Happily, however, Dr. Brunner, in his informing essay on ‘Sippe und Wergeld’ already quoted, has been able to supplement the meagre information given by the laws as to wergelds with further details gained from later local sources.
In his section (p. 25) on ‘Die Friesen zwischen Zuidersee und Weser,’ he gives an illustration of the way in which under later custom the payment of the wergeld was divided amongst the relations of the slain. He states that the North Frisian tale, i.e. the third share which the kindred had to pay, was known as the mentele or meitele (magzahl).
Later example.
In a legal document of ‘Westerlauwersches Friesland’ the mentele of the kindred is described as 4 lbs. 5 oz. 6⅔d., and the erbsühne, or two thirds to be paid by the heirs, as 8 lbs. 10 oz. 13⅓ pfennig. The pound, we are told, is 12 oz. of 20d., so that here we have clearly Frankish currency and silver. The third and the two thirds together make a whole wergeld of 13 lbs. 4 oz. of silver. Now in the first place if, as we probably should do, we were to consider this wergeld to be stated in pounds and ounces of Charlemagne’s nova moneta, it would be not very far from treble the amount of the wergeld of the liber in Titles I. and XV. of the laws. And this, so far as it goes, confirms the Ripuarian statement that the ancient Frisian wergeld was one of 160 solidi.[164]
Let us now see how the third falling on the kindred was divided.
The one third of the mentele of the kindred (moeg) was divided thus:—
| lbs. | oz. | p. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (1) | The brother, or if none, the brother’s son, or if none, the sister’s son | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| (2) | The uncle on the father’s side (fedria) | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| The uncle on the mother’s side (eem) | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Or in default of these the cousins of the slain, or in default the cousins of the uncles. | ||||
| (3) | The eftersusterbern or cousins descendants of grandparents: | |||
| (a) On the side of the father’s grandfather | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
| (b) On the side of the father’s grandmother | 0 | 3 | 8 | |
| (c) On the side of the mother’s grandfather | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| (d) On the side of the mother’s grandmother | 0 | 2 | 5 | |
| (4) | The rest falls on the cousins—the eight stems which descend from the great grandparents | |||
| The four stems from father’s side | 0 | 7 | 12 | |
| ” ” mother’s side | 0 | 7 | 8 | |
| 4 | 3 | 6 |
This interesting illustration of the payment of a Frisian wergeld, though of later date than the laws, confirms the statement in the laws that in its division the immediate heirs of the slain took two thirds and the propinqui proximi one third. It shows that at a later date the immediate ‘erbsühne’ was two-thirds, and the share of the kindred one third. And it adds the important point that the kindred who paid, and by inference shared in the receipt of the one third, were confined to the descendants of the great-grandparents, both paternal and maternal, of the slayer or of the slain.
III. THE LEX SAXONUM.
Divisions of the Saxon tribes.