Legal Definitions - hidegild

Hidegild refers to a historical payment made by a person of lower social standing, such as a serf or a domestic servant, to avoid a physical punishment, specifically a whipping. In medieval legal and social systems, it functioned as a monetary fine that could be offered in place of corporal punishment for minor offenses or failures to perform duties.

• Imagine a serf named Thomas, working on a medieval estate. Thomas is accused of neglecting his duties in the fields, leading to a small portion of the crop being damaged. The lord's overseer orders that Thomas receive a whipping as punishment for his carelessness.

  To avoid the pain and public humiliation, Thomas, having managed to save a few coins from selling eggs, offers this sum to the overseer. If the overseer accepts the money in place of the whipping, this payment would be considered a hidegild. It demonstrates a lower-status individual paying to escape a physical punishment.

• Consider Elara, a scullery maid in a wealthy manor house. She accidentally breaks a valuable ceramic pitcher while cleaning, an act for which the lady of the house decrees she should be whipped as a lesson in diligence.

  Fearing the severe punishment, Elara's family pools their meager savings and presents the money to the steward, pleading for the whipping to be commuted to a fine. If the steward accepts this payment, it serves as a hidegild, allowing Elara to avoid the corporal punishment through a monetary substitute.

• Picture a peasant farmer named John, who owes a certain amount of labor to his local lord each year. One season, John falls ill and is unable to complete his required work on the lord's lands. The lord's bailiff threatens him with a whipping for failing to fulfill his feudal obligations.

  Desperate to avoid the punishment, John offers a small sum of money, perhaps from the sale of a small pig, to the bailiff. If the bailiff accepts this payment instead of administering the whipping, it functions as a hidegild, illustrating how a monetary payment could historically avert physical discipline for a commoner.