Weregild in Modern Society
A recent thread of discussion strayed into the realms of weregild (or ericfine amongst the Celts). It just really got me thinking about the concept, it’s past usage, it’s current role in modern society, and it’s future. My first encounter of weregild as an ancient law was through a work of fiction, from Anne Rice’s vampire Thorne in Blood and Gold (I think). Where the call for the destruction of another vampire is denied to Marius, wearupon Thorne enacts his right of weregild for the crime of his own murder (enacted by the judge) by taking the blood of the defendant. So extracting repayment by denying the ruling of the one that had transgressed against him.
I know, odd example, and worth keeping in mind that weregild is not always about repayment in blood, it wasn’t in the example, and it’s not in today’s legal system. Today, when the Criminal Court fails to appease the satisfaction of the aggreaved kin, weregild can be claimed via the Civil Courts, whilst repayment is not in blood, nor life, it is still a form of repayment. The Civil Courts can also rule differently to the Criminal Courts on the same matter.
I’m not sure where I’m going with this. I’m still gathering my own thoughts on the matter, and so would receive any recommendations on reading, whether old tales, or modern essays. I guess I’d like to be able to answer whether the modern dilution of weregild as a blood repayment is a GoodThing(tm), if this is progress, whether we can expect further dilution of the weregild right as western society becomes more state and ‘nanny’ oriented? Can the state trust families to use the Civil Courts in the manner they are intended? Or are they doomed to have rights eroded further… Discuss?
technorati tags: weregild, ericfine, glowczyzna, criminal court, civil court, blood, repayment, anne rice, society
I think weregild is related to “Wroth silver”. Wroth silver is one of Britain’s oldest ceremony, happens Martinmas eve before sunrising in the parish where I grew up, the locals gather to give money to the Lord of the Hundred.
I think perhaps the wroth silver money was originally blood money in the sense of paying the feudal lord in order to be allowed not to go and fight in his wars, and at least the suggested etymology “wrath money” has some connection with weregild. (Sorry if this seems like threadrot by being off the subject.)
Not at all off-topic, and a good read! Cie also pointed me towards this link, which describes a similar regular set of meetings, in which weregild was normally sought between land-owners (and potentially tenants of the land).
ummm, well, I know that there are quite a few Irish mythology tales where wereguilds were extracted–it was usually a payment for someone’s death. For example, if a lord was killed in battle, his killer (this was between tribes, they supposedly had whole extensive rules of conduct and such) had to pay the family either in cattle (in the Iron Age days) or in treasure like silver or gold. The wereguild all depended on the dead person’s value to society. A freeman was “cheaper” than a warrior. The most expensive were druids and royalty. I’m not sure all the laws that went into that, but I figure that it was a way of ensuring that the family was compensated (almost like life insurance today) so that way they could keep going on without falling apart–and also it was a more humane way of dealing with battle losses. Instead of chopping off your enemy’s head, demand all his cattle and money until he’s poor and worthless!
I’ve been sent another link, the Northern European Studies Texts. Offering various Norse and related texts, with a handy term search engine.
I think I’ve got plenty of reading to do.