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Women’s weregilds created complex calculations. A woman of childbearing age commanded high price, reflecting her reproductive value, the children she could produce, the alliances her marriages could create. An older woman past fertility rated lower, though never as low as slave, recognizing her experience, her role in household management, her value as keeper of tradition and teacher of younger women. A young girl’s weregild anticipated her future value, calculated based on her family’s status and her likely marriage prospects.
When a woman was killed, her family received the weregild, but her husband’s family sometimes claimed portion, arguing they had lost the woman’s labor, her childbearing capacity, the bride price they had paid to acquire her. These disputes could be contentious, requiring Thing mediation, sometimes resulting in split payment that satisfied neither family but prevented blood feud. The widow’s weregild for her slain husband went to his family, not to her, though she might receive portion if they chose to share, recognizing her loss and her children’s need.
Rape was calculated as theft of the woman’s sexual value, with weregild paid to her family (and husband, if married) as compensation for damage to her marriage prospects or her husband’s exclusive rights. The amount varied based on the woman’s status and whether the rape resulted in pregnancy, pregnancy doubling or tripling the price because it created child of uncertain paternity, damaged goods that would be difficult to marry off. The woman herself received nothing directly—she was property damaged, not party wronged, the compensation going to those who owned rights to her sexuality.
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