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The Infographics Show, The Blood Eagle - Worst Punishments in the History of Mankind

The Blood Eagle - Worst Punishments in the History of Mankind

Try and put yourself in this position for a moment.

You're a king in 9th century medieval England and you've been attacked and overrun by

rather fearsome Viking hordes who've made the trip to kill and pillage, in that order.

You've been told you're going to be executed, and so you wait in some kind of tent wondering

how that's going to play out.

What usually happens on your home turf is offenders go to the chopping block.

You think, ok, it'll be quick and painless, I'll say my prayers and that'll be that.

I'm a martyr, heaven will be good to me.

But you underestimate the brutal creativity of your foes.

You soon find out you're going to have your ribs and lungs pulled through your back to

be turned into a kind of winged creature.

Damn, that's going to be rough, you think.

That's the blood eagle in short, but we'll add a bit more to the description of this

nasty Viking execution procedure.

First, the person is laid on their chest with their back facing in the air.

Perhaps if the victim hadn't been told what was going to happen they might have thought

they were going to lose their head, as was the custom in Anglo-Saxon England.

We can't be sure if they were told or not, because there's nothing in Viking literature

that tells us so.

We also presume they were held down by a few people, or tied down.

These bits are missing in the old texts.

So, the person is lying on their front, waiting.

This form of execution was a kind of ritual, so no doubt it would have happened in a special

place and would have been observed by a lot of Viking men.

The naked victim is then approached by an executioner with a very sharp knife, or something

bigger, like an axe.

In some cases he might have had an eagle carved into his skin.

This was merely an aperitif.

With that knife he then tears through the flesh in the man's back, with so much power

that he actually severs the ribs.

Those ribs are pulled and stretched outwards, like wings.

The piece de resistance is when the man's lungs are pulled through his back and wrapped

over the rib-wings.

This procedure was supposed to give more of an impression of a bird's wings, hence the

blood eagle.

It sounds too bad to be true, so how do we know this actually happened?

Well, during the Viking Age they had poets, as many old cultures did back then.

This was called skaldic poetry.

These poems would become parts of Sagas, stories which detailed things such as Viking invasions,

the legends of great kings, bloody battles, etc.

Some of these stories have survived and they have been translated.

There is a story called the “Orkneyinga saga”, and this details the exploits of

a guy named Harald I Fairhair, who is said to have been the first king of Norway.

He is credited with being the ruler when the Vikings took over the Northern Isles of Orkney

and Shetland.

If you don't know where they are, and we don't expect most of you will, they are

north of Scotland, but sets of islands, not on the mainland.

If you didn't know, a group of islands is called an archipelago.

See, we are not just about describing blood and gore.

The saga details life on these isles.

Some scholars might question if what is written actually went down, because the saga was written

many years after King Harald was around.

It was written in the 13th century, but the Vikings were there since the 9th century.

Word of mouth might have passed down the details.

Anyway, to cut a short story even shorter, one of Harold's warrior sons named Halfdan

Long-Leg was executed because he'd been involved in power struggles and had killed

a member of Viking nobility and another 60 men.

He'd done this with his brother.

That brother was banished from Orkney but the mastermind of the operation didn't get

so lucky.

The son of the slain nobleman got his revenge and demanded the blood eagle be performed

on Halfdan Long-Leg as a sacrifice to the God Odin.

This is how it has been translated: “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.”

That's case one.

Case two involves a formidable Viking warrior named Ivar the Boneless, who is said to have

been the son of the Norse hero, Ragnar Loðbrok.

Why “boneless” you might ask, and historians have wondered the same thing.

Some think that he wasn't actually boneless, but that his manhood didn't work very well.

What he lacked in physically he made up for in brains, because it's said he was an outstanding

tactician in battle.

This is a time when the Vikings were taking over large parts of Anglo-Saxon England, and

it's detailed in the saga called the “Tale of Ragnar's sons.”

It depicts what went down with the 9th century king Ælla of Northumbria.

That's northern England.

