 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(October 2019) |
Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price (blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to be paid as a fine or as compensatory damages to the person's family if that person was killed or injured by another.
The compound noun weregild means "remuneration for a man", from Proto-Germanic *wira- "man, human" and *geld-a- "retaliation, remuneration". [2] In the south Germanic area, this is the most common term used to mean "payment for killing a man" (Old High German werigelt, Langobardic wergelt, Old English wer(e)gild), whereas in the North Germanic area, the more common term is Old Norse mangæld, with the same meaning. [3] [2] Wolfgang Haubrichs argues that wergild is "undoubtably a West Germanic word" which spread throughout the various Germanic-speaking peoples, but which in the north was replaced with mangæld since the meaning of the element "wer-" had been forgotten; comparable replacement words such as wider-geld ("repayment") are known from the south. [4]
Several alternative terms are also found, such as leodis ("man") and leodardi ("violation of a man") in the Lex Salica, [5] and the short from wer(e) in Old English. [6] Both of these terms appear to derive from a word meaning the subject harmed taking on the meaning of the payment for that harm. [7]
A weregild or wergeld was a defined value placed on every man graded according to rank, used as a basis of a fine or compensation for murder, disablement, injury, and certain other serious crimes against that person. It was assessed from the guilty party, payable as restitution to the victim's family. [8] [9]
The weregild was codified, for example, under Frankish Salic Code. [10]
Weregild payment was an important legal mechanism in early Germanic society; 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. Similar to the way a payment was made to family, it was also a family or kin group responsibility to ensure the payment for the wrong committed, especially if the offender is unable to cover the cost of the offense himself. [11]
No distinction was made between murder and manslaughter until these distinctions were instituted by the re-introduction of Roman law in the 12th century. [12]
Payment of the weregild was gradually replaced with capital punishment due to Christianization, starting around the 9th century, and almost entirely by the 12th century when weregild began to cease as a practice throughout the Holy Roman Empire. [13]
Weregild from Norðleoda Laga : [14]
| Rank | Thrymsa |
|---|---|
| King | 30,000 |
| Archbishop/aetheling | 15,000 |
| Bishop/ealdorman | 8,000 |
| Hold/high-reeve | 4,000 |
| Mass-thegn/secular thegn | 2,000 |
| Prospering ceorl | 2,000 |
| Ceorl | 200 |
| Prospering Welshman | 120s |
| Non-prospering Welshman | 80s |
| Landless Welshman | 70s |
Wergild first appears in the European historical record in 500 AD in the Lex Burgundionum , [15] but the concept of paying blood-money is found widely in many pre-modern societies. [16] Scholars debate if wergild was a traditional Germanic legal concept, or if it developed from a Roman predecessor. [17] Christophe Gamby argued in 2013 that the entire institution was essentially derived from Roman law, whereas Harald Siems and Ralph Mathisen both rejected this concept in 2021, arguing that nothing comparable existed in Roman Law. [18] However, Siems and Mathisen both argue that Roman law still influenced the definitions of crimes and possibly legal procedures in the "barbarian law codes" that first contain wergild. [19]
The size of the weregild was largely conditional upon the social rank of the victim. There used to be something of a "basis" fee for a standard "free man" that could then be multiplied according to the social rank of the victim and the circumstances of the crime. The weregild for women relative to that of men of equal rank varied: among the Saxons half that of men.
In the Migration period, the standard weregild for a freeman appears to have been 200 solidi (shillings), an amount reflected as the basic fee due for the death of a churl (or ceorl) both in later Anglo-Saxon and continental law codes.
In the 8th century, the Lex Alamannorum sets the weregild for a duke or archbishop at three times the basic value (600 shillings), while the killing of a low ranking cleric was fined with 300, raised to 400 if the cleric was attacked while he was reading mass.
During the reign of Charlemagne, his missi dominici required three times the regular weregild should they be killed whilst on a mission from the king.
In 9th century Mercian law a regular freeman (churl) was worth 200 shillings [20] (twyhyndeman), and a nobleman was worth 1,200 (twelfhyndeman), a division established enough that two centuries later a charter of King Cnut's would simply refer to "all his people - the twelve-hundreders and the two-hundreders". The law code even mentions the weregild for a king, at 30,000 thrymsas, composed of 15,000 for the man, paid to the royal family, and 15,000 for the kingship, paid to the people. An archbishop or nobleman is likewise valued at 15,000 thrymsas. The weregild for a Welshman was 120 shillings if he owned at least one hide of land and was able to pay the king's tribute. If he has only 1 hide and cannot pay the tribute, his wergild was 80 shillings and then 70 if he was landless yet free.
Thralls and slaves legally 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. Technically this amount cannot be called a weregild, because it was more akin to a reimbursement to the owner for lost or damaged property.
