Frisia in the High Middle Ages. An area stretching from the (former) River Vlie – between the Wadden Sea islands of Vlieland and Terschelling – in the Netherlands to the River Weser in Germany, including the regions of Butjadingen und Standland, and Land Wursten. The title of this blog post was a verdict from around the year 1100 regarding the slaying of a man. The murderer had to pay a so-called weregeld. In this blog post, we will explain the purpose of a weregeld in a society that did not have a central ruler or government. A society without a higher authority, where everything revolved around honour and avenging those who had compromised your honour. Yes, in medieval Frisia, anyone could be an avenger righteously!

Avenging is still a very popular theme for television series and Hollywood movies. Apparently, we still very much like the idea of taking matters into our hands again and avenging bad people or aliens, or whatever nasty. Especially if the wrecend, which is Old English for 'avenger', compare the Dutch verb wreken for 'to avenge', is a beautiful and strong woman.

Of course, we remember the ‘60s series The Avengers with the elegant Diana Rigg as Mrs. Emma Peel, and its remake with Uma Thurman in 1998. In 2013, Diana resurfaced as the revengeful Lady Olenna in Game of Thrones. Uma did the same; she resurfaced as 'the Bride' – a very powerful avenger in Tarantino's Kill Bill in 2003. But also the ‘70s series Charlie’s Angels. His darling angels were private avengers, with Farrah Fawcett being one of them. This series was repeated and rebooted again and again in the decades afterward, including with Hollywood stars like Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz. Although the list is far from complete, the last production we must mention is the superhero movie – yes again! – The Avengers in 2012, with Scarlett Johansson as the superhero 'Black Widow'.

So, if you want to be a successful producer in Los Angeles, we recommend to make sure you have 'avenging beautiful women in black – or yellow – leather suits’ as plan B in your portfolio. Success guaranteed!

What is a weregeld?

Weregeld, also called wergeld or wergild, is a medieval Germanic word. The word wer, were, or weer means 'man' and stems from the Germanic word wiraz (Van Renswoude 2025). Thus, explaining, too, what a werewolf means: a man-wolf. But also the Mid Frisian, Dutch, and English words wrâld, wereld, and world, all meaning 'age of men', with the second component ald or eld meaning 'age/period'. Think of alt, âld, or old in the German, Frisian, and English language, repspectively. The word geld means 'money'. The German and Dutch words for money are still geld, just like in the Old Saxon language. Also, the modern Mid Frisian word jild for 'money' is derived from geld. In the Old Saxon language, a weregeld was called a mangeld. In the Old Frisian language, a weregeld was often shortened to simply ield. The original meaning of geld is 'to compensate/to restore', as the Dutch verb vergelden still means (Nijdam 2022).

The principle of a weregeld is much older than the Middle Ages. Neither is it limited to the North Sea area nor to Europe. No, the principle of a more or less fixed price for slaying a man is much older and, in fact, a universal concept. For example, the mechanism of a weregeld in Frisia can be traced back to the Roman Period. Originally, the value of a weregeld was set at fifty golden Byzantine solidis, a Roman money coin with a gold weight of 14.6 grams. This weregeld related to solidis probably survived in the southern parts of former West Frisia, namely the present-day provinces of Zeeland and Zuid Holland south of the Lower River Rhine, which were once part of the Roman Empire. Together with the Cananefates tribe, this was the territory of the Frisiavones. Furthermore, the concept of weregeld is not limited to Germanic cultures and can be found everywhere around the world (still). Further below we will give an example of the latter.

The fact that the concept of weregeld can be traced back to the Roman period does not mean it started there and then. No, it certainly is even much older than that. Before the Roman period and the introduction of the money economy, weregeld, or blood money, was probably donated in livestock. The Continental Saxons, also called Old Saxons, expressed weregeld much longer in livestock and only started to relate it to gold and currency after being conquered by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages. The Franks had adopted currency from the Romans at the end of the eighth century, and under their rule, economic reforms were introduced slowly.

