Feud

A feud (pronEng|ˈfjuːd) (referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud or vendetta) is a long-running argument or fight between parties—often, through guilt by association, groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one party (correctly or incorrectly) perceives itself to have been attacked, insulted or wronged by another. Intense feelings of resentment trigger the initial retaliation, which causes the other party to feel equally aggrieved and vengeful. The dispute is subsequently fuelled by a long-running cycle of retaliatory violence. This continual cycle of provocation and retaliation makes it extremely difficult to end the feud peacefully. Feuds frequently involve the original parties' family members and/or associates, and can last for generations.

Up to the early modern period, feuds were considered legitimate legal instruments and were regulated to some degree. Once states asserted and enforced a monopoly on legitimate use of force, feuds became illegal and the concept acquired its current negative connotation.

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.

Vendetta history

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, rationalistic societies where law enforcement and criminal law take responsibility of punishing lawbreakers.

In ancient Homeric Greece, the practice of personal vengeance against wrongdoers was considered natural and customary: "Embedded in the Greek morality of retaliation is the right of vendetta . . . Vendetta is a war, just as war is an indefinite series of vendettas; and such acts of vengeance are sanctioned by the gods". [citation
first=John Gwyn
last=Griffiths
title=Divine Verdict: A Study of Divine Judgement in the Ancient Religions
year=1991
page=90
publisher=BRILL
isbn=900409231]

In the ancient tribal Hebraic context, it was considered the duty of the individual and family to avenge evil on behalf of God. The executor of the law of blood-revenge who personally put the initial aggressive killer to death was given a special designation: "go'el haddam", the blood-avenger or blood-redeemer (Num. 35: 19, etc.). Six cities of refuge were established to provide a "cooling off" phase as well as due process for the accused. As the "Oxford Companion to the Bible" states: "Since life was viewed as sacred (Gen. 9.6), no amount of blood money could be given as recompense for the loss of the life of an innocent person; it had to be 'life for life'" (Exod. 21.23; Deut. 19.21)". [citation
title=The Oxford Companion to the Bible
first1=Bruce M.
last1=Metzger
first2=Michael D.
last2=Coogan
publisher=Oxford University Press
year=1993
page=68
isbn=0195046455]

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 and Ireland. 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 was the Hatfield-McCoy feud, were regularly featured in the newspapers of the eastern U.S. between the 1880s and the early twentieth century. Although they were interpreted as such at the time, there is little reason to believe that these American incidents had any correlation to "feuding" in Europe centuries earlier.

The Central Asian plateau (north of China) at the time of Genghis Khan's youth was divided into several nomadic tribes or confederations—among them Naimans, Merkits, Uyghurs, Tatars, Mongols, and Keraits—that were all prominent in their own right and often unfriendly toward each other, as evidenced by frequent raids, revenges, and plundering.

In Japan's feudal past the Samurai class upheld the honor of their family, clan, or their lord by "katakiuchi" ( _ja. 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 that of the 47 Ronin, others were given official permission with specific targets.

At the "Reichstag" at Worms in 1495 the right of waging feuds was abolished. The Imperial Reform proclaimed an "eternal public peace" ("Ewiger Landfriede") to put an end to the abounding feuds and the anarchy of the robber barons and it defined a new standing imperial army to enforce that peace. However, it took a few more decades until the new regulation was universally accepted. [ [http://www.nndb.com/people/399/000096111/ Maximilian I] ] In 1506, for example, knight Jan Kopidlansky killed somebody in Prague and the Town Councillors sentenced him to death and had him executed. Brother Jiri Kopidlansky revenged himself by continuing atrocities. [ [http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/Czech_Hist6.html The State of the Estates] ]

More than a third of the Ya̧nomamö males, on average, died from warfare. The accounts of missionaries to the area have recounted constant infighting in the tribes for women or prestige, and evidence of continuous warfare for the enslavement of neighboring tribes such as the Macu before the arrival of European settlers and government.Keeley: ""] The Clan Gordon was at one point one of the most powerful clans in middle Scotland. Clan feuds and battles were frequent, especially with the Clan Cameron, Clan Murray, Clan Forbes, and the Chattan Confederation.

