"Dishonored and sunken into sea, as if they were the worst pagans and not innocent Christians," Jón lærði Guðmundsson the Learned wrote first in his head, then in his notes, after seeing the drowned bodies.
He ran to talk with Ari Magnússon to explain the atrocity he witnessed. Unfortunately, it was too late.
When Jón Guðmundsson the Learned arrived at the sheriff's place, Ari Magnússon had already fallen victim to the poison.
Of course, he was still alive and would live for many years to come. Magnússon had received the poison, but the victims would be others.
The Basque whalers that a few days ago saw their ships destroyed by a storm had to eat. With no money nor knowledge of the language, they did the only thing they could: they robbed an empty house.
The locals of Þingeyri didn't like it and decided to do justice with their own hands. The Icelandic slaughtered fourteen Basque whalers. That was the bodies seen by Jón Guðmundsson the Learned.
However, there were still surviving members of the crew. And now, the locals had poisoned the sheriff. Now, Ari Magnússon thought that all Basques were dangerous.
Jón Guðmundsson the Learned tried to argue with the sheriff, but he lost the battle twice. After the second one, he understood that he also lost the war. He could condone, but things would happen.
And they did.
In a decree, Ari Magnússon determined that the Icelandics needed to kill all Basques on sight. Murder a Basque wasn't wrong; it was a civil obligation.
Over 30 Basques died because of that. Most, if not all, were brutally tortured and murdered.
The worst part, Magnússon's decree only was revoked in 2015. The good thing is that Icelandics decided that the right thing was not to follow the law.
THE END
*****
The Slaying of the Spaniards (also known as the Spanish Killings; Icelandic: Spánverjavígin) was the last documented massacre in Icelandic history. Some Basque whalers went on a whaling expedition to Iceland and were killed after a conflict in 1615 with local people in the region of the Westfjords.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slaying_of_the_Spaniards
