Adept used the Anglo-Saxon names for offices in the Heortling clans to draw conclusions by applying Anglo-Saxon roles to the same names.
While this is tempting (and is what I did when I tried to figure out a feudalized Heortling society in southern Heortland), I'd like to point out that I know of no mention of a "clan" anywhere in Norse or Germanic tradition except where mixed with Celts.
Germanic people had extended kinship groups (closer to Heortling
bloodlines than clans) which take the social role of Heortling clans in
questions regarding wergeld. In addition, the parties in lawsuits brought
"witnesses" who volunteered to take a stake in the suit, and who either
profited from the wergeld or had to pay part of it. In Icelandic sagas,
these witnesses are volunteers, usually (or preferredly) of the upper
social strata. Kin was expected to stand with the accusator/accused, but
more than just kin were involved, and kin support was far from automatic.
However, Icelandic law appears to be applicable to intra-"clan" legal trouble.
Adept also coined the Heortling concept of ownership "communist".
The joint ownership of resources is a concept which survived in Germanic
territories like Schleswig-Holstein well into the 19th century, despite
feudalism claiming to be the source of that ownership. Of the land in a
village, a few hides were directly assigned to the farmers (roughly
equivalent of Heortling carls). Using Saxon inheritance laws, the farmer's
property went intact to his heir, with only dowry-like inheritances for
the heir's siblings/close kin (but the right to remain on the farm), and a
similar solution for the "Altenteil" (old farmers' portion) for retired
farmers (which included moving to a smaller, cottar-like holding that was
part of the farm but not controlled by the farmer).
Everything beyond those hides directly under plow or gardened was
"Allmende", belonging to the community of the village.
I said that the farmer's property went intact to his heir. This means there is one person - the farmer - who decides what implements are used how.
Personal property was movable property, like everyday clothing, personal tools, possibly a book, a personal weapon, in rich steads maybe a horse or cart. If a farmer's kinsman has a craftshop on the farm, the tools of the craft may or may not be part of the farm property - and a source of trouble when that craftsperson decides to move away.
Not too different from Heortlings if we allow for Hearth property.
Where feudalized, the farm was taken as a fief from a lord - in Heortling
society, there is no feudal lord but the clan with its chieftain and
"officers" (thanes).
Main difference is ownership of cattle. A Germanic farm owned its own lifestock. Where there was a feudal overlord (some farmers republics lasted into the 18th century), he had no direct access to the cattle as currency, but had to take it as tax or tribute.
So, despite the Anglo-Saxon names, much of the Heortling wergeld equivalent cannot be found in Germanic history, but has been inspired by Island-Celtic traditions. (The small but persistent minority of Celts so prominent in English-language references to the Celts because of proximity, forgetting that almost half the European continent and even parts of Asia Minor had been settled by Celts and related folk.) No idea whether the Iroquois tribes had something similar to offer as parallel, culturally they seem likely to.
Among the Germanic farmers, Absolutism had brought the sneaking concept that feudal ownership of a farm included ownership of the farmers, too (which is why I was unlucky with the term "slave" in the Vadrudi discussion, my conclusive comment to which was eaten by computer failure...). In Glorantha, such can be applicable where non-Orlanthi overlords rule over Orlanthi farming populace, e.g. in Jonatela, possibly in parts of Wenelia if the local Trader Princes are strong enough, and in the border regions of Safelster (especially Naskorion).
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