Wergild, Compensation and Penance: The Monetary Logic of Early Medieval Conflict Resolution by Lukas Bothe, Stefan Esders and Han Nijdam

Abstract

Reviewed by: Wergild, Compensation and Penance: The Monetary Logic of Early Medieval Conflict Resolution by Lukas Bothe, Stefan Esders and Han Nijdam Julian Calcagno Bothe, Lukas, Stefan Esders, and Han Nijdam, eds, Wergild, Compensation and Penance: The Monetary Logic of Early Medieval Conflict Resolution (Medieval Law and Its Practice, 31), Leiden/Boston, Brill, 2021; hardback; pp. 322; R.R.P. €143.00; ISBN 9789004466128. This volume is an edited collection of observations concerning a revitalization of the study of wergild and conflict settlement in medieval Europe. Interest in this area has peaked in recent decades and this book reflects that interest. This volume contains thirteen single-author chapters that set out to examine the role of compensation in different medieval legal systems. Though some attention is paid to the classical Roman period, in order to demonstrate possible efforts of continuity in the Germanic legal systems, the overall emphasis of this volume is skewed towards Anglo-Saxon England and Frankish and Carolingian France, with some emphasis on Frisian, Scandinavian, and other ‘Germanic-like’ sources. There is a great deal of dialogue between the chapters, with each author adding their own insights with respect to each other’s work. Indeed, this gives the volume a more insightful approach, as each author builds on the overall thesis that aims to uncover how a person’s worth was established in the medieval era and why monetary values were applied to resolve certain conflicts. The first three chapters are largely devoted to analysing the incentive behind wergild as a method of compensation. In doing so, the authors set out to unpack the structural approaches outlined in Germanic law codes such as the Sachsenspiegel, the leges barbarorum, and the Lex Frisionum. These studies are broad and investigate many law codes, yet they deliver a well-rounded preliminary [End Page 226] understanding of early medieval mentalities surrounding conflict resolution. The focus of these first few chapters appears to be on tracking down the transition from ancient Roman law to the beginnings of medieval statehood. It is argued that the phenomenon of wergild was ‘superior’ to models of conflict resolution, as payment would disincentivize kinship groups from getting involved in individual feuds (p. 10). However, as Stefan Esders quite rightly points out, the problem with quantifying human life in terms of monetary value is that ‘value’ is always abstract (p. 12). To understand this abstraction, many of the contributors in this volume refer to the idea of honour, albeit represented as an idea numerical in value. The theme of honour runs predominantly through most of the book and is well examined in Chapters 6 and 7. Overall, these studies deliver an enhanced appreciation of understanding why honour played a substantial role in the psychologization behind wergild utilized as payment to resolve conflict. The first half of the volume will appeal to those unfamiliar with Germanic law or early medieval mentalities concerning law and order. For those interested in a terminological analysis of wergild, then Chapters 4 and 5 will beguile the reader. Naturally, they are useful guides for examining links of continuity and similarity between the different Germanic law codes, most of which are examined in this book. The chapters that make up the second half of the volume are devoted to independent themes. The approaches delivered are less broad and focus on a specific area of law or a particular law code. Rob Meens’s chapter interestingly draws us away from what one may consider ‘secular’ law, as he focuses on penance and penitential practice. Recent scholarship has considered the likelihood that penance would have been part of the punishment process. Meens correctly draws our attention to the idea that many texts that include methods of penitential practice often circulated throughout early medieval Europe and were made to exact punishment from lawbreakers. Making peace with God and absolving oneself from sin was, therefore, arguably just as important as monetary compensation in the process of restoring conflict. It is here that Meens reminds us that there is always an uncertainty between what we consider secular law and ecclesiastical law (p. 233). Both were interrelated in the medieval period. To make a distinction between the two would be to...