Radbod famously refused baptism at the last moment when informed that his unbaptized ancestors were in hell. Stating that he would rather dwell in the afterlife with his ancestors and forefathers than with a handful of foreigners, he rejected the new creed to uphold his lineage and ancestral duties. His rejection of foreign rites became a foundational political act, leading to the immediate expulsion of foreign Christian missionaries from Frisian territory to preserve their native customs (customa gentis).
* The Defilers of Sacred Groves (Landnámabók)
In early Iceland and Scandinavia, boundaries surrounding sacred sites (vé) were strictly protected under the legal concept of garth-breach or sacrilege. Early legal assemblies (the Þing) imposed full outlawry (skóggangr) on anyone who shed blood, brought weapons into a sacred grove, or dishonored the landvættir (ancestral land spirits). An outlaw was stripped of all property, forbidden from receiving food or shelter, and could be killed by anyone without legal repercussion.
* The Uppsala Assemblies (11th Century CE)
According to Adam of Bremen's historical accounts, the central assembly (Thing) at Gammel Uppsala in Sweden mandated participation in the national nine-year sacrificial festival (blót). Those who refused to participate in the traditional ancestral rites—or who attempted to withhold required tribute to the temple—were fined, banished, or forcibly compelled by the community to fulfill their obligations to preserve the collective standing of the folk.
* Hjalti Skeggjason (999 CE)
In Njáls saga (ch. 102), Hjalti was convicted of impiety after reciting a verse comparing Freyja to a bitch and Odin to a dog. Likening ancestral deities to dogs (garmr / hundr) was treated as severe ritual defamation (níð) and a breach of the sacred peace (friðr). The chieftain Runólfur Úlfarsson prosecuted the case at the Althing, resulting in Hjalti being sentenced to lesser outlawry (fjorbaugsgarður) and banished from Iceland.
https://norroena.org/our-ancestral-endowment/