In Corsica, vendetta was a social code that required Corsicans to kill anyone who wronged the family honor. It has been estimated that between 1683 and 1715, nearly 30,000 out of 120,000 Corsicans lost their lives to vendetta. [http://www.soupsong.com/zjan02.html]

Throughout history, the Maniots—one of Greece's toughest populations—have been known by their neighbors and their enemies as fearless warriors who practice blood feuds. Some vendettas went on for months and sometimes years. The families involved would lock themselves in their towers and when they got the chance would murder members of the opposing family. [http://www.mani.org.gr/en/history/venteta.htm]

The Basque Country in the Late Middle Ages was ravaged by bitter partisan wars between local ruling families. In Navarre, these conflicts became polarised in a violent struggle between the Agramont and Beaumont parties. In Biscay, the two major warring factions were named Oinaz and Gamboa. ("Cf." the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Italy). High defensive structures ("towers") built by local noble families, few of which survive today, were frequently razed by fires, sometimes by royal decree.Leontiy Lyulye, an expert on conditions in the Caucasus, wrote in the mid-19th century: "Among the mountain people the blood feud is not an uncontrollable permanent feeling such as the vendetta is among the Corsicans. It is more like an obligation imposed by the public opinion." In the Dagestani aul Kadar, one such blood feud between two antagonistic clans lasted for nearly 260 years, from the 17th century till the 1860s.

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

Vendetta in modern times

Vendetta is reputedly still practiced in some areas in France (especially Corsica and in less porportion in some other provinces) and Italy (especially Sardinia, Campania, Sicily and Calabria), [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/police-search-calabrian-village-as-murders-are-linked-to-clan-feud-461917.html Police search Calabrian village as murders are linked to clan feud] , The Independent] in Crete (Greece), among Kurdish clans in Iraq and Turkey, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE3DA1E3DF937A15751C0A9659C8B63 Feud Between Kurdish Clans Creates Its Own War] , New York Times] [ [http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0603/p01s01-wome.html In Turkey, a lone peacemaker ends many blood feuds] , csmonitor.com] [ [http://family.jrank.org/pages/1026/Kurdish-Families-Kurdish-Marriage-Patterns.html Kurdish Families - Kurdish Marriage Patterns] ] in northern Albania, among Pashtuns in Afghanistan, among Somali clans, [ [http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1471438,00.html Somali feuding 'tit-for-tat'] , News24] over land in Nigeria, [ [http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L05457895.htm Nigeria deploys troops after 14 killed in land feud] , Reuters] in India (a caste-related feuds among rival Hindu groups) [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1657888.stm India's caste row leaves six dead] , BBC News] [ [http://www.hrw.org/reports/1999/india/India994-14.htm Broken People: Caste Violence Against India’s “Untouchables”] , (Human Rights Watch Report, 1999)] , between rival tribes in the north-east Indian state of Assam, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4367494.stm Thousands flee Assam tribal feud] , BBC News] among rival clans in China [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE0D61E3CF934A25752C0A965958260 Clan Feuds, an Old Problem, Are Still Threatening Chinese] , New York Times] and Philippines, [ [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/26/asia/phils.php Clan feuds fuel separatist violence in Philippines, study shows] , International Herald Tribune] among the Arab Bedouins and Arab tribes inhabiting the mountains of Yemen and between Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq, [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/09/AR2007080902412.html 'In the Land of the Blood Feuds'] , The Washington Post] in southern Ethiopia, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/tribe/tribes/nyangatom/index.shtml Tribe - Nyangatom] , BBC] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7109077.stm No guns at Ethiopian peace talks] , BBC News] among the highland tribes of New Guinea, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4181042.stm Deadly twist to PNG's tribal feuds] , BBC News] in Svaneti, in the mountainous areas of Dagestan, many northern areas of Georgia and Azerbaijan, a number of republics of the northern Caucasus and essentially among Chechen teips where those seeking retribution do not accept or respect the local law enforcement authority. Vendettas are generally abetted by a perceived or actual indifference on behalf of local law enforcement. In Albania, more than 2,500 Albanian families are currently engaged in blood feuds. There are now more than 20,000 men and boys who live under an ever-present death sentence because of blood feuds. Since 1992, at least 5,000 Albanians have been killed due to blood feuds.

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.

There is a scene in "The Godfather," in which Michael Corleone, hiding from U.S. police in Sicily, walks through a village with his two bodyguards. Michael asks, "Where are all the men?" The bodyguard replies, "They're all dead from vendettas."

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. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/mar/18/usa.paulharris Gang mayhem grips LA] , The Observer]

