Wergild - definition of wergild by The Free Dictionary.
WERGILD, or WEREGILD, old Eng. law. The price which in a barbarous age, a person guilty of homicide or other enormous offence was required to pay, instead of receiving other punishment. 4 Bl. Com. 188.
What is a Wergild? money paid to the relatives of a murder victim in compensation for loss and to prevent a blood feud.
Aelfhere some scholars think that this is a reference to Beowulf, indicating that Wiglaf is related, perhaps a cousin. battle-flame the sword, Hrunting. Battle-Scylfings Swedes.The Geats have a long feud with the Scylfings. battle-talon another reference to Grendel's claw. body-warden a kenning for a chain-mail shirt. The bold Scylding the poet associates Beowulf with the Scyldings.
Local Government and the Legal System in Anglo-Saxon England. Anglo-Saxon England was a very well-run kingdom. The king had ultimate authority but throughout the 9th and 10th centuries a complex.
The strong personal bond between king and thane known as the comitatus (surprisingly Heaney doesn't use the word), wergild, or the legally fixed price paid as compensation for injury as a means of avoiding blood feuds, and the actual and symbolic importance of mead halls, such as Heorot Hall, as refuges against the monstrous are addressed to provide readers with the necessary background.
The wergild helped define varying classes of society. A higher social status meant the victim's family could demand a larger payment. Everyone, except slaves, had an assigned worth that determined the value of clergymen and kings to the lowliest freemen. The varying Anglo-Saxon kingdoms established amounts of wergild.
Law and order. Because King William believed he was the rightful successor to Edward the Confessor, his first written statements and proclamations were made in English, just like the kings before him.