Feud

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"Vendetta" redirects here. For other senses of that word, see vendetta (disambiguation).
Feud may also mean fief in reference to feudalism.

A feud is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds tend to begin because one party (correctly or incorrectly) perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another. A long-running cycle of retaliation, often involving the original parties' family members and/or associates, then ensues.

Feuds can last for generations. In areas, or among groups, without strong central government, the feud can be the only way to seek justice between and within communities.

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[edit] Historical role of feuds

Feuds had the function of establishing power relations in pre-modern decentralized regions. These feuds had to abide by certain rules in order to spare society from destruction

One example of regulated feuds was a war between Sparta and Argos in the Peloponesos. The rule was that Sparta and Argos would employ only a part of their entire armies against each other. This deal didn't work because both sides claimed victory, so a real war resulted in which the entire armies fought.

In the medieval region called Our Friesland, feuds resolved power struggles between petty noblemen. These noblemen could only use a certain maximum of troops just like in Ancient Greece, and after the feud was over, both sides of a feud had to pay for each others casualties, with fixed prices for deaths and injuries. This system was destroyed by the landsknecht soldiers.

Pre-modern Amsterdam had rules to regulate the violence of the poor against the rich. Once in a couple of decades, the poor people would start a riot and damage private property of the rich. The police didn't interfere. It was generally agreed upon that differences between poor and rich were not fair, so the anti-rich violence should be allowed.[dubious — see talk page] This system ended in the 19th century with the rise of socialism.[citation needed]

The Italian Mafia has emerged from a society of feuds.

[edit] Blood Feuds/Vendetta

A blood feud is a feud with a cycle of retaliatory violence, with the relatives of someone who has been killed or otherwise wronged or dishonored seeking vengeance by killing or otherwise physically punishing the culprits or their relatives. Historically, the word vendetta has been used to mean a blood feud. The word is Italian, and originates from the Latin vindicta, "vengeance." In modern times, the word is sometimes extended to mean any other long-standing feud, not necessarily involving bloodshed.

[edit] Famous blood feuds

[edit] Fictional blood feuds

[edit] Vendetta history

A fortified tower used as refuge for men involved in a blood feud that are vulnerable to attack. Thethi, northern Albania.
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A fortified tower used as refuge for men involved in a blood feud that are vulnerable to attack. Thethi, northern Albania.

Originally, a vendetta was a blood feud between two families where kinsmen of the victim intended to avenge his or her death by killing either those responsible for the killing or some of their relatives. The responsibility to maintain the vendetta usually falls on the closest male relative to whoever has been killed or wronged, but other members of the family may take the mantle as well. If the culprit had disappeared or was already dead, the vengeance could extend to other relatives.

Vendetta is typical of societies with a weak rule of law (or where the state doesn't consider itself responsible for mediating this kind of dispute) where family and kinship ties are the main source of authority. An entire family is considered responsible for whatever one of them has done. Sometimes even two separate branches of the same family could come to blows over some matter.

The practice has mostly disappeared with more centralized societies where law enforcement and criminal law take responsibility of punishing the lawbreakers.

The Celtic phenomenon of the blood feud demanded "an eye for an eye," and usually descended into murder. Disagreements between clans might last for generations in Scotland, Ireland, and Appalachia. Due to the Celtic heritage of many whites living in Appalachia, a series of prolonged violent engagements in late nineteenth century Kentucky and West Virginia were referred to commonly as feuds, a tendency that was partly due to the nineteenth century popularity of William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Scott, authors who both wrote semihistorical accounts of blood feuds. These incidents, the most famous of which being the Hatfield-McCoy feud, were regularly featured in the newspapers of the eastern U.S.

In Japan's feudal past the Samurai class upheld the honor of their family, clan, or their lord by katakiuchi (敵討ち), or revenge killings. These killings could also involve the relatives of an offender. While some vendettas were punished by the government such as with the 47 Ronin, others were given official permission with specific targets.

Traditions similar to vendetta have existed almost everywhere, as between various Arab people, Albanians and Circassians.

An alternative to feud was the blood money (or weregild in the Norse culture), which demanded payment of some kind from those responsible for a wrongful death. If these payments were not made, or refused by the offended party, a blood feud would ensue.

[edit] Vendetta in modern times

Vendetta is reputedly still practiced in some areas in Corsica and Italy; especially Sardinia, Sicily and Calabria, Crete in Greece, in eastern regions of Turkey, in northern Albania and among Chechen teips where those seeking retribution do not accept or respect the local law enforcement authority. Vendettas are generally based on a perceived or actual indifference on behalf of local law enforcement.

Similarly, honor killings are practised among more conservative sections of Muslim society, usually against female members of a family for perceived sexual or other transgressions.

Mutual vendetta may develop into a vicious circle of further killings, retaliation, counterattacks and all-out warfare that can end in the mutual extinction of both families. Often the original cause is forgotten, and feuds continue simply because it is perceived that there has always been a feud.

Some of the gang wars between organized crime groups are effectively forms of vendetta, where the criminal organization (like the Mafia "family") has taken the place of blood relatives.

[edit] Hip-hop feuds

Main article: Hip-hop rivalries

In modern hip-hop, rappers notoriously engage in verbal warfare with one another, which occasionally spills over into actual violence and sometimes murder. The most high-profile feud in rap was the Tupac - Notorious BIG Feud, which included several shootings and attacks on friends of both icons. It culminated with the highly publicized assassinations of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious BIG in 1997. Other notable rap feuds have included:

[edit] Wrestling feuds

Main Article: Feud (professional wrestling) In professional wrestling, a feud is a staged disagreement between two workers or factions.

[edit] External links

  • BBC: In pictures: Egypt vendetta ends May, 2005, One of the most enduring and bloody family feuds of modern times in Upper Egypt has ended with a tense ceremony of humiliation and forgiveness. Police are very edgy. After lengthy peace talks, no one knows if the penance - and a large payment of blood money - will end the vendetta which began in 1991 with a children's fight.

[edit] See also

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