Blood eagle 1102119 222872297 2008-07-01T14:58:54Z Berig 2031364 replaced image with one of higher resolution [[Image:Sacrificial scene on Hammars (I).JPG|thumbnail|334px|A section from the [[Stora Hammar stone]] from [[Gotland]], [[Sweden]]. The illustration shows a man lying on his belly with another man using a weapon on his back. There is a [[Valknut]] above him, and two eagles, one of which is held by a man to the right.]] The '''Blood Eagle''' was reportedly a method of [[torture]] and [[death penalty|execution]] that is sometimes mentioned in [[Norse saga]] literature. It was performed by cutting the ribs of the victim by the [[vertebral column|spine]], breaking the [[rib]]s so they resembled blood-stained wings, and pulling the [[lung]]s out. [[Salt]] was sprinkled in the wounds. Victims of the method of execution, as mentioned in [[skaldic poetry]] and the Norse sagas, are believed to have included King [[Aelle II of Northumbria|Ælla (Ella) of Northumbria]], Halfdan son of King [[Harald I of Norway|Haraldr Hárfagri]] of Norway, King [[Edmund the Martyr|Edmund]], King [[Kings of Munster|Maelgualai]] of Munster, and possibly Archbishop [[Alphege|Ælfheah]]. The act of performing this method of torture is phrased as "to cut the blood eagle". ==Accounts== There are a number of accounts of the practice in Norse sources. ===Orkneyinga saga=== The ''[[Orkneyinga saga]]''[http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/vikingorkney/torfeinar.htm]: ''"Next morning when it was light they went to look for [[wikt:runagate|runagate]] men among the isles if any had got away; and each was slain on the spot as he stood. Then earl [[Einar]] took to saying these words: "I know not what I see in [[Rinansey]], sometimes it lifts itself up, but sometimes it lays itself down, that is either a bird or a man, and we will go to it." There they found Halfdan Long-leg, and Einar made them carve an eagle on his back with a sword, and cut the ribs all from the backbone, and draw the lungs there out, and gave him to Odin for the victory he had won (10) <!-- What's the number mean? --> then Einar sung this:''". ===Norna-Gests þáttr=== ''[[Norna-Gests þáttr]]'', as two stanzas of verse near the end of its section 6 "[[Sigurd]] Felled the Sons of Hunding", where a character describing previous events says: {| | :''Nú er blóðugr örn'' :''breiðum hjörvi'' :''bana Sigmundar'' :''á baki ristinn.'' :''Fár var fremri,'' :''sá er fold rýðr,'' :''hilmis nefi,'' :''ok hugin gladdi.''[http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/nornages.htm] | :Now the blood eagle :With a broad sword :The killer of [[Sigmund]] :Carved on the back. :Fewer were more valiant :As the troops dispersed :A chief of people :Who made the [[raven]] glad. ([http://www.northvegr.org/lore/oldheathen/077.php Hardman's translation]) | |} ===Anglo-Saxon Chronicle=== Some say that the ''[[Anglo-Saxon Chronicle]]'' describes the killing of king [[Aelle II of Northumbria|Ælla]] after a battle for control of [[York]], thus: "They caused the bloody eagle to be carved on the back of Ælla, and they cut away all of the ribs from the spine, and then they ripped out his lungs." <!-- This ref is 404, so commented out [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/heads/footnotes/ivarr02.html]--> ([[Ivar the Boneless]] had captured Ælla, who had killed Ivar's father [[Ragnar Lodbrok]].) But the relevant year of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says merely: :''Her for se here of East Englum ofer Humbre muþan to Eoforwicceastre on Norþhymbre, ⁚ þær wæs micel ungeþuærnes þære þeode betweox him selfum, ⁚ hie hæfdun hiera cyning aworpenne Osbryht, ⁚ ungecyndne cyning underfengon Ællan; ⁚ hie late on geare to þam gecirdon þæt hie wiþ þone here winnende wærun, ⁚ hie þeah micle fierd gegadrodon, ⁚ þone here sohton æt Eoforwicceastre, ⁚ on þa ceastre bræcon, ⁚ hie sume inne wurdon, ⁚ þær was ungemetlic wæl geslægen Norþanhymbra, sume binnan, sume butan; ⁚ þa cyningas begen ofslægene, ⁚ sio laf wiþ þone here friþ nam; ⁚ þy ilcan