The Old Germanic word for wealth is fehu. It means 'livestock/cattle'. The Dutch word for livestock is still vee. The English word fee for 'honorarium' has the same origin. In the Italian language, as a legacy of the Lombards or Goths, you have the expression 'pagare il fio', meaning 'paying the penalty' for wrongdoing. Literally, it translates as 'paying the cattle'. Yes, cattle, wealth, treasure, and money were even synonymous. Also among the Celts in much of Europe during most of the Iron Age, wealth was expressed in cattle, and raiding cattle from other tribes was – hence – an honourable activity (Clerinx 2023). The Latin word pecunia means 'small cattle'. Pecu has, therefore, the same origin as fehu. Even the Old English word sceatta for a money coin had a counterpart in the Old Frisian language, namely scet. Today, skat means 'treasure' in the modern Mid Frisian language but in Old Frisian, during the High Middle Ages, the phrase 'fyf inhemede scettan' meant 'five domestic animals' (Miedema 1972). Beautiful, is it not? And more interesting stuff coming up in this blog post.

The foregoing illustrates that cattle as a means of living was an important, if not vital, pillar in the saltmarsh culture of the Frisians. Already in Roman times, it was. Eventually, their Friesian black and white cattle would, from the late nineteenth century onward, determine dairy production worldwide as we know it today. A fascinating piece of history, not much light has been shed on in history books. We did and read about it in our blog post Golden Calves, or bursting udders on bony legs.

Within the Frisian feud society, everything revolved around the honour of the members of a kinship. If this honour was compromised by someone because of a murder or an inflicted injury, the person affected and his or her heir had the legal right to avenge this deed. Not by making a phone call to Charlie to ask for the help of his elegant Angels, but by doing it yourself. Take a sword or an axe, maybe have it quickly sharpened at the local smithy, and off you go! To kill or hurt the perpetrator, or one of his/her kin. It was completely legal in the formal sense of the word.

If, however, you were not a handyman or, even more, in order to prevent long-term and, therefore, potentially socially destabilizing vendettas, the compromised honour or degraded dignity could be compensated with a payment as well. With a payment by the wrongdoer, the scores or honours could be balanced without additional bloodshed. This actually was the preferred option within the community, keeping the frede, the peace. Within a feud society, paying a compensation was considered an honourable thing to do. This is the rationale behind the legal figure of the weregeld: re-balancing honour on both sides, without additional bloodshed or further escalating violence. You avoided revenge and preserved or restored the peace within the community.

Thinking of a feud society as simply barbaric is too plain. Violence, of course, disturbs the peace. But the threat of even more, escalating violence should not be viewed as merely negative. It had – and has – also a regulating effect. Peace exists because of this threat (Roach 2013). A cold war, you could say. Violence within a feud society could be averted through material compensation. The vast amount of high and late-medieval law codices of Frisia distinguishes itself from those of neighbouring peoples in the way that they do not contain many corporal punishments. Literally everything was regulated through money. When death sentences do occur in Frisian law, these can be viewed more as a sacrificial ritual (Steensen 2020).

A weregeld could be expressed in cattle, in land, or in the precious metals gold and silver. It is important to know that a weregeld was not related to its purchasing power at, for example, the fish or slave market, or whatever kind of market. Prices on the market could rise or deflation of silver could occur, but it did not affect the weregeld amount. Its purpose was primarily a gesture of atonement to balance the honour and dignity that was compromised by a previous homicide or an inflicted injury. In medieval Frisia, a weregeld was, therefore, over time, a remarkably stable amount of silver. This is also called the Henstra hypothesis (Henstra 1999). We will come back to the value of the weregeld later.

In Frisia, the central norm for a weregeld was the price to be paid for the slaying of a 'free man'. In early medieval Frisia, you still had the castes of noblemen and serfs, too, for whom, of course, different tariffs were applicable. The price for killing a freeman was the central norm. In the High Middle Ages, the castes of noblemen and serfs disappeared from the legal texts altogether. This was a result of the total disappearance of feudal and government-like structures within the territories of Frisia in the centuries before. A deviant development starting in the twelfth century, contrary to the rest of Europe, where state institutions arose and grew stronger and stronger, and developed into the effective and efficient problem-solving machines we know today. If there is any irony in these words, it is the reader who hears it.

The weregeld for a 'free woman' was the same as that for a freeman, in Frisia that is. Both had the value of one weregeld. This was the same with the Anglo-Saxons. On the other side of the Southern Bight, in England, a weregeld was called a wergild or a leodgeld. Freeborns or coerls, compared to the modern Dutch word kerels, had a value of one hundred shillings. The law code of Kent, of King Æthelberht, dating from the early seventh century, had extensive lists of injury tariffs, similar to those in Frisia. Very expensive tariffs in the kingdom of Kent were the injuries to the 'generative organs,' whilst pulling someone's hair was one of the cheapest tariffs. "Bizarre, this should be the other way around," we hear the reader think. The law code of Kent distinguished freeborn married women and freeborn maidens, the latter named friwif locbor(e), which translates as 'freeborn woman with flowing locks.' The weregeld for killing or hurting a friwif locbor was higher than that for a married woman, whose hair was apparently covered. Moreover, more royal law codes of rulers existed in England, like the laws of Hlothhere, Eadric, and Wihtred, all with similar tariff lists.