Famous blood feuds

*Njál's saga, an Icelandic account of a Norse blood feud
*The Percy–Neville feud (1450s; England)
*The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487; England)
*The Campbell–MacDonald feud, including the Massacre of Glencoe (1692; Scotland)
*The Battle of the North Inch, Michaelmas, 1396, Scotland; a set-piece inter-clan "battle to the death" between 30 members each of two long-feuding rival clans of the Clan Chattan Confederation, Clan MacPherson and Clan Davidson; staging the event received royal and legal approval citing the Scottish concept of trial by combat; the battle of fictionalised in the novel The Fair Maid of Perth by Sir Walter Scott, in which one combattant for the MacPhersons, the blacksmith Henry Gow or Hal O' The Wynd, was immortalised.
*The Donnelly–Biddulph community feud (1857-1880; Ontario, Canada)
* The Lincoln County War (1878-1881; New Mexico, USA)
*The Clanton/McLaury–Earp feud (see also Earp Vendetta Ride), also known as the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1881; Arizona, USA)
*The Hatfield–McCoy feud (1878–1891; West Virginia & Kentucky, USA)
*The Pleasant Valley War, also known as the Tonto Basin Feud (1882–1892; Arizona, USA)
*The Capone–Moran feud, including the St. Valentine's Day massacre (1925–1930; Chicago, Illinois, USA)
*The Gunn–Keith feud
*The Talbot–Berkeley feud
*The Feud of Scampia (2004–2005; Naples, Italy)

Fictional blood feuds

* [http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/UBooks/Inte.shtml "The Interlopers"] a short story by Saki, is a multi-generational feud between the families of Georg Znaeym and Ulrich von Gradwitz.
*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."
*The Barnes–Ewing feud, from the soap opera "Dallas"
*The Kryeqyqe–Berisha feud, from Ismail Kadare's novel, "Broken April"
*The DiMera–Brady feud, from the soap opera "Days of our Lives"
*The Karahasan–Mitrevski feud, from the movie "Odmazda" ("Vengeance"), a multi-generational feud between a Turkish and Slav-Macedonian family.
*The Pollock–Maugg feud, from the computer role-playing game "".
*The Heathcliff–Linton family feud from Wuthering Heights
*The Robinson-Ramsay family feud from Australian soap Neighbours

Hip-hop feuds

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 killings of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and The Notorious BIG in 1997. A list of all feuds can be found on [http://www.celebrityfeuds.com CelebrityFeuds.com] Other notable rap feuds have included:

*Kool Moe Dee vs. Busy Bee Starski
*Big Daddy Kane vs. Kool G Rap
*Antoinette vs. MC Lyte
*Tha Dogg Pound vs. Capone-n-Noreaga, Mobb Deep, Tragedy Khadafi
*2Pac vs. the Notorious B.I.G.
*Jay-Z vs. Nas
*2Pac vs. LL Cool J
*MC Eiht vs. DJ Quik
*Boogie Down Productions vs. Juice Crew
*Boogie Down Productions vs. P.M. Dawn
*Roxanne Shante, Marley Marl vs. The Real Roxanne, U.T.F.O.
*Eminem, D12 vs. Benzino
*Death Row vs. Ruthless
*Ice Cube vs. N.W.A
*Dr. Dre, Eminem, Xzibit, Timbaland vs. Jermaine Dupri
*Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg vs. Eazy-E
*Bone Thugs-N-Harmony vs. Twista, Do or Die, Crucial Conflict, Three 6 Mafia, Kingpin Skinny Pimp, Tommy Wright III, 3MK
*DJ Quik vs. AMG
*DJ Quik vs. Everlast
*Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg vs. Luther Campbell, Poison Clan
*LL Cool J vs. Ice-T
*LL Cool J vs. MC Hammer
*Too Short vs. Luniz
*2Pac vs. Mobb Deep
*Jay-Z vs. Mobb Deep
*DMX vs. K-Solo
*DMX vs. Ja Rule
*Insane Clown Posse vs. Eminem
*KRS-One vs. Nelly
*Yukmouth vs. Master P
*Aftermath vs. Death Row
*Kurupt vs. DMX
*Foxy Brown vs. Eve
*LL Cool J vs. Canibus
*Xzibit vs. Likwit Crew
*Eminem vs. Everlast
*Bow Wow vs. Romeo
*The Game vs. G-Unit
*G-Unit vs. Murder Ink.
*Shady vs. Murder Ink.
*The Game vs. Roc-A-Fella
*D12 vs. Royce da 5'9"
*Ice-T vs. Soulja Boy
*T.I. vs. Ludacris
*T.I. vs. Lil' Flip
*Fat Joe vs. 50 Cent
*The Dogg vs. Gazza
*Young Buck vs. G-Unit
*Timbaland vs. Scott Storch
*Lil Wayne vs. 50 Cent
*Jay-Z vs. The Diplomats
*LL Cool J vs. Kool Moe Dee
*Tru-Life vs. Jim Jones
*Loon vs. The Diplomats
*Eminem vs. Canibus
*Eminem vs. Cage
*Westside Connection vs. Common
*T.I. vs. Shawty Lo
*Young Buck vs. G-Unit
*LL Cool J vs. MC Shan
*Cypress Hill vs. Westside Connection
*Ice Cube vs. Kam
*Jadakiss vs. 50 Cent
*Nas vs. 50 Cent
*Lil Wayne vs. Jay-Z
*The Game vs. Yukmouth
*Royce Da 5'9 vs. Mistah Fab
*Xzibit vs. Busta Rhymes
*Lil Boosie vs. Plies
*Chamillionaire vs. Paul Wall
*Young Jeezy vs. Gucci Man
*The Game vs. Lil Eazy E
*The Game vs. Joe Budden
*Bow Wow vs. Yung Berg
*The Game vs. Benzino
*Erick Sermon vs. Parrish Smith
*Nelly vs. Chingy
*The Game vs. Ras Kass
*Snoop Dogg, Daz Dillinger, Aftermath, Tha Eastsidaz, Bad Azz vs. Suge Knight, Kurupt, The Riflemen, Big C-Style, Jayo Felony, Crooked I, Ja Rule, Murder Inc.
*Memphis Bleek vs. Nas

