Re: Heortling social structure and wergeld confusion

From: valkoharja <rintasaa_at_Wi3bE9AlXHBZYpa0Ebzxl8INxBeEETH7fVwm5r9R-1yl_KXGjwJnoyelNRCZde1HjGc>
Date: Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:02:21 -0000

> Adept also coined the Heortling concept of ownership "communist".

*sheepish smile*

My apologies. I was feeling frustrated at the somewhat loose definitions in the existing sources, or parhaps my poor understanding of them. A fierce "barbarian" society where individual achievement is a cause for boasting, and where wealth and generosity are respected didn't seem to mix well with an "everything belongs to the clan" logic. It evoked ideas of soviet collective communities which didn't funcion all the well in the real world.

The result has been astonishing, even if I regret some of my original wording. I feel my understanding of the heortling social system has grown by leaps and bounds. Being a finn, I mostly look at vikings, and viking age finns (free, prosperous farmers at the top strata, often governed in practise by the wives of the landowners) for inspiration on the society. I understand that these examples are somewhat "late era" for inspiration.

  -Adept            

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