It didn't take much for a Viking to avoid being a murderer. If you covered up the body to protect it from scavengers, and announced the killing at the nearest farm, it was a killing, not a murder. One saga, Gisle I think, even says that once it was still easier. In those days, it was not considered murder if you left the weapon in the wound. That was called a secret killing.
If A killed B, then B's bloodline would want to kill someone from A's bloodline. Not necessarily A, but someone of the same "worth" as B. The worth was not set on any scale, but depended on the reputation and personal qualities of the people involved. Being rich does wonders for your reputation, BTW. In principle, this doesn't lead to a feud. Once the bloodlines are even, there is no reason to go on. However, should A's bloodline disagree with B's on the relative worth of the people killed, they will of course have to even out things...
Klaus O K
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