Michael Pye

“Erik the Red left Norway for frontier Iceland ‘on account of some killings’ and after a while he had to leave Iceland on account of some more killings; he needed a fresh start after his first fresh start.”
― Michael Pye, The Edge of the World: How the North Sea Made Us Who We Are

“but we know enough from the early years to see that the machinery of the law was mostly used against workers who wanted more money than employers wanted to pay. This is not surprising; if someone’s offence was refusing work there was nothing to discuss. They were judged on the spot and punished until they agreed to do what was wanted. There was no need to go to the kind of court that keeps records.”
― Michael Pye, The Edge of the World: A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe