
	Where results make sense

Topic: Wergild

	The Harrow: The RPG Collection
		Wergild is a Nordic term for blood-money, or a sum that is paid to a victim or the victim's surviving relatives in reparation for a crime.
		The mindset behind the wergild system was, in part, that all kinsfolk are responsible for their own; an offender offends not only against an individual but against a family, and punishment is meted not only against the offender but against the offender's family.
		Once the wergild is paid, the victim or the victim's family may no longer seek revenge against the offender or the offender's kin—wergild can be understood in part as a nonviolent form of settling disputes that might otherwise tear a close-knit society apart.
	www.theharrow.com /rpg/wergild.html (1195 words)

	Your Legal Rights Under Ælfred, King of Wessex
		Wergild was an important concept, for without it all feuds were settled "eye for an eye": If you killed my kinsman, I killed your kinsman.
		Wergild, the notion of a cash valuation for each person's life, allowed the ruling noble to command that grievances be redressed not by violence but by silver or gold payments, thus limiting the escalation of vendetta.
		All persons (save slaves) had a wergild, and Ælfred's laws spell out reparations for the loss of bodily parts as well, even unto the loss of the little fingernail (one shilling fine).
	www.octavia.net /text/alfredlaw.htm (989 words)

	Ideas of Beowulf
		Wergild is used throughout the poem to depict the commonplace “value” of vengeance in the warrior society.
		Wergild is very simple in definition and adds a third dimension to many otherwise flat aspects in the plot.
		Wergild is a central issue as well as a supporting idea that builds upon flat plot points throughout the epic.
	www.radessays.com /viewpaper/34589/Ideas_of_Beowulf.html (266 words)

	Anglo-Saxons - Topic Powered by eve community (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		We may know the values ascribed to the various wergilds, but we can only guess as to how they were applied (even the history and law specialists seem to disagree on this).
		The enduring nature of the wergild system and the generally fixity of stratified societies means that it is utterly superficial to imagine that it was possible to leap out of one condition into another, by learning a language or wearing a new broach or growing a big moustache.
		As for the wergilds, the interpretation of these, from a law site that I linked to, is very different from your (favoured) interpretation, in that it implies that the Britons (Welsh) didn’t have to pay as much if they killed someone.
	community.channel4.com /eve/forums/a/tpc/f/4476000511/m/801605747/p/34 (6684 words)

	Anglo-Saxon Laws
		If a freeman lies with the wife of a freeman, he is to atone with his wergild, (Grammatically, it is possible that her wergild is meant.) and to obtain another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other's home.
		If anyone lies with the wife of a man of a twelve-hundred wergild, he is to pay to the husband 120 shillings; to a man of a six-hundred wergild 100 shillings is to be paid; to a man of the ceorl class 40 shillings is to be paid.
		If either of these things happens to a man of six-hundred wergild, it is to amount to three-fold the compensation to a ceorl; [if] to a man of twelve-hundred wergild, to double that of the man of the six-hundred wergild.
	www.mtholyoke.edu /courses/hgarrett/documents/aslaws.html (8088 words)

	[No title]
		The reason the wergild was implemented into society was to end the blood feuds that would result between families.
		The wergild is to stop situations like these from happening, where “the bargain [is] hard, both parties having to pay with the lives of friends” (1304-6).
		The Anglo-Saxon culture is surrounded by themes of war: a young boy’s life is preordained to the battle fields, wergilds are used as an acceptable form of justice, and the dead are buried with their weapons.
	complabs.nevada.edu /~ahatch/eportfolio/warriorethic.doc (2292 words)

	[No title]
		This Wergild is attuned to the Warden, and it has already begun to draw the victims of Warden to it.
		For its part, the golden behemoth that was the Wergild ignored Jen and landed at street level with a dull metallic thud.
		The Wergild had too much power invested in it for Peregryn to simply shut it off, but it had to have a "loose thread" he could tug at, some bit of sloppy construction that had been papered over with the application of power.
	www.eyrie.org /~dvandom/ASH/Warden8 (4112 words)

	CFEPS - Working Paper No.
		Wergild fines were paid directly to victims and their families, and were established and levied by public assemblies.
		Originally, until one paid the wergild fine, one was “liable”, or “indebted” to the victim.
		Tithes and tribute thus came to replace wergild fines, and fines for “transgressions against society”, paid to the rightful ruler, could be levied for almost any conceivable activity.
	www.cfeps.org /pubs/wp/wp32.html (5574 words)

