Weregild
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Weregild (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.
[edit] 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. The word means "man price". If these payments were not made, or refused by the offended party, a blood feud would ensue.
The size of the weregild in cases of murder was largely conditional upon the social rank of the victim. 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 classic example of a dispute over the weregild of a slave is contained in 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.
[edit] 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. Geld is still the Dutch, Yiddish, and German word for money.
