Then lastly under the same title are three clauses describing the wergelds of the ‘Romanus homo conviva Regis,’ as 300 solidi, of the ‘Romanus homo possessor’ as 100 solidi, and of the ‘Romanus tributarius’ in some texts 45, and in others 63, 70, and 120 solidi. In Codex 10 the ‘Romanus possessor’ is described as the man who in the pagus in which he lives res proprias possidet.
The natural inference from these lesser wergelds is that the Gallo-Romans were not ‘living under the Lex Salica,’ but under their own Gallo-Roman law, with wergelds one half the amount of those of the Frankish freemen.
Another of the 65 titles, viz. LIV., gives a further set of wergelds. The wergeld of a grafio is to be 600 solidi, that of a sacebaro or ob-grafio who is a puer regis 300 solidi, and that of a sacebaro who is an ingenuus 600 solidi. The sacebaro was apparently the lowest in rank of judicial officials except the rachinburgus, and the clause adds that there ought not to be more than three sacebarones in each malberg.
We may conclude from these statements that, the wergeld of the freeman living under the Lex Salica being 200 gold solidi, the higher wergelds up to 600 solidi were the threefold wergelds of public officials, i.e. threefold of the wergeld of the class to which they belonged. The wergeld of the sacebaro who was a puer regis was three times that of the Romanus possessor. The sacebaro who was an ingenuus had a wergeld three times that of the ingenuus living under Salic law.
Strangers in blood had only half wergelds Romanus possessor 100 solidi.
We are thus brought into contact with an interesting question. These laws, made after conquest and settlement on once Roman ground, ought to be good evidence upon the tribal method of dealing with strangers in blood: i.e., in this case, the Gallo-Roman conquered population. And these clauses seem to show that half wergelds only were awarded to them under Salic law.
M. Fustel de Coulanges held indeed the opinion that the term ‘Romanus’ of the laws was confined to the freedman who had been emancipated by process of Roman law.[107] But here the contrast seems to me to be between Franks and barbarians ‘who live under Salic law’ on the one hand, and the Gallo-Romans, whether freedmen or Roman possessores, living under Roman law on the other hand. We shall come upon this question again when the Ripuarian laws are examined, and need not dwell upon it here.
It is interesting, however, to notice that in Codex 2, Tit. XLI. the Malberg gloss on the clause regarding the wergeld of the ‘Romanus tributarius’ is ‘uuala leodi,’ which Kern (208) explains to mean the wergeld of a Wala—the well-known name given by Teutonic people to their Gallo-Roman and Romanised neighbours.
III. TRIBAL RULES OF SUCCESSION IN ‘TERRA SALICA.’
The question of the payment of wergeld is now generally admitted to be distinct from that of inheritance in land.