What happened to Nordic polygamy?

Post » Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:11 am

So, in http://www.imperial-library.info/content/five-hundred-mighty-companions-or-thereabouts-ysgramor-returned, we see that Ysgramor (or his son? It's not really clear) had no less than nine wives:

The first of Ysgramor’s Five Hundred Mighty Companions was actually two, the ashen-amalgamation of his sons that had survived Sarthaal only to die in the freeze-rains of the returning, named Tsunaltir and Stuhnalmir when alive and now called the Grit-Prince Tstunal, whose Tear-Wives were Vramali, Jarli-al, Alleir, and Tusk Widow Who Foreswore Her Name, whose Wine-Wives were Elja Hate-Basket and Ingridal who lost her casket at the burning, and Mjarili-al Half-Casket, whose Hearth-Wives were none survived, and whose Kyne-Wives were none survived, and whose Shield-Wives were Shanjenen the Echo-Eaten and Jahnsdotter Whose-Name-Stays-in-its-Cradle.

However, by the time Skyrim rolls around in 4E201, it's only possible to have one wife at a time. Does anyone know what caused this change in Nordic culture? What's the difference between the various types of wives, anyway?
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Heather Stewart
 
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