'@Hawkwing' Nisse's "research" is just using the one of the first links in google. Meanwhile, relevant parts of the original text are available in "google books" preview: https://books.google.ru/books?id=3h-lkgBWercC&pg=PA81
Page 81, "Paternity".
Notable part is on page 83: "Already during the pagan period general poverty and man's economic responsibility for the child (regardless of the marital relationship between the parents) made the identification of the father an utmost concern. Ancient society allowed infanticide, however, and many children lacking fathers were exposed. The prohibition against this ancient custom came with Christianity. The identification of the man who had impregnated an unmarried woman now became even more important to her relatives, lest they become liable for the child's upkeep. Rules designed to elicit paternal information from unmarried women antedated Christianity, but the prohibition against infanticide combined with high illegitimacy rates assured their continued enforcement in law. In Iceland a woman was obliged to identify the father of her unborn child if asked by her guardian to do so. If she refused, the guardian was entitled to return with five neighbors and together they were to "torture her", but without leaving wounds or blue marks, until she revealed the name."
Read the whole chapter for more context, more interesting stuff in chapter "Infanticide" starting on page 85.
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'@Hawkwing' Nisse's "research" is just using the one of the first links in google. Meanwhile, relevant parts of the original text are available in "google books" preview: https://books.google.ru/books?id=3h-lkgBWercC&pg=PA81
Page 81, "Paternity".
Notable part is on page 83: "Already during the pagan period general poverty and man's economic responsibility for the child (regardless of the marital relationship between the parents) made the identification of the father an utmost concern. Ancient society allowed infanticide, however, and many children lacking fathers were exposed. The prohibition against this ancient custom came with Christianity. The identification of the man who had impregnated an unmarried woman now became even more important to her relatives, lest they become liable for the child's upkeep. Rules designed to elicit paternal information from unmarried women antedated Christianity, but the prohibition against infanticide combined with high illegitimacy rates assured their continued enforcement in law. In Iceland a woman was obliged to identify the father of her unborn child if asked by her guardian to do so. If she refused, the guardian was entitled to return with five neighbors and together they were to "torture her", but without leaving wounds or blue marks, until she revealed the name."
Read the whole chapter for more context, more interesting stuff in chapter "Infanticide" starting on page 85.
Comic starts looking grim at this point.