Not everywhere, in Scandinavian places before the invasion of the church, they "outlawed" criminals. Which meant they were at the mercy of the town. This meant exile, and out there, that was almost always death unless the criminal was high IQ.
That remained in England well after Christianization, didn't stop until the Normans, well really survived after that in different forms. The stockades were a limited form of outlawry.
Not everywhere, in Scandinavian places before the invasion of the church, they "outlawed" criminals. Which meant they were at the mercy of the town. This meant exile, and out there, that was almost always death unless the criminal was high IQ.
That remained in England well after Christianization, didn't stop until the Normans, well really survived after that in different forms. The stockades were a limited form of outlawry.