Western Civilization I / Unit 10 WC1 0905 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Clan Law: Honor, Retribution, Feud
Captions available
The idea
Germanic minorities inherited Roman bureaucracy while keeping clan law: honor and reciprocity, an attack on one answered by the clan, insult met with violence, kingship as clan headship. Feud takes its name from this law, and Roman codes faded into it.
In practice
Rights and privileges granted by social category: peasant, townsman, warrior, churchman.
Where people slip
Rulers and subjects merged into one web of obligation.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it