In Viking Society their families were the most important group of people. With this Vikings made decisions
based on the wellbeing of their families. If their was a disagreement between two families the "thing" ( which is a group of freeman that discussed matters of importance. They were both law courts and local councils) would make a decision based on the evidence that was presented to them. In coming to their decision they would sometimes make people undergo different ordeals to assure they were telling the truth. One of the ordeals that they were made to do was to pick up stones that were submerged in boiling water. After they picked up all of the stones from the boiling water they would badage the persons hands and leave it for a period of time. When the took the bandage of after the period of time if it was completely healed then they were telling the truth, if they were not healed then they were lying. |