The edict was issued in 1615 after a storm destroyed three Basque whaling vessels on an expedition in Iceland. Eighty members of the crew survived, said Gudmundsson, and were left stranded in the area. “They had nothing to eat, and there were accounts of them robbing people and farmers,” he said.

The brewing conflict between locals and the whalers prompted then-sheriff Ari Magnússon to draw up a decree that allowed Basques to be killed with impunity in the district. In the weeks that followed, more than 30 Basques were killed in raids led by the sheriff and local farmers. “It’s one of the darkest chapters of our history,” said Gudmundsson, noting that the incident known as the Slaying of the Spaniards ranks among the country’s bloodiest massacres.

Four centuries later, Gudmundsson decided it was time to set right the wrongs of history. Last week, at the unveiling of a memorial dedicated to the Basque whalers who were killed, he repealed the decree. “This decision was made 400 years ago and it has never formally been repealed until now.”

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 months ago (5 children)

This is horrible but I can't help but laugh. "Okay, about 80 people are stuck here because their ships ran aground last night. No one knows they're here, so they have no way to leave unless we help them, so the logical decision here is to simply murder them until there are none left. All in favor of this, say aye!"

[–] MotoAsh 17 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I think it was more of, "hey, who the hell is suddenly robbing us?!"

They didn't have the internet and daily news to tip everyone off. There'd just suddenly be stranded people near by, and if they decided to pillage before asking... I could EASILY see being hostile as a reasonable response. Not necessarily the KoS law, unless they really did just resort to pillaging and theft often.

[–] Something_Complex 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Language barrier makes it harder to ask for help

[–] MotoAsh 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Yea, I don't envy their situation for sure. Just that it didn't necessarily have to start from malice. As you point out, it may not have even been malice from the thieves, maybe even if they were literally stealing.

Coming from a punitive place will always miss intention.

[–] Something_Complex 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

No no I was agreeing with you. They try to negotiate, all the Icelander see is 30 strangers in their property...end badly

[–] MotoAsh 3 points 11 months ago

Yea, we need a historian to tell us how it went down so we can know who to hate! ... jk jk... lol the obvious lesson is do not rush to judgement, especially on assumption. Heck, it might've even been a very select few genuine crooks that got the rest punished by team sports attitude that sadly persists to this day.

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