Wergild, Wergeld
WERGILD, WERGELD or WER, the Anglo-Saxon terms for t fine paid by, e.g. a murderer to the relatives of the dece in proportion to the rank of the latter. The wer was part of t early Teutonic and Celtic customary law, and represented t substitution of compensation for personal retaliation, resulti from the rise in authority of the power of the community as su< (See CRIMINAL LAW; HOMICIDE; and TEUTONIC PEOPLES.)
.11V1 his WERMELSKIRCHEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, situated 4 m. S.W. from Lennep by rail and at the junction of a line to Remscheid. Pop. (1900) 15,469. It contains an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church and a Latin school. Wermelskirchen is the centre of many thriving industries, chief among which are the manufacture of silks, cotton and silk ribbons, plush, tobacco and steel goods.
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