A classic example of a dispute over the weregild of a slave is contained in Iceland's Egil's Saga .
In the Völsunga saga or Saga of the Volsungs, the Æsir (Odin, Loki and Hœnir) are asked to pay weregild for killing Otr, son of Hreidmar. Otr is a "great fisherman" and resembles an otter. He is 'eating a salmon and half dozing' on the river banks of Andvari's Falls when Loki kills him by throwing a stone at him. Later that evening, the Æsir visit Hreidmar's house where they are seized and imposed with a fine. Their fine consists of "filling the [Otr] skin with gold and covering the outside with red gold." Loki is sent to get the gold and he manages to trick the dwarf Andvari into giving him the gold as well as a curse ring: "The dwarf went into the rock and said that the gold ring would be the death of whoever owned it, and the same applied to all the gold." [21]
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. [22]
In the Old English epic poem Beowulf , lines 156-158 Grendel refuses to settle his killings with payment or recompense, and 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 could not pay the wergild or they refused to accept it. Hroðgar had married Wealhþeow, who probably 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.
In the novel The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, the journal of Isildur reveals that he justified taking the One Ring as a weregild for the deaths of his father (Elendil) and brother (Anárion) in battle. Appendix A of The Return of the King also mentions a rich weregild of gold sent by Túrin II, Steward of Gondor, to King Folcwine of Rohan, after the death of his twin sons, Folcred and Fastred, in battle in Ithilien.
In Jim Butcher's Dresden Files novel Skin Game , Harry Dresden offers John Marcone a cashbox of diamonds as weregild for an employee murdered by Deirdre. Dresden says "That's for your dead employee's family. Take care of them with it. And leave my people out of it. It ends here."
In Rick Riordan's novel The Hammer of Thor , Hearthstone, an elf, must pay a wergild for his brother Andiron's death when they were children. Hearthstone, the older brother, was distracted and playing with rocks when a Brunnmigi emerged from a well and killed Andiron. Since Hearthstone was deaf, he did not notice until it was too late. Hearthstone was forced by their father to skin the large beast by himself, which was turned into a rug and placed on the floor of his room. To pay his wergild, he had to cover every single hair with gold earned from his father, generally by doing chores. Every meal and any free time, among other things, cost Hearthstone earned gold. This task was not accomplished until years later, and his father, Alderman, was reluctant to consider the debt paid, but finally conceded that Hearthstone was released from the debt.
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem in the tradition of Germanic heroic legend consisting of 3,182 alliterative lines. It is one of the most important and most often translated works of Old English literature. The date of composition is a matter of contention among scholars; the only certain dating is for the manuscript, which was produced between 975 and 1025 AD. Scholars call the anonymous author the "Beowulf poet". The story is set in pagan Scandinavia in the 6th century. Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, the king of the Danes, whose mead hall Heorot has been under attack by the monster Grendel for twelve years. After Beowulf slays him, Grendel's mother takes revenge and is in turn defeated. Victorious, Beowulf goes home to Geatland and becomes king of the Geats. Fifty years later, Beowulf defeats a dragon, but is mortally wounded in the battle. After his death, his attendants cremate his body and erect a barrow on a headland in his memory.
The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence or one-twentieth of a pound before being phased out during the 1960s and 1970s.
In Norse mythology, Sif is a golden-haired goddess associated with earth. Sif is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson, and in the poetry of skalds. In both the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda, she is known for her golden hair and is married to the thunder god Thor.
In Germanic heroic legend and folklore, Fáfnir is a worm or dragon slain by a member of the Völsung family, typically Sigurð. In Nordic mythology, he is the son of Hreiðmarr, and brother of Regin and Ótr and is attested throughout the Völsung Cycle, where, Fáfnir slays his father out of greed, taking the ring and hoard of the dwarf Andvari and becoming a worm or dragon. Fáfnir's brother Regin later assisted Sigurð in obtaining the sword Gram, by which Fáfnir is killed. He has been identified with an unnamed dragon killed by a Völsung in other Germanic works including Beowulf, the Nibelunglied and a number of skaldic poems. Fáfnir and his killing by Sigurð are further represented in numerous medieval carvings from the British Isles and Scandinavia, and a single axe head in a Scandinavian style found in Russia. The story of Fáfnir has continued to have influence in the modern period, such as in the works of J.R.R Tolkien, who drew inspiration from the tale of Fáfnir in his portrayals of Smaug and Gollum.
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in payment of a debt extinguishes the debt. There is no obligation on the creditor to accept the tendered payment, but the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt.
Sterling is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound is the main unit of sterling, and the word pound is also used to refer to the British currency generally, often qualified in international contexts as the British pound or the pound sterling.
