Everything about Wergild totally explained
Weregeld (alternative spellings:
wergild,
wergeld,
weregeld, etc.) was a reparational
payment usually demanded of a person
guilty of
homicide or other
wrongful death, although it could also be demanded in other cases of serious crime.
In early Germanic law, weregeld was a person's value in monetary terms, which was paid by a wrongdoer to the family of the person who had been injured or killed.
Overview
The payment of weregild was an important legal mechanism in early
Northern European societies, such as those of the
Vikings, and
Anglo-Saxons; the other common form of legal reparation at this time was
blood revenge. The payment was typically made to the
family or to the
clan. If these payments were not made, or refused by the offended party, a blood feud would ensue. The word literally means "man price" (
wer meaning man as in
werewolf).
The size of the weregild in cases of
murder was largely conditional upon the
social rank of the
victim. In early Anglo-Saxon Britain, an elaborate tariff was prescribed. An
aetheling, or prince, was worth 1500
shillings. A
yeoman farmer was worth 100 shillings. A laet, or agricultural
serf, was worth between 40 and 80 shillings.
Thralls and
slaves technically commanded no weregild, but it was commonplace to make a nominal payment in the case of a thrall and the value of the slave in such a case. A shilling was defined as the value of a cow in Kent or elsewhere, a sheep. As the Northern European tribes were a nomadic people, great importance was placed on the survival of women and children, as they were integral to the propagation of the tribe. The killing of both women and children were also dealt with severely, usually bringing on the larger of the fines.
Early Germanic law forms were very specific to differentiate between the wergelds for free people as opposed to bonded servants. Payment of the wergeld was gradually replaced with corporal punishment, starting around the 9th century and almost entirely replaced by as late as the 12th century throughout the
Holy Roman Empire.
A classic example of a dispute over the weregild of a slave is contained in Iceland's
Egil's Saga.
Weregild was also known to the
Celts, who called it
ericfine in
Ireland and
galanas in
Wales, and to Slavic peoples, who called it "vira" ("вира") in
Russia and
główczyzna in
Poland.
Etymology
The word
weregild is composed of
were, a word meaning "man" (as in
werewolf) and
geld, meaning "payment." Etymologically,
were is related to the Latin
vir.
Geld is the root of English
gilt and cognate with
gold. Geld is still the
Dutch,
Yiddish, and
German word for money. In Danish the word is
gæld and means "debt".
In literature
In the
Story of Grettir the Strong, chapter 27,
The Suit for the Slaying of Thorgils Makson, Thorgeir conveys to court Thorgils Arison's offer of weregild as atonement for killing Thorgils Makson.
In
The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, it's revealed that after the
Last Alliance of Elves and Men had defeated the forces of
Sauron, that
Isildur claimed the
One Ring as weregild owed to him for the deaths of
Elendil his father and
Anárion his younger brother, in protest to the insistence of
Elrond and
Círdan to destroy the Ring in the fires of
Mount Doom.
In the
epic poem Beowulf, at lines 456-472,
Hroðgar recalls the story of how
Ecgþeow (Beowulf's father) once came to him for help, for he'd slain Heaðolaf, a man from another tribe called the
Wulfings, and either couldn't pay the wergild or they refused to accept it. Hroðgar married
Wealhþeow who likely belonged to the Wulfing tribe, and was able to use his
kinship ties to persuade the Wulfings to accept the wergild and end the feud. Hroðgar sees Beowulf's offer as a son's gratitude for what Hroðgar had done for Beowulf's father.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Wergild'.
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