this post was submitted on 01 Jan 2026
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Ooh, did you read Grágás? It's a shockingly entertaining read for a legal code. The section on Wergild is great, and you can learn a lot about the attitudes the Icelanders held toward different behaviours. Also, it strongly implies that there were at least a few people in Iceland who were training polar bears (which they must have either imported from Greenland, or found stranded on passing ice floes), and those trainers must have lobbied pretty hard, because it was specifically illegal to import trained brown bears from Norway.
There are a lot of gems in there. Simultaneously insightful and very metal.
Honestly, it has been so long. I cannot remember that one in particular so I assume not. We were looking mainly with the continent and Rome. Here are the two textbooks I remember (and still have!):