Edict of Chilperic A.D. 561-584.
Besides the title ‘de alodis’ there is another source of information which must not be overlooked—viz. the Edict of Chilperic (A.D. 561-584).[118]
This edict appears to have been issued soon after the extension of the Frankish boundary from the Loire to the Garonne, and specially to apply to the newly conquered district.
Admission of female succession to prevent Salic land from passing from the family group to strangers.
This conquest would necessarily extend the area within which Salic settlements would be made among non-Salic neighbours, and multiply the cases in which even a Salic Frank might find himself less securely surrounded by kinsmen than of old. Under these altered circumstances instances would become more and more frequent of the close neighbourhood of tribesmen still holding under Salic custom and strangers living under Roman laws of succession. The clauses of the edict seem accordingly to be directly intended to prevent lapsed interests of Salic tribesmen in land from falling to the vicini when there were brothers or female relations surviving. In old times in purely Salic settlements lapsed interests must usually have become merged in the general rights of the kindred, the vicini being kinsmen. And no harm might come of it. Landed rights would seldom have passed away from the kindred. But as the stranger element increased in prominence the kindreds would more and more suffer loss. Hence probably the extended rights given by the edict to female relatives. It allows them to succeed in certain cases so as to prevent the land, or, as we should rather say, the landed rights, from lapsing to the vicini.
Clause 3 is as follows:—
Simili modo placuit atque convenit, ut si quicumque vicinos habens aut filios aut filias post obitum suum superstitutus fuerit, quamdiu filii advixerint terra habeant, sicut et Lex Salica habet.
Likewise we will and declare that if any one having vicini, or sons or daughters, shall be succeeded to after his death, so long as the sons live let them have the land as the Lex Salica provides.
So far evidently no change is made; old custom still holds good. But in the rest of the clauses a modification is made evidently to meet altered circumstances, and specially to shut out the vicini.
Et si subito filii defuncti fuerint, filia simili modo accipiat terras ipsas, sicut et filii si vivi fuissent aut habuissent. Et si moritur, frater alter superstitutus fuerit, frater terras accipiat, non vicini. Et subito frater moriens frater non derelinquerit superstitem, tunc soror ad terra ipsa accedat possidenda.…