The Scandinavian tribes, however, calculated a higher weregeld for a free woman than that for a freeman, especially if the woman had reached fertility. The same was true for the Frankish laws. Killing a woman before fertility or after menopause cost two hundred shillings. In between, the fine was six hundred shillings. If she was pregnant, a weregeld of seven hundred shillings had to be paid. Some tribes in Kenya, until recently at least, calculated a weregeld for the slaying of a woman as less than that for the slaying of a man, too. By the way, the weregeld was expressed in cattle instead of silver (Willemsen 2014). Here too, pagare il fio.

We avoid in this blog post drawing any conclusions on these differences regarding the different values of women and men, acknowledging this was a traditional, one-dimensional view on gender as well. We do note that these differences can be seen from different angles, in terms of hierarchy and/or in terms of economic value. For the rest, it is too hot a topic to touch. Although we do say something about it in our earlier blog post Women of Frisia: free and unbound? Dare to read it!

Ewa ad Amorem – Another early-medieval law code is the Ewa ad Amorem, a law codified around AD 800. The title Amorum might refer to the small River Ammor. The jurisdiction of the Ewa is, therefore, thought to be in the central river area of the Netherlands, namely Batavia (viz. the region of Betuwe in the Dutch language), which is the area of the Lower River Meuse, the Lower River Waal, and pagus 'territory' Teisterbant more to the west, and covers mostly the present-day region of Neder-Betuwe. The initial ratio for killing a slave, a serf, a freeman, and a 'homo Francus' was 1/2 : 1 : 2 : 3, respectively. After a review of the law in AD 837, the ratio of a freeman and a 'homo Francus' was set at 2 : 6.

Furthermore, concerning the system of tariffs, in Frisia all other death and injury tariffs were related to the central norm of the weregeld for killing a freeman. In other words, the blood money to be paid for killing a freeman was the benchmark and amounted to one weregeld. For example, blowing out a person's eye was sanctioned with half a weregeld. Cutting off two ears cost you a third of a weregeld. And, to answer the thoughts of the reader: indeed, what a jolly society it must have been. Tariff lists of great length have existed in Frisia from the Early to the High Middle Ages, from pulling someone's hair to cutting off one's leg.

Of course, it had to be determined how serious an inflicted injury actually was and hence which compensation, which tariff had to be paid. From the thirteenth century onward, the functionaries medici appear in the written sources. He not only treated wounds but also established the extent of them in terms of compensation. For the reader's entertainment, here is a report of a medici in the First Emsingo Codex:

If you want to stop the blood, then dip a [writing] reed in the blood and write this text around the wound: consummatum est (‘it is finished’)

The value of a man

Quite extensive research has been done into (early) medieval weregelds and injury tariffs in former Mid Frisia, i.e., the province of Friesland, and in East Frisia, i.e., the regions of Ommelanden and Ostfriesland in the northeast of the Netherlands and northwest of Germany, respectively. The lists of tariffs are remarkably extensive and detailed. The most important sources are the Lex Frisionum, dating from the end of the eighth century, and the many Old Frisian legal texts from the eleventh until the sixteenth centuries. The Lex Frisionum was part of a change in the legal system of Francia, of which Frisia had become part in the beginning of the eighth century, implemented by Charlemagne at the end of that same century. Not only was the legal system reformed, but the money system also underwent a significant change under Frankish rule at the end of the eighth century (Henstra 2018), including a standardization of a more silver-heavy penny, namely from 1.3 to 1.7 grams of silver.

Tariffs to be paid were quoted in numerous currencies over time. When these tariffs over an amazing period of nine centuries – almost a millennium! – are converted into the weight of silver, a weregeld turns out to be surprisingly stable, amounting all this time to around 1,664 grams of fine silver (Henstra 1999, Nijdam 2022). There were only some limited deviations, which ranged between 1,560 and 1,768 grams. In this context, it is interesting to mention that a ninth-century silver hoard was found on the former Wadden Sea island of Wieringen in the Netherlands, possibly containing a weregeld. Its total weight of silver was namely exactly 1.7 kilograms. Read our blog post Foreign Fighters returning from Viking warbands. Whether the owner, possibly a Viking, received a weregeld or had to pay one, we will never know.

