Editing Weregild (section)

== Overview ==
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.<ref>[http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Weregild dictionary.reference.com], retrieved 2011-02-06</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=weregild |work=OED |url=http://oed.com/view/Entry/227849?redirectedFrom=Weregild# |url-access=subscription|access-date=2011-02-06}}. Quoted in {{citation|last=Elster  |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Elster |title=Closing the Books: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2chPzq9HNNcC&pg=PA166 |page=166|isbn=9780521548540 }}</ref>

The weregild was codified, for example, under [[Francia|Frankish]] [[Salic Law|Salic Code]].<ref>{{citation|last=Loyd |first=William H. |author-link=<!--William H. Loyd--> |title=Executions at Common Law |journal=University of Pennsylvania Law Review |volume=62 |year=1914 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xCwZ9SOL518C&pg=PA355 |page=355<!--354–368-->}}</ref>

Weregild payment was an important legal mechanism in early [[Germanic society]]; the other common form of legal reparation at this time was [[Feud#Blood feuds/vendetta|blood revenge]]. The payment was typically made to the [[family]] or to the [[sibb|clan]]. Similar to the way a payment was made to family, it was also a family's or kin group's responsibility to ensure the payment for the wrong committed, especially if the offender is unable to cover the cost of the offense himself.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Warren C.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kFHJAwAAQBAJ&q=Violence+among+the+early+franks&pg=PA33|title=Violence in Medieval Europe|date=2014-06-11|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-86621-3|language=en}}</ref>

No distinction was made between [[murder]] and [[manslaughter]] until these distinctions were instituted by the re-introduction of [[Roman law]] in the [[12th century]].<ref>John Fosberry (translator {{clarify|date=March 2014}}), ''Criminal Justice through the Ages''. Mittalalterliches Kriminalmuseum, Rothenburg ob der Tauber (1990 {{abbr|Eng.|English}} {{abbr|trans.|translation}} 1993), p. 49, pp. 99-101.</ref>

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]].<ref>Fosberry, pp. 48-52.</ref>

Weregild from ''[[Norðleoda Laga]]'':<ref>{{cite book |last1=Whitelock |first1=Dorothy |title=English Historical Documents, 500-1042 |date=1996 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-14366-0 |page=477 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gLpQFeVfpuYC |access-date=30 April 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Rank !! [[Thrymsa]]
|-
| King || 30,000
|-
| Archbishop/[[aetheling]] || 15,000
|-
| Bishop/[[ealdorman]] || 8,000
|-
| [[Hold (title)|Hold]]/[[high-reeve]]|| 4,000
|-
| Mass-[[thegn]]/secular thegn ||  2,000
|-
| Prospering [[Churl|ceorl]] || 2,000
|-
| Ceorl || 200
|-
| Prospering Welshman || 120s
|-
| Non-prospering Welshman || 80s
|-
| Landless Welshman || 70s
|}