ABSTRACT
Violence was all too prevalent in the medieval German Empire, and the feud – and the need to make peace after such feuds – was a characteristic phenomenon of aristocratic life. Hence the concept has become increasingly central to modern scholarship on medieval Germany. Feuds and peace agreements had an acknowledged place in the political structure of the medieval empire. Until the so-called 'Eternal Peace' of 1495 the feud was a component of legal order, and even after 1495 it remained a component of the social order. Rank and honour were the highest social values that could legitimate feuds, especially in the High Middle Ages, their importance in creating conflicts was for a long time undervalued. To the medieval mind, vengeance and punishment were closely linked, something which can be seen in the terminology used to describe them. Vengeance itself was interpreted 'in its original sense, that is, in repayment for injustice and the restoration of justice'.