Reggaetón feuds

Much like Hip hop, Reggaetón is an Urban music genre, which has notoriously involved many feuds between artists who engage in lyrical warfare with one another, which sometimes escalates to violence. Many Reggaetóneros have released attacking other artists, which have led to many notable feuds. Some of these include:

*Pina Records vs. Buddha's Family
*Tempo vs. Lito y Polaco
*Daddy Yankee vs. Don Omar
*Baby Records vs. WY Records
*Lito y Polaco vs. Baby Rasta y Gringo
*Jowell y Randy vs. Arcangel(fictional feud to gain money)
*Lito y Polaco vs. Tego Calderón
*Lito y Polaco vs. Julio Voltio
*Tempo vs. Daddy Yankee
*Hector "El Father" vs. Don Omar
*O.G. Black & Master Joe vs. Mexicano
*Lito & Polaco vs. MC Ceja
*Polaco vs. Don Omar
*Polaco vs. Arcangel

Wrestling feuds

In professional wrestling, a feud is a staged disagreement between two wrestlers or factions.

Literature

* Jonas Grutzpalk: "Blood Feud and Modernity. Max Weber's and Émile Durkheim's Theory." In: Journal of Classical Sociology 2 (2002); p. 115-134. [http://club.fom.ru/books/grutzpark04_3.pdf]

ee also

*Black Donnellys
*Clan
*Mafia
*Blood Law
*Blood money
*Gang violence
*San Luca feud
*Bedouin blood feud
*Scottish clan
*Violence
*Kanun
*Revenge
*Punti-Hakka Clan Wars
*Pashtunwali
*Honour killing
*"War Before Civilization"
*Crow Creek massacre
*Gjakmarrja (Albanian blood feuds)
*List of cities with defensive walls
*List of famous duels

External links

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4562071.stm 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.
* [http://www.peaceinthecaucasus.org/background/bg_society.htm Blood feud in Caucasus]
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/03/israel Blood feuds tearing Gaza apart]
* [http://meero.worldvision.org/news_article.php?newsID=527 Albania: Feuding families…bitter lives]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4273020.stm Blood feuds blight Albanian lives]
* [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/06/03/wfeud03.xml Thousands fear as blood feuds sweep Albania]
* [http://www.c3.hu/scripta/books/98/34/zanic.htm Blood feud in Medjugorje, 1991-1992]
* [http://coalitionfordarfur.blogspot.com/2007/03/chad-clan-feuds-creating-tinderbox-of.html Chad: Clan Feuds Creating Tinderbox of Conflict]
* [http://www.head-hunter.com/warfare.html Tribal Warfare and Blood Revenge]
* [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article347806.ece Iraq's death squads: On the brink of civil war]
* [http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/892435.html Bedouin family feud]
* [http://www.stippy.com/japan-news-and-media/a-yakuza-war-has-started-in-central-tokyo/ A "Yakuza War" has started in Central Tokyo]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6942086.stm Gangs clash in Nigerian oil city]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/05/06/1915520.htm NZ authorities fear retaliatory attacks between rival gangs]
* [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2036580,00.html Gang mayhem grips LA]
* [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070330/ai_n18789763 Mafia feuds bring bloodshed to Naples' streets]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101720424-213669,00.html Blood in the Streets: Subculture of Violence]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6563051.stm Mexico drugs cartels feud erupts]
* [http://www.nbc6.net/news/9337747/detail.html State Attorney: Problems Posed By Haitian Gangs Growing]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6947247.stm Calabrian clan feud suspected in slayings]
* [http://moderntribalist.blogspot.com/2005/10/violent-ethnic-war-looms-between.html Violent ethnic war looms between Filipino and Vietnamese gangs]
* [http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EKOI-6Z87A2?OpenDocument Tribal warfare kills nine in Indonesia's Papua]
* [http://www.usd.edu/anth/crow/crow1.html Crow Creek Massacre]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7531880.stm BBC News, July 2008 - Family Feud in Ireland Involves 200 rioters]

References