Éraic (or ''eric'') was the Irish equivalent of the Welsh

galanas ''Galanas'' in Welsh law was a payment made by a Kin punishment, killer and his family to the family of his or her victim. It is similar to éraic in Ireland and the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon weregild. Definition The details of galanas were lai ...

and the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

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, ...

, a form of tribute paid in reparation for murder or other major crimes. The term survived into the sixteenth century as ', by then relating only to compensation for the killing of an Irishman. In the case of homicide, if the attacker fled, the fine had to be paid by the tribe to which he belonged and the criminal's soul. In Irish mythology the éraic takes an important place. In the ''Oidheadh Chloinne Tuireann'', the children of Tuireann owed an éraic to Lugh. Lug set them a series of seemingly impossible quests as recompense. They achieved them all, but were fatally wounded in completing the last one.

References

Early Irish law Punishments Compensation for victims of crime {{Ireland-hist-stub

See also

References