How is wergild presented in Beowulf?
Wergild, which literally means "man price" or "man payment," was a method by which the family of a man murdered or killed by accident could be made whole by the guilty person. In a culture inundated by family and tribal struggles, wergild allowed tribes and families to avoid going to war over a man's death.
In Beowulf, the first mention of wergild involves Grendel himself, and the poet uses the concept to point out that Grendel is not to be considered part of mankind--as a descendant of Cain, the Christian world's first murderer, Grendel is forever an outcast. Grendel's isolation leads him to envy of mankind and a desire to destroy men, and Grendel has no interest in paying a "man price" in order to make peace:
. . . hate-feuds he waged [against Hrothgar]/crimes and murders, for many seasons . . . he wanted no truce/...
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with any man of the Danish forces . . . nor any of the wise men needed expect/a handsome reward at the slayer's hands (ll. 152-158).
Among Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon tribes, "crimes and murders" could, and often would, be solved by the payment of wergild to the aggrieved party, but the Beowulf poet makes sure his listeners and readers understand that Grendel is outside the world of men and is not interested in abiding by the laws or customs of man. Because the poem essentially recounts a pagan tale, but framed in a Christian context, Grendel must be viewed as an outcast from the Christian world, and his failure to honor the concept of wergild is further proof that God rightly cast him out.
The second example of wergild involves Ecgtheow, Beowulf's father, who killed a Wilfing chief named Heatholaf. Ecgtheow's tribe, which could not or would not supply wergild (probably because they couldn't afford to pay for a chieftan's death) cast Ecgtheow out, who then sought refuge with Hrothgar, who paid Ecgtheow's debt to the Wilfings:
Afterward the feud with a fee I settled,/I sent to the Wilfings, over watery ridges [that is, waves],/old treasures: he swore me oaths (ll. 470-471).
The importance of this example of wergild is that Hrothgar and Beowulf have a special relationship based on Ecgtheow's debt to Hrothgar, and Hrothgar is subtly pointing out to Beowulf that he owes Hrothgar his allegiance by virtue of Ecgtheow's debt to Hrothgar. In other words, Beowulf may think he is generously offering his services to Hrothgar, but Hrothgar is reminding him that the bond between Hrothgar and Beowulf's family is based on an allegiance created when Beowulf's father was saved by Hrothgar.
What does "wergild" mean in Beowulf?
The term wergild in Beowulf literally translates as 'man payment' or 'man compensation' but is usually translated simply as 'man price'. The concept of wergild was a legal principle under Anglo-Saxon law. Under the principle of wergild, a homicide could be compensated by giving money or valuable property to the family of the victim. This same legal principle was found throughout the Germanic world at that time, and it is a very important concept in several Icelandic sagas.
It is worth noting that the Germanic societies that employed the use of wergild often distinguished between two types of homicides: (1) a homicide that was part of a dispute or feud and was carried out openly and (2) murder, which was a homicide that was hidden and/or was committed outside the more acceptable context of a dispute or feud (e.g., in commission of another crime, such as theft). Wergild usually would be payable in both instances, but with respect to the open and more acceptable homicide, wergild alone might be sufficient compensation for the homicide (although a short period of banishment might also be included), and any revenge homicide would be seen as a separate action. With respect to murder, however, outlawry (and sometimes death) would also be part of the sentence, and a properly conducted revenge homicide against the outlawed murderer might not be subject to payment of wergild to the murderer’s family.