Daily Old Norse Insight - Wergild — The Price of a Life

In Old Norse society, wergild (“man-price”) was the legally defined compensation owed for killing or injuring a person. Rather than endless cycles of vengeance, wergild provided a lawful way to resolve violence and restore social balance. A life had value and that value was measured, negotiated, and enforced by law.

Failure to pay wergild could lead directly to feud or outlawry.

The concept is explicitly attested in:

• Grágás (Icelandic law code)

• Gulathing Law

• Frostathing Law

• Njáls saga

• Eyrbyggja saga

• Landnámabók

Fully Attested Features of Wergild

1. Every Person Had a Legally Defined Value

Wergild amounts varied based on:

• social status

• legal standing

• gender

• freedom or enslavement

A free man’s life carried a higher wergild than a thrall’s, reflecting legal, not moral, hierarchy.

2. Wergild Was Paid to the Victim’s Kin

Compensation was owed not just for the dead, but for the loss suffered by:

• family

• household

• lineage

Because honor and responsibility were communal, payment restored balance between families, not individuals.

3. Injury Had Its Own Wergild Scale

Wergild was not limited to death. Law codes specify payments for:

• wounds

• lost limbs

• disfigurement

• permanent disability

This shows a detailed legal system concerned with proportional justice.

4. Refusing Wergild Escalated Violence

If wergild was refused or unpaid:

• feuds became lawful

• retaliation was expected

• killings escalated

Law aimed to contain violence, but honor demanded response when law failed.

5. Outlawry Replaced Wergild Entirely

An outlaw had no wergild. To kill an outlaw required no compensation, because their legal personhood, and value, had been removed.

Modern Relevance

Wergild reveals that Norse society understood:

• justice as restorative, not punitive

• violence as regulated

• life as socially valued

• law as a means to prevent chaos

It challenges the idea of Vikings as purely revenge-driven, showing instead a culture deeply invested in measured justice and social stability.