If we relate 1,644 grams of fine silver to the current silver price (date of this blog post, October 2020) and convert this value into the most successful modern currency ever of our planet, the value of a Frisian man today would be around 1,193 US dollars. We leave it to the reader to decide if this is an appropriate value for a Frisian.

And, this Frisian is not to be confused with a Friesian, the elegant black horse which would cost you around 30,000 US dollars anyway. A preferent mare even much more (see note at the end of this blog post). We are talking about simply humans now – those creatures who sit on horses.

But more silver had to be paid

When someone had slain a person, both heirs and kin of the victim had to be compensated, too. The perpetrator had to pay weregeld to the heirs of the victim. This share was called riocht ield. The kin of the perpetrator, however, had to pay weregeld, too, in this case to the victim’s kin. This share was called meentele or meytele in the Old Frisian language, also called meene Meente, translated into modern German as gemeine Mannschaft 'joint society' (Blumenburg 2002). The logic behind this is simple and can be illustrated by quoting former American prosecutor Harris (2024): "A harm against any one of us is a harm against all of us." Under normal or standard conditions, the slayer had to pay one weregeld, i.e., the riocht ield, to the heirs, and the slayer’s kin had to pay half a weregeld, i.e., the meentele, to the victim’s kin. So, the standard ratio was two-thirds riocht ield and one-third meentele.

Hence, a significant share of the mienskip 'community' was involved and even held responsible. Good luck with trying to figure out who on both sides belonged to the kin and the heirs, and who did not. Now how complex is all that! However, this is the way you do it when you have no government institutions or prison institutions in place, and people still have matters in their own hands. Peace and order were a joint responsibility, and for one thing, the extended family members could put pressure on a young man showing a bit too brave an attitude to behave himself; otherwise, it could cost them. Maybe a new guiding principle for policymakers in how to curb eroding social cohesion in modern societies: enlarging the circle of people who are involved and responsible?

So, slaying a man would cost the slayer and his kin normally one and a half weregeld which was equivalent to 2,496 gram of fine silver.

There could be conditions that functioned as a multiplier. If, for example, you killed or raped a widow, a judge, or a pilgrim, a multiplier would be applicable, which meant you had to pay additional weregeld. You hit the jackpot with these examples because these categories were considered vulnerable people who could not protect themselves as well as others or were of specific value for maintaining the order.

Another factor that was relevant was whether a peace was applicable. A proclaimed peace was assumed to be broken when someone was killed or injured. During the Early Middle Ages in Frisia, this was the so-called frede and was to be paid to the count or lord. This word means 'peace' and is comparable with the German word Frieden, the Dutch word vrede, and the Mid Frisian word frede. With the aforementioned disintegration of feudal structures in Frisia, the authority of counts and lords disappeared as well around the mid-thirteenth century, and people themselves had to impose a peace. Instead of a feudal frede, it was called a liudfrede. The word liud is related to the Mid Frisian word lju or the Dutch word lied or lui, meaning 'common people'. So, the 'common people's peace'.

During the crusades, the Roman Catholic Church declared the Pax Dei 'the Peace of God,' and again a multiplier was applicable if you killed or injured someone whilst this peace was in place. Of course, this Pax Dei was not broken when you decapitated Moors (viz. Muslims) in the Levant, Cathars in southern France, or infidels in Livonia in the name of the Cross. You did not have to pay any weregeld. You could even take their silver and would be received in heaven with the gates wide open and a big hug from Saint Peter, once your had come.

Lastly, you also had the Treuga Dei or Truce of God. With this Pax Dei truce, the Church tried to halt acts of war, at least during holy times of the year. Contemporary critics argued, however, that the Church had no business with war and bloodshed whatsoever, and should refrain from everything that had to do with it, including declaring truces and peace.

When slaying a man and a peace was in place, the one and a half weregeld above was multiplied by -for example- two times.

Note 1 – If you could not pay the weregeld with land, goods, or precious metals – whether or not through coin – you paid with your neck. Just so you know and there is no misunderstanding.

Note 2 – Honour of men and women stayed of great importance after the Middle Ages during the Early Modern Period. Read our blog post Harbours, Hookers, Heroines and Women in Masquerade.

