Wergeld

From: Nick Brooke <100270.337_at_compuserve.com>
Date: 02 Apr 95 21:59:59 EDT


Wergelds have come up again. I'll get technical.

When I studied the Salic Laws (Dark Age Frankish), it became obvious that wergelds were not meant to be affordable: they were deterrents. The barbarian law-codes chuck golden solidi around as if the Franks were living in D&D times. People didn't spend their time adding up whether they could afford to kill or injure other Franks: they were scared off from doing so by the high penalties imposed by Salic Law. (If it was being enforced, of course).

Here's the going rates for common injuries:

	Hand cut off		100 solidi
	Hand left dangling	 45 solidi
	Hand struck through	 62 1/2 solidi
	Thumb cut off		 45 solidi
	Index finger		 35 solidi
	Other fingers		 15 solidi each
	Foot cut off		 62 1/2 solidi
	Foot left dangling	 45 solidi
	Eye gouged out		 62 1/2 solidi
	Nose cut off		 45 solidi
	Ear cut off		 15 solidi
	Tongue cut out		100 solidi
	Tooth knocked out	 15 solidi
	Genitals injured	100 solidi
	Genitals cut off	200 solidi
	

"He who attacks another man's place and there breaks down doors, kills dogs, or wounds men or carries off anything thence in a cart shall be liable to pay eight thousand denarii (i.e. two hundred solidi)" -- in addition to returning the objects taken or their value, plus a payment for the time their use was lost!

"He who stealthily robs a dead body before it is put in the earth ... shall be liable to pay four thousand denarii (i.e. one hundred solidi)" -- and again, return them and cough up another fine.

And it's not just violence and theft that incur hefty fines: here's the Frankish toll on insults.

"Pederast" 15 solidi
"Covered in shit" 3 solidi
"Prostitute" (M/F) 45 solidi
"Fox" 3 solidi
"Rabbit" 3 solidi
"Coward" 3 solidi
"Liar" 15 solidi

And on touching women:         

	Hand or finger		15 solidi
	Forearm			30 solidi
	Upper arm		35 solidi
	Breast			45 solidi

Oh, and there's a 200 solidi fine for proven instances of cannibalistic witchcraft.

The idea is not that rich folk can get away with anything, but that everyone lives in fear of the law. Perhaps wergeld lists like these are a secular equivalent to the priests' penitentials: a ranking of heinous crimes or sins and their penalties. But the existence of a set penalty does not of itself justify or excuse the crime.

Other than the Icelandic sources (where the number of protracted vendettas and disregarded court judgements tends to deny rather than confirm the effectiveness of wergeld-law), can anyone think of a system of affordable wergelds honoured by the recipients that actually worked?



Nick

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