King Ælla learns about an upcoming invasion by the great Ragnar Loðbrok.

There are different accounts of what he got up to and how he died, but one such account…er,

SPOILER ALERT, IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED WATCHING THE SHOW VIKINGS PLUG YOUR EARS NOW…is he

is captured by King Ælla and thrown into a snake pit.

There he perishes.

Ivar the Boneless is too clever to invade northern England when the army there is so

strong.

He bides his time.

In fact, he stays in England but asks King Ælla for something called a “wergild”,

which is a kind of compensation for a man's life, in this case his father's.

He tells Ælla that all he wants is an Ox's hide, and he will take only the land that

he can stretch the hide around.

In modern parlance, Ælla might have thought, what an idiot, but smart Ivar cut the hide

into very thin string and stretched that around a large area.

He said this will be a new city, and that city is now supposed to be York in northern

England.

Ivar then proceeds to get all the chieftains in that region on his side.

He has a powerful army now and so decides it's time to attack the rest of England

and get revenge on Ælla.

Many of the northern English pledge allegiance to Ivar because they respect him, which sounds

a bit like Norse propaganda.

This all ended with Ælla being captured and Ivar becoming king of North-eastern England.

His brothers basically go on a pillaging rampage in England and all over Europe.

Ælla meanwhile is about to get the dreaded blood eagle treatment and in an 11th century

poem this is how it went down, in translation: “And Ívarr, the one, who dwelt at York,

had Ella's back, cut with an eagle.”

That's a rather family-friendly description of events.

But we have another description, too, if your blood-lust wasn't satiated.

It went like this, “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.”

Ok, so did all this actually happen?

Well, who knows, because any historian that tells you it's the truth or not the truth

can't really be sure, either.

They weren't there.

Some scholars say that Norse poets like modern poets were cryptic, used symbolism, and so

weren't always literal.

Saying that, in the 12th century a Danish poet named Saxo Grammaticus also wrote about

people being cut apart and turned into an eagle, so there definitely seems to be a theme

being shared in those dark days.

In that account the Vikings took the ritual a step further and poured salt into the opened

body.

Some say it might have happened and others seem to think a lot has been lost in translation

over the years.

You see, the writers of sagas wrote that stuff hundreds of years after the fact.

As you know yourself, things tend to get exaggerated over the passage of time.

What starts as some guy pushing another in a train station can by the end of the week

be a bloody brawl where someone lost teeth and an eye.

A hero might also emerge from the mayhem.

Did those stories of Viking violence get embellished since people admired them and so stretched

the ferocity of the Vikings?

Or were they accurate?

We just don't know, but it's a fact the blood eagle was talked about a bit.

Scholars are still in disagreement today, but in the interests of this show, we won't

ask you to let the facts get in the way of a good tale.

You must be feeling a bit worn out after hearing about this horrendous kind of execution and

sacrifice, or do you want more.

Now we'll offer you two choices, more death or some happiness.

You make the choice, either “Strangest Ways People Died” or “Top 20 Happiest Countries

to Live In The World.”

Learn languages from TV shows, movies, news, articles and more! Try LingQ for FREE

The Blood Eagle - Worst Punishments in the History of Mankind ||||Наказания||||| वह||||||||| |||||||||human history نسر الدم - أسوأ العقوبات في تاريخ البشرية Der Blutadler - Die schlimmsten Bestrafungen in der Geschichte der Menschheit The Blood Eagle - Οι χειρότερες τιμωρίες στην ιστορία της ανθρωπότητας El Águila de Sangre - Los peores castigos de la historia de la humanidad L'aigle de sang - Les pires châtiments de l'histoire de l'humanité L'aquila di sangue - Le peggiori punizioni nella storia dell'umanità ブラッド・イーグル - 人類史上最悪の刑罰 블러드 이글 - 인류 역사상 최악의 형벌 Kruvinasis erelis - baisiausios bausmės žmonijos istorijoje De Bloedarend - Ergste straffen in de geschiedenis van de mensheid Krwawy Orzeł - Najgorsze kary w historii ludzkości A Águia de Sangue - Os piores castigos da história da humanidade Кровавый орел - худшее наказание в истории человечества Kan Kartalı - İnsanlık Tarihinin En Kötü Cezaları Кривавий орел - найстрашніші покарання в історії людства 血鹰——人类历史上最严厉的惩罚 血鷹-人類史上最嚴厲的懲罰

Try and put yourself in this position for a moment. कोशिश करें|और||खुद को|||||| حاول وضع نفسك في هذا الوضع للحظة.

