How Did The Anglo-Saxons Punish Murder?
Before the introduction of jails and Capital punishment in Germanic Europe, blood feueds were commonplace. These would often spiral out of control with whole families becoming involved. To stop this, many kings and lord's enacted the Weregild. This was a system of payment whereby the family of the murderer was required to pay the victims family a preset amount, with the king also getting his fair share of the payment. The amount paid was based on social status, nationality and sex. For example a landless Welshmans life was worth 70 shillings, while a common Anglo-Saxon was worth 200. Noble men were significantly more with a king worth 30,000.
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