At the date of the Kentish Laws and generally during the seventh century we find three wergelds in use in England for the freeman:—
| The Wessex wergeld of | 6000 sceatts | at 1:10 | = 600 gold tremisses | |
| ” Mercian ” | 4800 ” | { | at 1:10 | = 480 ” ” |
| at 1:12 | = 400 ” ” | |||
| ” Kentish ” | 4000 ” | at 1:10 | = 400 ” ” |
And on the Continent we find the two wergelds:—
| Frankish | 200 solidi | = 600 gold tremisses |
| The other | 160 ” | = 480 ” ” |
Now, in the fairly contemporary laws of the Ripuarian Franks, and of the Burgundians, the traditional values of animals we have found to be stated as follows:—
| Ox | 2 solidi | = 6 gold tremisses |
| Cow | 1 solidus | = 3 ” ” |
And in the nearly contemporary Alamannic laws the traditional values were:—
| Best ox | = 5 gold tremisses |
| Medium ox and sweetest cow | = 4 ” ” |
The differences covered by ratio between gold and silver 1:10 and 1:12.
Within the range of these variations in the ratio between gold and silver, and in the local value of animals, there seems to be ample room and reason for the variations in the money values of the wergelds.