	Kievan Rus Database (Fines)
		The crime of insulting an "honorable" woman by attributing sexual misconduct to her was equated with the crime of rape.
		Vladimir abolished exaction of wergild and begun to punish (execute) the robbers.
		But when the bishops and elders (notables of the land) told him that because much warfare had to be conducted there was a need for wergild in weapons and horses to be paid, Vladimir heeded their counsel and restored the old custom of monetary fines.
	members.aol.com /bksmyre/Fines.html (560 words)

	LIST
		First, that no thief is to be spared who is caught with the stolen goods, [if he is] over twelve years and [if the value of the goods is] over eightpence.
		And if he steals after that, they are to pay for him with his wergild, whether to the king or to him to whom it rightly belongs; and everyone of those who supported him is to pay 120 shillings to the king as a fine.
		And we pronounced about these lordless men, from whom no justice can be obtained, that one should order their kindred to fetch back such a person to justice and to find him a lord in public meeting.
	www-sul.stanford.edu /tools/dtddocs/teilite/list.html (870 words)

	WowEssays.com - Array Of Light
		Such abundant references to material rewards, earthly fame, wyrd, and wergild prove that he is pagan.
		Wergild, the concept of revenge, indicates that the role of paganism outweigh the values of Christianity.
		There is a multitude of examples of wergild, violence, and constant feuds like the digression of Finn.
	www.wowessays.com /dbase/ac2/xaj200.shtml (1093 words)

	Literary Terms and Definitions W
		If an individual could not or would not pay the wergild, the injured family was considered within its traditional rights to kill a member of the culprit's family of similar rank and status.
		The concerns of wergild appear prominently in Anglo-Saxon poems such as Beowulf, in which the supernatural predations of the monsters are figured in the legalistic language associated with this practice.
		NB: Wergild should not be confused with Danegeld, the practice of paying extortive Vikings to go away without attacking.
	web.cn.edu /kwheeler/lit_terms_W.html (2944 words)

	Wergild (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Yo-ho-ho, one unflavourous wergild substantially curdling alongside a preclassical massasauga.
		Ahchoo, a wergild is less bespokethen one unbatted lunge.
		Hic, one wergild is much more herblikethen that stalky blowout.
	delta-star-inc.door-factory.org /40.html (516 words)

	Wergild: Anglo-Saxon Social Structure in One Word
		The code of laws given to us by Ethlebert, first lord of Kent and third overlord of Saxon England, introduced the term wergild, which was the amount of money a person or family could accept in place of vengeance if a man was killed.
		If you were involved in a feud with a man who had a large wergild, you might very well take satisfaction in killing him and welcoming any challenges to more violence from his surviving kin.
		However, because the wergild idea allowed the man's survivors to claim a sum of money from you instead of challenging you to a fight, they had power over you even though you might be physically stronger or a better fighter.
	www.suite101.com /article.cfm/ancient_british_history/58419/1 (420 words)

	WERGELD WERGILD - Online Information article about WERGELD WERGILD (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		WERGELD WERGILD - Online Information article about WERGELD WERGILD
		Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
		WERGILD or WEE, the Anglo-Saxon terms for the See also:
	encyclopedia.jrank.org /WAT_WIL/WERGILD_WERGELD.html (182 words)

	Add new comment \| Anthropology.net (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Cultures of the past admittedly fascinate me more then their current counterparts, and I think that an understanding of them is the only way to be able to put the present into context.
		The wergild was a sum of money that an offender might pay to the relatives of the victim to appease them and avert a blood feud.
		Similar to the wergild, the amount of this blood money is dependant on various factors with religious affiliation and gender of the victim being two important ones.
	anthropology.net /comment/reply/620 (438 words)

	LOKI'S LAW (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		If you are a janitor, you have a ridiculously low wergild, and few would think twice about killing you about minor matters.
		A Survivor, however, a leader of a Hierarchy, would have a wergild of millions of monetary units on his head.
		A high priest of Fane would have a higher wergild than an ordinary priest, etc. Usually Lokiites wear badges indicating their wergild status, all the better NOT to be killed in a casual robbery, for instance.
	members.tripod.com /~thethird/lokilaw.html (295 words)

	purevolume™ \| Wergild
		Wergild has led an uneventful life, and thus has yet to post any entries.
		You must be logged in as a “LISTENER” to add comments.
		You must be logged in as a “LISTENER” to have friends.
	www.purevolume.com /listeners/wergild (36 words)

	Beowulf
		Old English for fate, which was believed to be the controlling force of the world for pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon culture.
		The money itself had less significance as wealth than as proof that the kinsmen had done what was right.
		Relatives who failed either to exact wergild or to take vengeance could never be happy, having found no practical way of satisfying their grief.”
	www.studyguide.org /beowulf.htm (1027 words)

