Crime and Punishment / 1000-1066
Crime and Punishment: Saxon Wergild
Wergild used compensation to restore peace, but it valued people unequally.
What To Remember
- Wergild was compensation paid to the victim or the victim's family.
- The amount depended on the victim's status and the injury caused.
- The Normans ended wergild and redirected fines to the king's officials.
Compensation
Wergild means a person's value in law.
It helped prevent revenge because families received payment instead of continuing a blood feud.
Heavy fines also acted as a deterrent against future crime.
Status mattered
The workbook gives 300 shillings for killing a noble.
It gives 100 shillings for killing a lower-class freeman.
A peasant's value was lower, showing that Anglo-Saxon justice was unequal.
Body-part tariffs
Injuries also had set payments.
The workbook gives 50 shillings for an eye and 6 shillings for a broken arm.
This made punishment predictable, but it also reduced harm to a price list.
Change after 1066
Norman rule ended wergild as a main system of compensation.
Fines increasingly went to the king or his officials rather than victims.
This increased royal authority over crime and punishment.
Revision Prompt
Was wergild a fair system of punishment, or did it mainly protect status?