Balderdash for the Medieval Gay #24

(a compendium of queer words for the modern fag with a passion for the Middle Ages added hebdomadally on the Sabbath day)

24.) Wergeld
-noun singular, also wergild or weregild

a.) In Anglo-Saxon and Germanic law, a price set upon a person’s life on the basis of rank and paid as compensation by the family of a slayer to the kindred or lord of a slain person to free the culprit of further punishment or obligation and to prevent a blood feud.*

b.) A reparational payment usually demanded of a person guilty of homicide or other wrongful death, although it could also be demanded in other cases of serious crime.

[Origin: From Middle English wargeld and Old English wergeld, from wer or "man" and geld or "payment."]

*Literally translated as “man-payment” the weregeld in cases of murder, was calculated conditionally based upon the social rank of the victim. An aetheling, or prince, was worth 1500 shillings. A yeoman farmer was worth 100 shillings. A laet, or agricultural serf, was worth between 40 and 80 shillings. Thralls and slaves technically commanded no weregeld, but it was commonplace to make a nominal payment in the case of a thrall and the value of the slave in such a case. How much would you and I be worth now?