Wergild, Compensation and Penance: The Monetary Logic of Early Medieval Conflict Resolution

This volume offers the first comprehensive account of the monetary logic that guided the payment of wergild and blood money in early medieval conflict resolution. In the early middle ages, wergild played multiple roles: it was used to measure a person’s status, to prevent and end conflicts, and to negotiate between an individual and the agents of statehood. This collection of interlocking essays by historians, philologists and jurists represents a major contribution to the study of law and society in Western Europe during the early Middle Ages.

Contributors are Lukas Bothe, Warren Brown, Stefan Esders, Wolfgang Haubrichs, Paul Hyams, Tom Lambert, Ralph W. Mathisen, Rob Meens, Han Nijdam, Lisi Oliver, Harald Siems, Karl Ubl, and Helle Vogt.

See inside the book.

Lukas Bothe is a research associate at Freie Universität, Berlin. His research focuses on the Lex Ribuaria and the functionality of monetary fines.
Stefan Esders is professor of late antique and early medieval history at Freie Universität, Berlin. His research interests include early medieval law and legislation, the impact of Roman law in the post-Roman era and medieval legal pluralism.
Han Nijdam is project leader for Old Frisian at the Fryske Akademy, Leeuwarden. He writes on medieval Frisian law and historical anthropology of medieval Frisia.