geare gefor Ealchstan biscep, ⁚ he hæfde þæt bisceprice .l. wintra æt Scireburnan, ⁚ his lic liþ þær on tune.'' :Here the [[Viking]] enemy army went forth from [[East Anglia]] over the mouth of the [[Humber]] to [[York]] town in [[Northumbria]], and there was there great discord of the people among themselves, and they had their king [[Osberht]] overthrown, and accepted a strange king Ælla; and they late in the year turned to fighting against the enemy army, and they gathered a great army, and they sought the enemy army at [[York]], and broke into the town, and some of them got in, and there was an unmeasurable slaughter of Northumbrians, some inside, some outside; and <u>both kings were slain</u>, and the survivors made peace with the enemy army; and in the same year [[bishop]] Ealhstān died, who had the [[bishopric]] 50 winters at [[Sherborne]], and his body lies in the town. ===Knútsdrápa=== Finally, some believe the blood-eagle is referred to by the 11th century poet [[Sigvatr Þórðarson]] who, some time between 1020 and 1038, wrote a skaldic verse named ''[[Knútsdrápa]]'' that recounts and establishes [[Ivarr the Boneless]] as having killed Ella and subsequently carving an eagle onto his back. Sighvatr’s skaldic verse in old Norse: {| | :''Ok Ellu bak,'' :''At lét hinn’s sat,'' :''Ívarr, ara,'' :''Iorví, skorit.''[http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=poems&id=356] | :And Ella’s back, :at had the one who dwelt :Ívarr, with eagle, :York, cut.[http://www.leeds.ac.uk/history/e-journal/Smith.pdf] | |} Skaldic poetry, a common medium of Norse poets, was intentionally meant to be cryptic and allusive therefore the idiomatic nature of Sighvatr's skaldic verse, describing what has become known as the “blood-eagle”, is a matter of historical contention. This is all the truer in this case since, in Norse imagery, the eagle was strongly associated with blood and death. ==Factuality== There has been debate as to the factuality of such accounts. Some credit the [[Gotland Stones]] [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/stone3888.jpg] as archaeological evidence attesting to the factuality of the blood-eagle as presented in Norse literary traditions. Some have suggested that the "blood eagle" was never actually practiced, arguing that such accounts are based upon unsupported [[folklore]] or upon inaccurate [[translation]]s. [[Ronald Hutton]]'s ''The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles: Their Nature and Legacy'' reports 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]] [[mythology|myth]] resulting from the misunderstanding of some older verse." (p 282) Roberta Frank writes in her article, “Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle”, that “By the beginning of the nineteenth century, the various saga motifs - eagle sketch, rib division, lung surgery, and 'saline stimulant' - were combined in inventive sequences designed for maximum horror.” (p 334) She concludes that, reveling in the misdeeds of their pagan predecessors, the saga authors took [[skaldic poetry]] originally intended to made elliptical reference to defeat in battle (causing one's back to be scored by eagles, i.e. killing them and thus turning them into [[carrion]]) along with separate [[martyr]]dom tracts expressing the final tortures of worthy victims in terms reflective of the intended execution of Saint [[Sebastian]] (shot so full of arrows that their ribs and internal organs were exposed) and combined and elaborated them into a grandiose torture and death ritual that never was. If the procedure was performed, the condemned would have died of suffocation very soon after the lungs were pulled out (since breathing occurs via the [[diaphragm (anatomy)|diaphragm]] and chest muscles), and probably lost consciousness due to blood loss and [[Shock (medical)|shock]] before that.