	Viking Answer Lady Webpage - HÓLMGANG AND EINVIGI: Scandinavian Forms of the Duel
		If one of the combatants were slain in the einvigi; his relatives were entitled still to eptirmál, the right of legal prosecution after killing (Jones, "Characteristics", 205), where the survivors might opt for vengeance or wergild for his death.
		While an offer to pay wergild legally obligated the avenger to stay his hand and give the slayer a chance at legal defense at an assembly, at the same time Viking culture was geared towards vengeance rather than atonement by paying a blood-price.
		It was considered a scandal in the land that pirates and berserks should be able to come into the country and challenge respectable people to the hólmgang for their money or their women, no wergild being paid whichever fell.
	www.vikinganswerlady.com /holmgang.shtml (5444 words)

	Penguin Classics \| Classics Teachers' Guides
		Their reputation for such qualities was very important, as evidenced by Beowulf's description of the swimming match with Brecca (40-41).
		Students should be made aware of the Germanic custom of paying wergild, or "man-payment," the practice of paying a slain man's family to atone for the deed and to prevent them from taking revenge against the manslayer.
		Note: Scop and wergild do not actually appear in the text, but students should be familiar with their meanings (see Before Reading).
	us.penguinclassics.com /static/cs/us/10/nf/teachersguides/beowulf.html (3595 words)

	Beowulf
		Is the practice of *wergild* still used today (answer not in text)?
		Why was King Hrethel in a fix, between a rock and a hard spot, when it came to collecting wergild?
		Besides *wergild*, what was a second way that this culture tried to end feuds?
	www.ulm.edu /~eller/203/203rgees/beowulf.htm (1055 words)

	D&D@d20FORGE - Contributions - Bardic Tales - Wergild: Chapter Twenty One: Judgement
		He is now the recognized chieftain of his tribe, and by the old laws of Galifar, is going to demand wergild for his dead kin.
		Although, under the watchful eyes of Aureon, I must speak my heart.
		He turned, forced d’Orien onto his back and held the blade at his enemy’s heart.
	www.d20forge.com /contribution/display.html?id=1728 (2758 words)

	Crime - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The cases were decided by the people (usually largest freeholders dominating) which later gradually transformed into a system of a royal judge nominating a number of most esteemed men of the parish as his board, fulfilling the function of "the people" of yore.
		From the Hellenic system onwards, the policy rationale for requiring the payment of monetary compensation for wrongs committed has been to avoid feuding between clans and families (note the concept of pater familias as a unifying factor in extended kin groups, and the later practice of wergild in this context).
		If families' feelings could be mollified by compensation, this would help to keep the peace.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Crime (3855 words)

	D&D@d20FORGE - Contributions - Bardic Tales - Wergild: Chapter Twelve: Volaar Draal
		Contributions - Bardic Tales - Wergild: Chapter Twelve: Volaar Draal
		Categories -> Bardic Tales -> Wergild: Chapter Twelve: Volaar Draal
		I wish to have the power to claim wergild for my fallen clansmen.”
	www.d20forge.com /contribution/display.html?id=1719 (3849 words)

	Legal Definitions of Wergild, Wergild, Or Weregild
		The 'Lectric Law Library's Lexicon On * Wergild, Wergild, Or Weregild *
		Monetary compensation paid by a murderer to the relatives of the victim.
		Close it when you're done and you may be back here.)
	www.lectlaw.com /def2/w012.htm (79 words)

	Songtext: Arghoslent - Wergild
		Wegweiser: Magistrix > Songtexte > Interpreten > A > Arghoslent> Arghoslent - Wergild
		The dragon ship brought fear throughout the land
		Seite ein, wo der Songtext erscheinen soll (das Cover, falls vorhanden, wird mit eingeblendet!):
	lyrics.songtext.name /Arghoslent/Wergild-55147.html (53 words)

	E-mail Article: Wergild: Anglo-Saxon Social Structure in One Word (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-21)
		Home » History » Ancient British History » Wergild: Anglo-Saxon Social Structure in One Word
		I thought you might find this article interesting.
		Article URL: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/ancient_british_history/58419 Title: Wergild: Anglo-Saxon Social Structure in One Word Description: The Anglo-Saxon concept of wergild, or monetary prize claimed to avenge a man's death, neatly divided the society into classes.
	www.suite101.com /article/send.cfm/ancient_british_history/58419 (64 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)