You're a king in 9th century medieval England and you've been attacked and overrun by ||||||средневековой|||||||захвачен врагами| |||||||||||||conquered by| |||||||||||||制圧された| أنت ملك في إنجلترا في القرن التاسع في العصور الوسطى وقد تعرضت للهجوم والتغلب عليك

rather fearsome Viking hordes who've made the trip to kill and pillage, in that order. довольно|страшные||орды викингов||||||||грабить и убивать||| |terrifying||||||||||loot and plunder||| |恐ろしい||群れ||||||||略奪する||| bastante|||||||||||||| بالأحرى جحافل الفايكنج المخيفة الذين قاموا برحلة القتل والنهب ، بهذا الترتيب.

You've been told you're going to be executed, and so you wait in some kind of tent wondering |||||||казнён|||||||||палатка|размышляя |||||||処刑される|||||||||| Você foi||||||||||||||||| لقد قيل لك إنك ستُعدم ، ولذا تنتظر في خيمة ما تتساءل You've been told you're going to be executed, and so you wait in some kind of tent wondering

how that's going to play out.

What usually happens on your home turf is offenders go to the chopping block. ||||||home territory||||||execution block| ||||||地元||犯罪者||||処刑台| ||||||||||||tribunal de justiça| Как правило, на родной территории нарушители отправляются на разделку.

You think, ok, it'll be quick and painless, I'll say my prayers and that'll be that.

I'm a martyr, heaven will be good to me. ||sufferer for cause|||||| ||mártir||||||

But you underestimate the brutal creativity of your foes. ||||||||enemies ||||残酷な||||敵

You soon find out you're going to have your ribs and lungs pulled through your back to |||||||||chest bones|||||||

be turned into a kind of winged creature. ||||||capable of flight|

Damn, that's going to be rough, you think. |||||difícil||

That's the blood eagle in short, but we'll add a bit more to the description of this

nasty Viking execution procedure. 残酷な|||

First, the person is laid on their chest with their back facing in the air. ||||deitado||||||||||

Perhaps if the victim hadn't been told what was going to happen they might have thought

they were going to lose their head, as was the custom in Anglo-Saxon England.

We can't be sure if they were told or not, because there's nothing in Viking literature ||||||||||||||literatura vikinga|

that tells us so.

We also presume they were held down by a few people, or tied down. ||assume||||||||||| ||推測する||||||||||| |||||mantidos||||||||

These bits are missing in the old texts. |fragmentos||||||

So, the person is lying on their front, waiting. ||||deitado||||

This form of execution was a kind of ritual, so no doubt it would have happened in a special Такая форма казни была своего рода ритуалом, поэтому, несомненно, она должна была происходить в специальном

place and would have been observed by a lot of Viking men. место, за которым должно было наблюдать множество людей из племени викингов.

The naked victim is then approached by an executioner with a very sharp knife, or something ||||||||処刑人||||||| |||||é abordada||||||||||

bigger, like an axe.

In some cases he might have had an eagle carved into his skin. |||||||||彫られた|||

This was merely an aperitif. ||||appetizer drink ||単なる||前菜

With that knife he then tears through the flesh in the man's back, with so much power ||||||||body tissue|||||||| |||||rasga|||||||||||

that he actually severs the ribs. |||cuts off|| |||||肋骨 |||||as costelas

Those ribs are pulled and stretched outwards, like wings. ||||||away from center|| |||esticadas||esticadas|para fora||asas

The piece de resistance is when the man's lungs are pulled through his back and wrapped |||resistance|||||Pulmonary organs|||||||

over the rib-wings.

