Been working on a side project for about a week. I was serious about writing a book for teens about gross stuff from history. The first section is about torture devices and execution methods. Here is the first chapter. Check it out!
Ok, let’s get one thing clear right now, the Vikings may be the most misunderstood and misinterpreted group of people to ever grace the earth. Popular culture would have you believe that they were nothing but mead swilling, horn helmet wearing heathens from the north countries. While they did enjoy copious amounts of mead, they did not have horned helmets and they weren’t a group of unwashed heathens. The Vikings actually had quite the sophisticated society that used their knowledge and ingenuity to conqueror most of the British Isles. Now, there are many great books about Viking history that I encourage you to check out if you are into a deeper history, for the sake of this book I am only going to discuss the absolutely bonkers way in which they executed hated enemies.
“The Blood Eagle” has to be the most insane execution method I have researched for this book. There are not many historical examples of it being used, but the practice was so terrifying that I think the Vikings made their point.
The most famous example of the “Blood Eagle” appeared in the 11th century writing of Sigvat Tordarson. The Vikings were super-proud of their conquests of Britain and wrote a multitude of tales and poems about their conquests, and the conquest of the city of York ranked right up there. This really hardcore Viking named Ivar the Boneless (I love Viking names) decided that he needed to avenge his father. See guys, his father was a moron and thought that he could conquer the British land of Northumbria with a small fleet of Vikings, when the attack failed, Ivar’s dad, Ragnar Hairy Breeches( I really love Viking names) was executed by poison snake bites by the King Aella.
As you can imagine, having your dad thrown into a pit of poisonous snakes kind of ticked Ivar the Boneless just a smidge. He vows revenge and all that nice stuff and takes off for the City of York to implant a Viking axe into the head of Aella.
Aella and his men could not hold off the massive Viking onslaught on the city of York and he eventually capitulated. Once he was captured, Ivar saw his opportunity to avenge his father. Ivar ordered that Aella be sacrificed to Odin in the horrific “Blood Eagle”. The practice was barbaric and totally disgusting to watch, but the Vikings saw it as a necessary sacrifice to their God Odin. The enraged and psychotic Vikings would bound and tie Aella to a tree or face down on a plank of wood, the sources are sketchy on that aspect. The executioner then carved the shape of eagle wings into the back of Aella as he screamed in utter horror and pain. Then the real work began, the executioner then ribbed into his flesh and broke his ribs one by one and slowly and methodically pulled Aella’s lungs out from his back, laying them outstretched in the perfect parody of wings. All of this would still not kill Aella immediately, he suffered through the entire process and only died when he suffocated with his lungs exposed. Yea, the Vikings really didn’t mess around when they had revenge on their minds.
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