With regard to the distribution or division of the wergeld amongst the relations of the person slain, the laws mention only the custom of the Middle districts, according to which two thirds of the wergeld went to the heir of the slain and one third ‘ad propinquos proximos.’ They give no information as to how the ‘propinqui proximi’ divided their third amongst themselves, or to what grade of kinship this class of relations extended. Happily, however, Dr. Brunner, in his informing essay on ‘Sippe und Wergeld’ already quoted, has been able to supplement the meagre information given by the laws as to wergelds with further details gained from later local sources. In his section (p. 25) on ‘Die Friesen zwischen Zuidersee und Weser,’ he gives an illustration of the way in which under later custom the payment of the wergeld was divided amongst the relations of the slain. He states that the North Frisian _tale_, _i.e._ the third share which the kindred had to pay, was known as the _mentele_ or _meitele_ (magzahl). [Sidenote: Later example.] In a legal document of ‘Westerlauwersches Friesland’ the _mentele_ of the kindred is described as 4 lbs. 5 oz. 6⅔_d._, and the _erbsühne_, or two thirds to be paid by the heirs, as 8 lbs. 10 oz. 13⅓ pfennig. The pound, we are told, is 12 oz. of 20_d._, so that here we have clearly Frankish currency and _silver_. The third and the two thirds together make a whole wergeld of 13 lbs. 4 oz. of silver. Now in the first place if, as we probably should do, we were to consider this wergeld to be stated in pounds and ounces of Charlemagne’s nova moneta, it would be not very far from treble the amount of the wergeld of the liber in Titles I. and XV. of the laws. And this, so far as it goes, confirms the Ripuarian statement that the ancient Frisian wergeld was one of 160 solidi.[164] Let us now see how the third falling on the kindred was divided. The one third of the _mentele_ of the kindred (moeg) was divided thus:-- lbs. oz. p. (1) The _brother_, or if none, the _brother’s son_, or if none, the sister’s son 0 12 0 (2) The _uncle_ on the father’s side (fedria) 0 9 0 The _uncle_ on the mother’s side (eem) 0 4 0 Or in default of these the _cousins_ of the slain, or in default the cousins of the uncles. (3) The _eftersusterbern_ or cousins descendants of grandparents: (_a_) On the side of the father’s grandfather 0 3 8 (_b_) On the side of the father’s grandmother 0 3 8 (_c_) On the side of the mother’s grandfather 0 2 5 (_d_) On the side of the mother’s grandmother 0 2 5