This procedure was supposed to give more of an impression of a bird's wings, hence the

blood eagle.

It sounds too bad to be true, so how do we know this actually happened?

Well, during the Viking Age they had poets, as many old cultures did back then. |||||||詩人|||||||

This was called skaldic poetry. |||Norse bardic| |||スカルディック|

These poems would become parts of Sagas, stories which detailed things such as Viking invasions, ||||||Epic narratives||||||||

the legends of great kings, bloody battles, etc.

Some of these stories have survived and they have been translated.

There is a story called the “Orkneyinga saga”, and this details the exploits of |||||||Orkneyinga tale|||||heroic deeds| ||||||オークニー王国||||||業績|

a guy named Harald I Fairhair, who is said to have been the first king of Norway. ||||||||||||||||Noruega

He is credited with being the ruler when the Vikings took over the Northern Isles of Orkney ||attributed|||||||||||||| ||称賛されて||||||||||||||

and Shetland. および|

If you don't know where they are, and we don't expect most of you will, they are

north of Scotland, but sets of islands, not on the mainland. ||||||||||mainland Scotland

If you didn't know, a group of islands is called an archipelago. |||||||||||group of islands

See, we are not just about describing blood and gore. |||||||||violence brutality |||||||||内臓の血 Видите ли, мы не просто описываем кровь и кровопролитие.

The saga details life on these isles.

Some scholars might question if what is written actually went down, because the saga was written |scholars||||||||||||||

many years after King Harald was around. спустя много лет после того, как король Харальд стал жить.

It was written in the 13th century, but the Vikings were there since the 9th century.

Word of mouth might have passed down the details.

Anyway, to cut a short story even shorter, one of Harold's warrior sons named Halfdan de qualquer forma||resumir||||||||||||

Long-Leg was executed because he'd been involved in power struggles and had killed Длиннонога казнили за то, что он участвовал в борьбе за власть и убил

a member of Viking nobility and another 60 men. ||||nobility|||

He'd done this with his brother.

That brother was banished from Orkney but the mastermind of the operation didn't get |||expelled||||||||||

so lucky.

The son of the slain nobleman got his revenge and demanded the blood eagle be performed ||||killed or murdered||||||||||| ||||殺された|貴族||||||||||

on Halfdan Long-Leg as a sacrifice to the God Odin.

This is how it has been translated: “Earl Einarr went up to Halfdan and cut esto||||||||||||||

the ‘blood eagle' on his back, in this fashion that he thrust his sword into his |||||||||||forcefully pushed|||| ||||||||de maneira|||||||

chest by the backbone and severed all the ribs down to the loins, and then pulled out |||||cut off|||||||lower back area|||| peito||||||||||||||||

the lungs; and that was Halfdan's death.”

That's case one. Это первый случай.

Case two involves a formidable Viking warrior named Ivar the Boneless, who is said to have ||||恐ろしい|||||||||||

been the son of the Norse hero, Ragnar Loðbrok.

Why “boneless” you might ask, and historians have wondered the same thing. |without bones||||||||||

Some think that he wasn't actually boneless, but that his manhood didn't work very well. ||||||||||masculinity||||

What he lacked in physically he made up for in brains, because it's said he was an outstanding |||||||||||||||||exceptional person ||faltava-lhe|||||||||||||||

tactician in battle. battle strategist||

This is a time when the Vikings were taking over large parts of Anglo-Saxon England, and

it's detailed in the saga called the “Tale of Ragnar's sons.”

It depicts what went down with the 9th century king Ælla of Northumbria. |shows||||||||||| На ней изображено, что произошло с королем IX века Эллой из Нортумбрии.

That's northern England.

King Ælla learns about an upcoming invasion by the great Ragnar Loðbrok.