{{Fact|date=March 2007}} ==In fiction== *[[Seamus Heaney]] mentions the blood eagle in his work "Viking Dublin: Trial Pieces:" "With a [[butcher]]'s aplomb/ they spread out your lungs/and made you warm wings/for your shoulders." [http://www.bridgew.edu/NEWSEVNT/BridRev/Archives/00Jun/bonehouse.htm] *[[Thomas Harris]] mentions the Blood Eagle in his novel ''[[Hannibal (novel)|Hannibal]]''. When [[Hannibal Lecter]] arrives back in the United States, he murders his 27th victim, a deer hunter, and arranges the corpse like the Blood Eagle. *[[R.A. MacAvoy]] portrays a Blood Eagle performed on a sacrificial victim in the fantasy novel ''Book of Kells''. *[[Alan Moore]] mentions the Blood Eagle in his novel "[[Voice of the Fire]]", in the chapter entitled 'November Saints'. *The Blood Eagle also appears in [[Edward Rutherfurd]]'s novel ''Sarum''. *[[Annie Dillard]]'s novel, ''The Living'' includes the blood eagle. *[[Craig Russell]] has written a detective novel Blood Eagle set in modern day Hamburg involving a serial killer who murders his victims in the style of the Blood Eagle *The [[Night Lords]] [[Chaos Space Marines]] are known to tear open their [[Prisoner of war|POW's]] rib cages and crucify them to their tanks, as described in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] novel ''Nighbringer'' by [[Graham McNeill]]. *In the [[historical novel]] ''[[Conscience of the King (novel)|Conscience of the King]]'' by [[Alfred Duggan]], the main character [[Cerdic of Wessex|Cerdic]] relates how Gertrude, sister of King [[Oisc of Kent]] became pregnant which infuriated Oisc because of the potential threat to his own line. She was consequently branded with the Blood Eagle. <!-- "branded with"? That doesn't seem right - the blood eagle as described is an execution method, not something you can be branded with... --> *Harry Harrison's [[Harry Harrison#The Hammer and the Cross series|Hammer and Cross series]] has at least one character killed by this means. *[[Guy Gavriel Kay]] mentions the Blood Eagle in ''[[The Last Light of the Sun]]''. *There is a historical scene within [[Neil Gaiman]]'s novel, ''[[American Gods]]'', in which several Norse warriors who travel to America seize a Native American brave and perform the Blood Eagle upon him to mark their passage into the New World. *There is a reference to this practice on the website for the film ''[[Pathfinder (2007 film)|Pathfinder]]''. *In the horror film ''[[Saw III]]'', Detective Kerry is killed in a trap similar to The Blood Eagle. *The fantasy novel ''[[The Golden Compass]]'' mentions creatures called the "Breathless Ones", who are essentially living-dead victims of the Blood Eagle. *In the crime fiction ''The Tunnels'' by [[Michelle Gagnon]] at least two of the victims found had the Blood Eagle performed upon them. *In the fantasy novel, ''When Death Birds Fly'' by Andrew J. Offut and Keith Taylor, writing a continuation of Robert E. Howard's Cormac Mac Art character, the blood eagle is used at the end on the main antagonist. * [[David Gibbins]] mentions the Blood Eagle extensively in his book ''Crusader Gold'' in reference to Halfdan son of King [[Haraldr Hárfagri]] of Norway. Also, one of the books characters has the Blood Eagle performed on him. * [[Stephen Baxter]] mentions the blood eagle in his science fiction book ''[[Conqueror (Stephen Baxter)|Conqueror]]'' several times, including a detailed description of the ritual. * [[Mercedes Lackey]] mentions the ritual in her novel ''Burning Water''. In it, the protagonist Diana Tregarde describes it as the act of slicing the victim's back between the ribs and then pulling out the lungs through the slits. The victim is then left to die over a period of "usually hours to days." * The character of Starkad in Robert Low's ''[[Oathsworn|The Wolf Sea]]'' is killed by means of the blood-eagle. ==References== {{reflist}} *Roberta Frank. “Viking Atrocity and Skaldic Verse: The Rite of the Blood-Eagle.” The English Historical Review. Vol. 99, No. 391 Apr., 1984. [[Category:Torture]] [[Category:Execution methods]] [[Category:Viking practices]] [[da:Blodørn]] [[de:Blutaar]] [[eo:Sangaglo]] [[fr:Aigle de sang]] [[nl:Bloedarend]] [[no:Blodørn]] [[nn:Blodørn]] [[sv:Rista blodörn]] [[tr:Kan kartalı]]