\paperw4995 \margr0\margl0\ATXph16380 \plain \fs20 \pard\tx3255\tx6525\tx9780\ATXts240\ATXbrdr0 \f1 \fs22 In the early Middle Ages, society in Britain was probably dominated by a
\ATXnt901 military aristocracy\ATXnt0 . The Anglo-Saxon heroic epic Beowulf, composed between 675 and 875, tells of a class of young warrior noblemen who are normally described as eorlas (ôearlsö). They are feasted by their lord the king in his hall,
and are endowed by him with \ATXnt902 magnificent treasures\ATXnt0 , especially sophisticated and expensive weapons. Ultimately they are also given land of their own. In return, they are pledged to follow their lord into battle to the point of death,
and if necessary to avenge his slaying as they would that of their own kinsmen. Since Anglo-Saxon law was based on a carefully graded hierarchy of social status, different amounts of monetary compensation were established for the\ATXnt903 death of men\ATXnt0 from different classes. This was called wergeld (ôman-moneyö). T\ATXnt904 he violent death\ATXnt0 of a freeman called for 200 shillingsÆ compensation (five milch-cows in Ireland), whereas that of a nobleman, his superior, was 600 or 1200 shillin
gs. Slaves had no wergeld in their own right. It was to the kin that the sums which defined a manÆs status were paid in the event of his being killed, and the kin were \ATXnt905 obliged to seek\ATXnt0 vengeance if they were not paid. In societies with
out police, the prospect of kin-vengeance and the possibility of buying it off with compensation was what preserved s\ATXnt906 ocial peace\ATXnt0 .\par
