Feud
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.
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.
*The
Campbell -
MacDonald feud, including the
Massacre of Glencoe*The
Capone -
Moran feud, including the
St. Valentine's Day massacre*The
Clanton/McLaury - Earp feud*
The Donnelly - Lucan community feud*The
Gunn -
Keith feud
*The
Hatfield - McCoy feud*The
Lancaster - York feud*The
Percy - Neville feud*
Njál's saga, an Icelandic account of a Celtic-Nordic blood feud
*The
Atreides -
Harkonnen feud from
Frank Herbert's
Dune (novel) *The
Corleone -
Tattaglia feud from
Mario Puzo's
The Godfather*The
Montague -
Capulet feud, from
Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet*The
Grangerford -
Shepherdson feud, from
Mark Twain's
Huckleberry Finn.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. Due to the Anglo-Saxon and Celtic heritage of many whites living in
Appalachia the series of prolonged violent engagements in late nineteenth century eastern
Kentucky 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, happened because of local political and economic competition rather than an innate ethnic tendency toward violence as is widely believed. Moreover, unlike the classical feuds of Britain and Europe, these conflicts tended to be between factions rather than just kin groups. Outside observers, however, preferred to attribute these incidents to a regional
pathology caused by isolation, overconsumption of alcohol and general depravity, thereby contributing to the familiar
hillbilly stereotype.
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
Arabic 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. Only if these payments were not made, or refused by the offended party, a blood feud would ensue.
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 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.
Main article: Hip-hop rivalries
In modern hip-hop, rappers nototriously 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:
*
Jay-Z &
Nas*
50 Cent &
Ja Rule*
Eminem &
Benzino*
DMX &
Ja Rule*
50 Cent &
The Game*
Insane Clown Posse &
EminemMain article: Feud (professional wrestling)
In
professional wrestling, a feud is a
staged disagreement between two workers or factions.
*
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.
*
Blood Law*
Blood money*
Kanun*
Gjakmarrja (Albanian blood feuds)*
Honour killing
