What is the compensation paid for killing someone?

• A. Beot
• B. Wergild
• C. Blood feud
• D. Wyrd

Answer: (B)

The main idea here is a legal remedy for homicide that uses money paid to the victim’s family. In early Germanic and Anglo-Saxon law, wergild, literally “man-price,” was the fixed monetary value set for a person based on status. The offender paid this sum to the kin of the person killed, with the aim of compensating for the loss and preventing a costly cycle of vengeance or blood feud. The amount varied by rank, so a noble’s life carried a higher value than that of a commoner, reflecting social status rather than a simple price tag.

Other terms point to different ideas: a beot is a vow or boast, not compensation; a blood feud is the ongoing retaliatory cycle that wergild sought to stop; and wyrd is fate or a person’s destined course, not a payment. So wergild is the term that specifically describes the monetary settlement for killing someone.