wergeld, -gild Hist.
(ˈwɜːgɛld)
Forms: α. 3 Sc. weregeheld, 5 weregylt, 7–9 weregild, 9 -geld. β. 5 Sc. wargeld (7 vergelt), 7, 9 wergeld; 9 wehrgeld. γ. 8–9 wergild.
[ad. OE. (Anglian and Kentish) werᵹeld, (WSaxon) werᵹield, -ᵹild, -ᵹyld, late wereᵹild (f. wer man were n.1 + ᵹeld, ᵹield yield n.) = OFris. wergeld, -ield, OHG. wer-, werigelt (MHG. wergelt, G. wer-, wehrgeld, Du. weergeld); the equivalent ON. term is manngjǫld.
The three OE. types werᵹeld, werᵹild, and wereᵹild are represented in the modern forms; the spelling wehrgeld is due to the incorrect German form.]
In ancient Teutonic and Old English law, the price set upon a man according to his rank, paid by way of compensation or fine in cases of homicide and certain other crimes to free the offender from further obligation or punishment.
| α a 1214 Assise Will. c. 14 in Acts Parl. Scot. (1844) I. 375 De weregehelde furis. De unoquoque fure per totam Scociam est weregehelde xxxiiij vacc. et dimid. 14.. Ibid., Of þe law þat is callyt weregylt. 1614 Selden Titles Honor 389 Were is before deliuerd in Weregild, and is calld pretium Redemptionis in the laws of the Confessor. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Pref. Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 32 A Payment in Money called the Veragelt; from which no Body can doubt, but our Saxon Ancestors had their Were⁓gild. 1761 Hume Hist. Eng. (1762) I. App. i. 156 The price of the king's head, or his weregild, as it was then called, was by law 30,000 thrimsas. 1769 Blackstone Comm. IV. xxiii. 308 In those times, when a private pecuniary transaction, called a weregild, was constantly paid to the party injured, or his relations. 1818 Hallam Mid. Ages ii. ii. (1819) I. 230 Such were the weregilds of the barbaric codes. 1848 Lytton Harold v. vi, There is no weregeld for manslaying on the head of him who smiles so in death on his old comrades in life! 1863 H. Cox Inst. ii. x. 533 The Weregild, or compensation for murder was regulated according to the rank of the person slain. 1864 Kingsley Rom. & Teut. vii. 193 He..died, like Samson, says old Paul, having got good weregeld for the loss of his eyes. |
| β a 1250 Reg. Maj. iv. xii. in Acts Parl. Scot. (1844) I. 634 De unoquoque fure..est wargeld triginta vacce et vna iuuenca. 1609 Skene tr. Reg. Maj. iv. xix. 70 b, The Ver⁓gelt, or Ranson of ane theif, throw all Scotland is threttie kye; and ane zoung kow. 1614 Selden Titles Honor 204 This wergeld or werigeld is often met with in the Salique laws. 1848 Mrs. Horrocks tr. Menzel's Hist. Ger. I. 33 The Wergeld or fine seems to have been introduced at a later period. 1854 Milman Lat. Chr. iii. v. I. 395 In the Burgundian law..the life of every man..is assessed..at a certain value, and the wehrgeld may be received in atonement for his blood. 1902 F. Seebohm Tribal Custom Ags. Law i. 1 The Anglo-Saxon wergelds were stated, with perhaps one exception, in silver scillings. |
| γ 1762 M. Foster Rep. Proc. Surry etc. 287 The Anglo-Saxons..in Case of Homicide contented themselves with a pecuniary Compensation, which they called the Wergild, the Price of Blood. 1802 A. Ranken Hist. Fr. II. 249 Culpable homicide was punished with banishment, besides the wargild [sic], or fine, paid to the nearest kin of the deceased. 1860 Hook Lives Archbps. I. v. 243 His position in society was, according to the custom of the age, marked by the amount of his wer-gild. 1870 Freeman Norm. Conq. (ed. 2) I. App. 629 By this treaty provision is made for wergilds. |