Ecgþēow, Edgetho, or Ecgtheow is a character in the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf. He is not mentioned outside the Bēowulf manuscript, and it is not known whether he was based on a real person. He belonged to a probably Swedish family called the Waegmundings. He married the daughter of Hreðel, king of the Geats, and was the father of Bēowulf.
Beowulf is a legendary Geatish hero in the eponymous epic poem, one of the oldest surviving pieces of English literature.
A thrall was a slave or serf in Scandinavian lands during the Viking Age. The status of slave contrasts with that of the freeman and the nobleman.
Anglo-Saxon law is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early Medieval Scandinavian law and Germanic law, descended from a family of ancient Germanic custom and legal thought. However, Anglo-Saxon law codes are distinct from other early Germanic legal statements—known as the leges barbarorum, in part because they were written in Old English instead of in Latin. The laws of the Anglo-Saxons were the second in medieval Western Europe after those of the Irish to be expressed in a language other than Latin.
The silver standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is a fixed weight of silver. Silver was far more widespread than gold as the monetary standard worldwide, from the Sumerians c. 3000 BC until 1873. Following the discovery in the 16th century of large deposits of silver at the Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia, an international silver standard came into existence in conjunction with the Spanish pieces of eight. These silver dollar coins played the role of an international trading currency for nearly four hundred years.
Dragons, or worms, are present in Germanic mythology and wider folklore, where they are often portrayed as large venomous serpents. Especially in later tales, however, they share many common features with other dragons in European mythology.
Early American currency went through several stages of development during the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. John Hull was authorized by the Massachusetts legislature to make the earliest coinage of the colony in 1652.
The Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum is a 9th-century peace agreement between Alfred of Wessex and Guthrum, the Viking ruler of East Anglia. It sets out the boundaries between Alfred and Guthrum's territories as well as agreements on peaceful trade, and the weregild value of its people.
The Lex Burgundionum refers to the law code of the Burgundians, probably issued by king Gundobad. It is influenced by Roman law and deals with domestic laws concerning marriage and inheritance as well as regulating weregild and other penalties. Interaction between Burgundians is treated separately from interaction between Burgundians and Gallo-Romans. The oldest of the 14 surviving manuscripts of the text dates to the 9th century, but the code's institution is ascribed to king Gundobad, with a possible revision by his successor Sigismund. The Lex Romana Burgundionum is a separate code, containing various laws taken from Roman sources, probably intended to apply to the Burgundians' Gallo-Roman subjects. The oldest copy of this text dates to the 7th century.
The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún is a book containing two narrative poems and related texts composed by English writer J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and HarperCollins on 5 May 2009.
Germanic law is a scholarly term used to describe a series of commonalities between the various law codes of the early Germanic peoples. These were compared with statements in Tacitus and Caesar as well as with high and late medieval law codes from Germany and Scandinavia. Until the 1950s, these commonalities were held to be the result of a distinct Germanic legal culture. Scholarship since then has questioned this premise and argued that many "Germanic" features instead derive from provincial Roman law. Although most scholars no longer hold that Germanic law was a distinct legal system, some still argue for the retention of the term and for the potential that some aspects of the Leges in particular derive from a Germanic culture. Scholarly consensus as of 2023 is that Germanic law is best understood in opposition to Roman law, in that it was not "learned" and incorporated regional pecularities.
Germanic heroic legend is the heroic literary tradition of the Germanic-speaking peoples, most of which originates or is set in the Migration Period. Stories from this time period, to which others were added later, were transmitted orally, traveled widely among the Germanic speaking peoples, and were known in many variants. These legends typically reworked historical events or personages in the manner of oral poetry, forming a heroic age. Heroes in these legends often display a heroic ethos emphasizing honor, glory, and loyalty above other concerns. Like Germanic mythology, heroic legend is a genre of Germanic folklore.
Early Germanic culture was the culture of the early Germanic peoples. Largely derived from a synthesis of Proto-Indo-European and indigenous Northern European elements, the Germanic culture started to exist in the Jastorf culture that developed out of the Nordic Bronze Age. It came under significant external influence during the Migration Period, particularly from ancient Rome.
A prominent position is held by rings in early Germanic cultures, appearing both in archaeology throughout areas settled by Germanic peoples, and in textual sources discussing their practices and beliefs. They are notably associated with the related aspects of wealth, being used as forms of currency in the Early Medieval Period, and swearing sacred oaths, often dedicated to, or witnessed by, the gods. The sacrality of rings is reflected in Germanic mythology and ring bestowal held a central role in maintaining functional relationships between rulers and their retinues. The cultural roles of rings continued to varying extents during and after the Christianisation of the Germanic peoples, such as in gift-bestowal and oath-swearing.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
