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Weregild
Weregild (also spelled wergild, wergeld (in archaic/historical usage of English), weregeld, etc.), also known as man price ( blood money), was a precept in some historical legal codes whereby a monetary value was established for a person's life, to be paid as a fine or as compensatory damages to the person's family if that person was killed or injured by another. Etymology and terminology The compound noun weregild means "remuneration for a man", from Proto-Germanic "man, human" and "retaliation, remuneration". In the south Germanic area, this is the most common term used to mean "payment for killing a man" (Old High German , Langobardic , Old English ), whereas in the North Germanic area, the more common term is Old Norse , with the same meaning. Wolfgang Haubrichs argues that wergild is "undoubtably a West Germanic word" which spread throughout the various Germanic-speaking peoples, but which in the north was replaced with since the meaning of the element "wer-" had been f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roman Law
Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I. Roman law forms the basic framework for civil law, the most widely used legal system today, and the terms are sometimes used synonymously. The historical importance of Roman law is reflected by the continued use of Latin legal terminology in many legal systems influenced by it, including common law. After the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, the Roman law remained in effect in the Eastern Roman Empire. From the 7th century onward, the legal language in the East was Greek. ''Roman law'' also denoted the legal system applied in most of Western Europe until the end of the 18th century. In Germany, Roman law practice remained in place longer under the Holy Roman Empire (963–1806). Roman law thus served as a basis for leg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Churl
A churl ( Old High German ), in its earliest Old English (Anglo-Saxon) meaning, was simply "a man" or more particularly a "free man", but the word soon came to mean "a non-servile peasant", still spelled , and denoting the lowest rank of freemen. According to the '' Oxford English Dictionary'', it later came to mean the opposite of nobility and royalty, "a common person". Says Chadwick: This meaning held through the 15th century, but by then the word had taken on negative overtones, meaning "a country person" and then "a low fellow". By the 19th century, a new and pejorative meaning arose, "one inclined to uncivil or loutish behaviour"—hence "churlish" (cf. the pejorative sense of the term ''boor'', whose original meaning of "country person" or "farmer" is preserved in Dutch and Afrikaans and German , although the latter has its own pejorative connotations such as those prompting its use as the name for the chess piece known in English as a pawn; also the word villain— ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thegn
In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there were local officials known as thanes. Etymology The Old English (, "man, attendant, retainer") is cognate with Old High German and Old Norse ("thane, franklin, freeman, man"). The thegn had a military significance, and its usual Latin translation was , meaning soldier, although was often used. '' An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary'' describes a thegn as "one engaged in a king's or a queen's service, whether in the household or in the country". It adds: "the word ... seems gradually to acquire a technical meaning, ... denoting a class, containing several degrees", but what remained consistent throughout was its association with military service. Origins The precursor of thegn was the ''gesith'', the companion of the king or great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
High-reeve
High-reeve ( ang, hēahgerēfa) was a title taken by some English magnates during the 10th and 11th centuries, and is particularly associated with the rulers of Bamburgh. It was not however only used by rulers of Bamburgh; many other places used the title; e.g. there was an Ordulf "High-Reeve of Dumnonia". The first reference to a ''high-reeve'' was perhaps in the third code of Edmund I of England, where there is an official known as a ''summus praepositus''.Williams, ''Æthelred the Unready'', p. 64 Alfred Smyth thought ''heah-gerefa'' was influenced by the Scottish word ''mormaer'', the meaning of which, supposedly ''great steward'', is possibly similar. In the ''North People's Law'', a high-reeve is given a wergild of four thousand thrymsas, the same as a hold and half the wergild of an ealdorman.Seebohm, ''Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law'', p. 363North People's Law (Halsall)/ref> Ann Williams believes that the High-Reeve was originally an urban official whose job was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hold (title)
Hold (or Hauld) is a title of nobility, used in Viking Scandinavia and England. History Holds were described as "noblemen of exalted rank" in Viking Northumbria by Frank Stenton, with a wergild of 4000 thrymsas, equivalent to a king's high-reeve. Hold is described as a title just below the earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant " chieftain", partic ... in ''Oxford Dictionary of Surnames''. References {{reflist External links Eystein Eggen 2005 (Norwegian, Aftenposten) Noble titles Norwegian nobility ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ealdorman
Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied to the former kings of territories which had submitted to great powers such as Mercia. In Wessex in the second half of the ninth century it meant the leaders of individual shires appointed by the king. By the tenth century ealdormen had become the local representatives of the West Saxon king of England. Ealdormen would lead in battle, preside over courts and levy taxation. Ealdormanries were the most prestigious royal appointments, the possession of noble families and semi-independent rulers. Their territories became large, often covering former kingdoms such as Mercia or East Anglia. Southern ealdormen often attended court, reflecting increasing centralisation of the kingdom, but the loyalty of northern ealdormen was more uncertain. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thrymsa
The thrymsa () was a gold coin minted in seventh-century Anglo-Saxon England. It originated as a copy of Merovingian tremisses and earlier Roman coins with a high gold content. Continued debasement between the 630s and the 650s reduced the gold content in newly minted coins such that after c. 655 the percentage of gold in a new coin was less than 35%. The thrymsa ceased to be minted after about 675 and was superseded by the silver sceat. History The first thrymsas were minted in England in the 630s. These earliest coins were created at mints in Canterbury, London, and perhaps also Winchester. Charles Arnold-Baker in his ''Companion to British History'' suggests that the impetus for the creation of this coin was increased commerce following the marriage of Æthelberht of Kent and Bertha of Kent, a daughter of the Frankish king Charibert I. Thrymsas originally contained between 40% and 70% gold, but following continued debasement those coins minted after c. 655 contained less tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 until the twelfth century, the Empire was the most powerful monarchy in Europe. Andrew Holt characterizes it as "perhaps the most powerful European state of the Middle Ages". The functioning of government depended on the harmonic cooperation (dubbed ''consensual rulership'' by Bernd Schneidmüller) between monarch and vassals but this harmony was disturbed during the Salian period. The empire reached the apex of territorial expansion and power under the House of Hohenstaufen in the mid-thirteenth century, but overextending led to partial collapse. On 25 December 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish king Charlemagne as emperor, reviving the title in Western Europe, more than three centuries after the fall of the earlier ancient West ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
9th Century
The 9th century was a period from 801 ( DCCCI) through 900 ( CM) in accordance with the Julian calendar. The Carolingian Renaissance and the Viking raids occurred within this period. In the Middle East, the House of Wisdom was founded in Abbasid Baghdad, attracting many scholars to the city. The field of algebra was founded by the Muslim polymath al-Khwarizmi. The most famous Islamic Scholar Ahmad ibn Hanbal was tortured and imprisoned by Abbasid official Ahmad ibn Abi Du'ad during the reign of Abbasid caliph al-Mu'tasim and caliph al-Wathiq. In Southeast Asia, the height of the Mataram Kingdom happened in this century, while Burma would see the establishment of the major kingdom of Pagan. Tang China started the century with the effective rule under Emperor Xianzong and ended the century with the Huang Chao rebellions. While the Maya experienced widespread political collapse in the central Maya region, resulting in internecine warfare, the abandonment of cities, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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