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. A payment is the transfer of wealth from one party (such as a person or company to another ---- Guilt is the Fact, state or Verdict (by a Court or other Tribunal) of an Offence, Crime, Violation List of countries by homicide rate Homicide ( Latin homicidium, homo human being + caedere to cut kill refers to the act of killing another 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.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Etymology 3 In literature 4 See also 5 References

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. Northern Europe is a term for the northern part of Europe. The United Nations defines Northern Europe as (Finland A Viking is one of the Norse ( Scandinavian Explorers Warriors Merchants, and pirates who raided and colonized wide areas For their language see Anglo-Saxon language. Anglo-Saxon is the term usually used to describe the invading Tribes in the south A feud (ˈfjuːd (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties&mdashoften through Guilt The payment was typically made to the family or to the clan. Family denotes a group of People affiliated by consanguinity affinity or co-residence A clan is a group of People united by Kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor 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). See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to

The size of the weregild in cases of murder was largely conditional upon the social rank of the victim. Murder is the unlawful killing of another human person with Malice aforethought, as defined in Common Law countries Social rank or simply rank is a hierarchy based on one's perceived importance in Society. In early Anglo-Saxon Britain, an elaborate tariff was prescribed. An aetheling, or prince, was worth 1500 shillings. Aetheling, also spelt Ætheling, Atheling or Etheling, was an Old English term (æþeling used in Anglo-Saxon England to designate The shilling is a unit of Currency used in current and former Commonwealth countries and was continued to be used in countries that left the commonwealth A yeoman farmer was worth 100 shillings. Yeoman is noun used to indicate a variety of positions or Social classes In the 16th century a yeoman was also a Farmer of middling social status who owned 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 thrall ( Þræll; Þír, f) was a variety of slave in Scandinavian culture during the Viking Age. Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services 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. Several Latin Law codes of the Germanic peoples written in the Early Middle Ages (also known as leges barbarorum 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. The Holy Roman Empire ( HRE; German Heiliges Römisches Reich (HRR, Latin Sacrum Romanum Imperium (SRI was a union of territories in ^[1]

A classic example of a dispute over the weregild of a slave is contained in Iceland's Egil's Saga. Egils saga is an epic Icelandic saga possibly by Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241 AD who may have written the account between the years 1220 and

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. Celts (ˈkɛlts or /ˈsɛlts/, see Names of the Celts Ericfine (or eric-fine) was the Irish equivalent of the Welsh Galanas and the Anglo-Saxon and Scandic Weregild Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world Galanas in Welsh law was a payment made by a killer and his family to the family of his or her victim Kievan Rus′ (Ки́евская Русь romanised: Kievskaya Rus', rusʲ also written as Kyivan Rus′ (Ки́ївська Русь or Kievan Główczyzna in Polish tradition was a name for a fine paid by a killer or his family to the family of his/her Victim. Poland (Polska officially the Republic of Poland

Etymology

The word weregild is composed of were, a word meaning "man" (as in werewolf) and geld, meaning "payment. See also Lycanthropy (disambiguation Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, are mythological or folkloric humans with the ability to " 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. Dutch ( is a West Germanic language spoken by around 24 million people 22 million of which are from the Netherlands, Belgium and Suriname Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High The German language (de ''Deutsch'') is a West Germanic language and one of the world's major languages. 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. Grettis saga (also known as Grettla, Grettir's Saga or The Saga of Grettir the Strong) is one of the Icelanders' sagas. ^[2]

In The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, it is 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. The Fellowship of the Ring is the first of three volumes of the epic novel The Lord of the Rings by the English author J J R R Tolkien 's Middle-earth fantasy writings include many wars and battles set in the lands of Aman, Beleriand, Númenor, and Sauron (ˈsaʊrɒn Quenya: /sawrɔn/ literal meaning "Abhorred") is the title character and the principal Antagonist of the Fantasy Isildur is a fictional character in J R R Tolkien 's legendarium. Literature Elendil is first introduced in The Fellowship of the Ring. Character overview Elrond was Lord of Rivendell, one of the mighty rulers of old that remained in Middle-earth in its Third Age. The First Age Círdan may have been among the Elves who awoke at Cuiviénen, although Tolkien never explicitly states this anywhere

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 had slain Heaðolaf, a man from another tribe called the Wulfings, and either couldn't pay the wergild or they refused to accept it. An epic is a lengthy Narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation Beowulf is an Old English Heroic epic poem of anonymous authorship dating as recorded in the Nowell Codex manuscript from between Hroðgar, Hrothgar, Hróarr, Hroar, Roar, Roas or Ro was a Legendary Danish king, living in the early 6th century Ecgþeow (ˈɛʤθɛəw or Edgetho ( Proto-Norse * Agiþewaz) or Ecgtheow is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic Wulfings, Wylfings or Ylfings (the name means the "wolf clan" was a powerful clan in Beowulf, Widsith 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. Wealhþēow (also rendered Wealhtheow or Wealthow) is a legendary queen of the Danes in the Old English poem Beowulf, first Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin through either biological cultural or historical descent Hroðgar sees Beowulf's offer as a son's gratitude for what Hroðgar had done for Beowulf's father.

See also

• Blood money
• Blood feud
• Ericfine
• Leges inter Brettos et Scottos

References

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