land Some precision is called for here, since they're supposed to be removed one at a time. 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. Next, take an axe there's nothing about sharpening it first and use the axe to hew the victim's ribs from the spine. 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. Heimskringla/Harald Harfager's Saga#Halfdan Haleg's Death. New York, Adrienne Tyler is a features writer for Screen Rant. DOI: Speculum, 2021. "Therefore any attempts to reshape the ribs into 'wings' or remove the lungs would have been performed on a corpse. Ritual torture like the blood eagle dehumanized by literally transforming man into an animal. Answers must be in-depth and comprehensive, or they will be removed. The Norse god Odin was traditionally the recipient of Blood Eagle sacrifices before and after battles. As Murphy explains, 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. Thats been the case for quite a while, he adds: 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 in order to emphasize the barbarity of the past and civilized nature of their own time. 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' The work of scholars is to understand how this violence fit into a complex societyand a new study does just that. Depends on who you ask. (Warning: some graphic anatomical descriptions follow.). 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). It was great. at, lt, hinns sat, lla and Edmund were both victims of Ivar the Boneless. This method is mentioned in The Tale of Ragnars sons, in which Ivar the Boneless captured King Aelle and sentenced him to die by blood eagle as he was responsible for Ragnars death. Jrvk, skorit.[9]. | READ MORE. A Note to our Readers 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. Matthew Gabriele is a professor of medieval studies and chair of the Department of Religion & Culture at Virginia Tech. A BRUTAL Viking torture ritual rubbished by researchers may have actually been a thing, according to a new study. This ritual appears in two instances in Norse literature and they coincide in the victims being noblemen, just like Jarl Borg, though in these cases the executions were in retaliation for the murder of a father. In our forthcoming book, The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe, we show clearly how the Vikings were savvy traders who rode camels into Baghdad and explorers who settled new lands across the Atlantic. There are two stanzas of verse near the end of its section6, "Sigurd Felled the Sons of Hunding", where a character describing previous events says:[12][13], N er blugr rn baki ristinn. Gruesome Viking "blood eagle" ritual is anatomically possible, study finds But victims would have died long before the torturous execution concluded. Find Blood Eagle stock images in HD and millions of other royalty-free stock photos, illustrations and vectors in the Shutterstock collection. 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. 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. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. The killer of Sigmund 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. Frithiof's Sagamentions that the methodcould be called "Blood Owl," a term used by later antiquarians and authors who wrote about the Vikings. 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. So, the Vikings were ocean-going, artistic, sadistic, and consistent. 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. 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. 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. 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). Some believed that the brutal rite resulted from . Always loved the ending of Midsommar for the Blood Eagle. The blood eagle is a method of execution detailed in late skaldic poetry. The Vikings rubbed salt on the wound to make things more painful and pulled the victim's lungs over their shoulders. 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.". In order to perform the full legendary ritual, the executioner would be faced with obstruction from the shoulder blades and deeper back muscles and would hence need to sever the trapezius muscle and the underlying levator scapulae muscle in order to expose the ribs. I watched midsommar last night, and it is full of nordic tropes. [11], Another possible oblique reference to the rite appears in Norna-Gests ttr. The research team also stated that the ritual was 'consistent with the Viking . The blood eagle is described as a sacrifice to the Norse god Odin, who is referenced throughout the Vikings series. The killing of lla, after a battle for control of York, is described thus: They caused the bloody eagle to be carved on the back of lla, and they cut away all of the ribs from the spine, and then they ripped out his lungs. There was a time when George Custer was a genuine American hero; now, not so much. They then looked at weapons from that era, to see how diverse blades might have been used for a task so laborious and grisly. Then we come to various rituals and rites that don't involve reciting sagas and drinking a lot. Here's your blood eagle how-to, as related by Smithsonian Magazine: First, fasten the victim, face-down, and carve the image of an eagle, wings outstretched, on the victim's back. Ragnar performs theblrn (blood eagle) on Borg, a gruesome process of ritualized torture and execution allegedly carried out during the Viking Age (c. 7501050). ok hugin gladdi.[12]. Answer (1 of 6): The jury is still out on this one. Supposedly, this was reserved for the worst of the worst criminals, like someone who murdered his parents , but there is some question as to whether or not the . The lungs would also likely have collapsed by this point into compact tissue about the size of a fist. The blood eagle was a method of ritually executing a chosen member as detailed in late skaldic poetry. What I've been wanting to know is if anyone has information about the torture method known as the blood eagle. 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 word translated "raven" is not hrafn but hugin, the personal name of one of Odin's ravens.). Her videos about dinosaurs, astrophysics, biodiversity and evolution appear in museums and science centers worldwide, earning awards such as the CINE Golden Eagle and the Communicator Award of Excellence. Blood-Eagle lines on Thy foe shall be flowing.". ("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. The show led them to medieval sagas, which opened up further questions and made them realize they needed to consult a historian. 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. Most historians believe the ritual was real, and was performed more than once, usually on someone at least somewhat royal specifically lla, King of Northumbria, in 867, as well as King Maelgualai of Munster, Ireland, and Haldn, son of Harald Finehair, King of Norway. 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. 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. The blood eagle was an execution method done by the Vikings of Scandinavia. This worked doubly well for the Victorians as a means of demonstrating the superiority of the native English over the Viking invaders. The Icelandic ritual is the most commonly used in television and film, seeing as it is recognized as being the most painful. The bones and skin are then peeled back, to sort of kind of make them look like wings. According to Saxo Grammaticus'sGesta Danorum, after the previously detailed mutilation, the flesh was rubbed with salt. by 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. Get the latest History stories in your inbox? 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. The Heimskringla Saga from 1230 describes the same alleged incident: 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. "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.". 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.

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