In modern Dutch penal law, and that of many other countries, too, a residue of the honour concept is still present. It concerns article 261 of the Wetboek van Strafrecht 'penal code' concerning defamation, honour, and reputation. It is sanctioned with a prison sentence with a maximum up to six months, or with a fine of the third category, which is maximized at 8,750 US dollar (2022). It is evident that maxima are not often granted by the judges.

Note 3 – Two years after this blog post (2022), historian Nijdam calculates completely different amounts of weregeld when you project 1,664 grams of fine silver onto today. He understandably first made a historical comparison of the value of silver, which results in a price of approximately 290,000 US dollars for 1,664 grams. Furthermore, the gold-silver ratio is historically off-balance; it is five times lower than the historical average. After this second correction, he settles on a weregeld of approximately 1,460,000 US dollars. Perhaps this is indeed a more realistic value. At the same time, however, if this is correct, most of the Frisians would have had to be millionaires in medieval Frisia, or at least have filthy rich family members, in order to make a society based on feud a bit workable. Because if the tariff would be impossible to meet, only the other legal alternative would be available: sharpening your sword at the local smith and balancing the scores of honour yourself. In addition, what was the share of people in early medieval society that possessed money or silver at all? How was wealth distributed?

Moreover, Nijdam’s weregeld for a human is more expensive than the price of a Friesian horse. A preferent mare costs about 1,000,000 US dollars (2022). Of course, this cannot or should not be right 😉

Note 4 – After World War II a group of Jewish survivors were called Nakam meaning 'revenge'. These Avengers, as they were known, too, killed Nazi criminals, including poisoning 2,283 prisoners of war.

Suggested music

AC/DC, If You Want Blood (You've Got It) (1978)

Pink Floyd, Money (1973)

Further reading

Besteman, J., A second Viking silver hoard from Wieringen: Westerklief II (2009)

Blumenberg, A., Butjadingen - Land und Leute - gestern und heute (2002)

Bremmer, R.H., Hir is eskriven. Lezen en schrijven in de Friese landen rond 1300 (2004)

Brooks, S. & Harrington, S., The Kingdom and People of Kent AD 400-1066. Their history and archaeology (2010)

Clerinx, H., De god met de maretak. Kelten en de Lage Landen (2023)

Green, D.H. & Siegmund, F. (eds.), The Continental Saxons from the Migration Period to the Tenth Century. An Ethnographic Perspective; Ausenda, G., Jural relations among the Saxons before and after Christianization (2003)

Henstra, D.J., The evolution of the money standard in medieval Frisia. A treatise on the history of the systems of money of account in the former Frisia (c.600-c.1500) (1999)

Klerk, de A., Vlaardingen in de wording van het graafschap Holland 800-1250 (2018)

Miedema, H.T.J., De oudengelse muntnaam sceat en het oudfriese diminutivum skeisen ‘duit’ (1972)

Nieuwenhuijsen, K., Ewa ad Amorem (2005)

Nieuwenhuijsen, K., Lex Frisionum. Introduction (2010)

Nijdam, H., De priis fan in Fries (2023)

Nijdam, H., Indigenous Or Universal? A Comparative Perspective On Medieval (Frisian) Compensation Law (2014)

Nijdam, H., Lichaam, eer en recht in middeleeuws Friesland. Een studie naar de Oudfriese boeteregisters (2008)

Popkema, A.T. (ed.), Fon Jelde. Verzamelde opstellen van D.J. Henstra over middeleeuws Frisia (2010)

Renswoude, van O., Vergeten woorden (2025)

Roach, L., Kingship and Consent in Anglo-Saxon England, 871-978. Assemblies and the State in the Early Middle Ages (2013)

Sayer, D., Early Anglo-Saxon cemeteries. Kinship, community and identity (2020)

Siems, H., Studien zur Lex Frisionum (1980)

Spiekhout, D., Brugge, ter A. & Stoter, M. (eds.), Vrijheid, Vetes, Vagevuur. De middeleeuwen in het noorden; Nijdam, H., De middeleeuwse Friese samenleving. Vrijheid en recht (2022)

Steensen, T., Die Friesen. Menschen am Meer (2020)

Vries, O., Asega, is het dingtijd? De hoogtepunten van de Oudfriese tekstoverlevering (2007)

Vries, O., De taal van recht en vrijheid. Studies over middeleeuws Friesland (2012)

Willemsen, A., Gouden Middeleeuwen. Nederland in de Merovingische wereld, 400 – 700 na Chr. (2014)