Peace-weavers (Old English: freothwebbe) were Anglo-Saxon women who were married to a member of an enemy tribe for the purpose of establishing peace between feuding groups.
[1] It was hoped that by relating two tribes, the animosity between them would be eased as individuals would be reluctant to kill their own flesh and blood.
Many noble youths, if the land of their birth is stagnating in a protracted peace, deliberately seek out other tribes, where some war is afoot.
A few scholars believe that the term "peace-weavers" "does not necessarily reflect a Germanic custom of giving a woman in marriage to a hostile tribe in order to secure peace.
Rather, it is a poetic metaphor referring to the person whose function it seems to be to perform openly the action of making peace by weaving to the best of her art a tapestry of friendship and amnesty.
[6] In this text the queen of the Danes gives Brosinga mene (read Brísingamen) to Beowulf as the price for killing Grendel.