There are different accounts of what he got up to and how he died, but one such account…er,

SPOILER ALERT, IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED WATCHING THE SHOW VIKINGS PLUG YOUR EARS NOW…is he |warning||||||||||||||

is captured by King Ælla and thrown into a snake pit. ||||||lançado ao||||

There he perishes. ||meets his end allí||

Ivar the Boneless is too clever to invade northern England when the army there is so |||||forte demais||||||||||

strong.

He bides his time. |waits for||

In fact, he stays in England but asks King Ælla for something called a “wergild”, ||||||||||||||man-price

which is a kind of compensation for a man's life, in this case his father's.

He tells Ælla that all he wants is an Ox's hide, and he will take only the land that |||||||||||||||||a terra| Él|||||||||||||||||| Он говорит Илле, что ему нужна только шкура вола, и он возьмет только ту землю, которую

he can stretch the hide around. ||esticar a pele||a pele| он может растянуть шкуру вокруг.

In modern parlance, Ælla might have thought, what an idiot, but smart Ivar cut the hide ||modern language usage|||||||||||||animal skin

into very thin string and stretched that around a large area. |||fio fino|||||||

He said this will be a new city, and that city is now supposed to be York in northern

England.

Ivar then proceeds to get all the chieftains in that region on his side. ||moves|||||local leaders||||||

He has a powerful army now and so decides it's time to attack the rest of England

and get revenge on Ælla.

Many of the northern English pledge allegiance to Ivar because they respect him, which sounds |||||swear loyalty to|loyalty to Ivar|||||||| Многие северные англичане присягают на верность Ивару, потому что уважают его, что звучит так

a bit like Norse propaganda. |||Viking-era|

This all ended with Ælla being captured and Ivar becoming king of North-eastern England.

His brothers basically go on a pillaging rampage in England and all over Europe. ||||||looting and raiding|violent spree||||||

Ælla meanwhile is about to get the dreaded blood eagle treatment and in an 11th century |||||||feared|||||||| |||||||temida punição|||tratamento do águ||||a águia de|

poem this is how it went down, in translation: “And Ívarr, the one, who dwelt at York, ||||||went||||||||lived in York||

had Ella's back, cut with an eagle.” |possessive form of Ella|||||

That's a rather family-friendly description of events.

But we have another description, too, if your blood-lust wasn't satiated. |||||||||desire for violence||satisfied

It went like this, “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.” ||||||||||||||||pulmões

Ok, so did all this actually happen?

Well, who knows, because any historian that tells you it's the truth or not the truth

can't really be sure, either.

They weren't there.

Some scholars say that Norse poets like modern poets were cryptic, used symbolism, and so ||||||||||obscure||symbolic meaning||

weren't always literal.

Saying that, in the 12th century a Danish poet named Saxo Grammaticus also wrote about

people being cut apart and turned into an eagle, so there definitely seems to be a theme |||separated|||||||||||||

being shared in those dark days.

In that account the Vikings took the ritual a step further and poured salt into the opened

body.

Some say it might have happened and others seem to think a lot has been lost in translation

over the years. ao longo||

You see, the writers of sagas wrote that stuff hundreds of years after the fact.

As you know yourself, things tend to get exaggerated over the passage of time. ||||||||inflated|||||

What starts as some guy pushing another in a train station can by the end of the week |||||empurrando||||||||||||

be a bloody brawl where someone lost teeth and an eye. |||violent fight||||||| |||||||dentes|||

A hero might also emerge from the mayhem. |||||||chaos and disorder

Did those stories of Viking violence get embellished since people admired them and so stretched |||||||exaggerated|||||||

the ferocity of the Vikings? |savagery|||

Or were they accurate?

We just don't know, but it's a fact the blood eagle was talked about a bit.

Scholars are still in disagreement today, but in the interests of this show, we won't

ask you to let the facts get in the way of a good tale.

You must be feeling a bit worn out after hearing about this horrendous kind of execution and ||||||exhausted||||||terrible shocking brutal||||

sacrifice, or do you want more.

Now we'll offer you two choices, more death or some happiness.

You make the choice, either “Strangest Ways People Died” or “Top 20 Happiest Countries

to Live In The World.”