Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Geoponici" to "Germany" / Volume 11, Slice 7

by Various

2. Lex Burgundionum.—This code was compiled by King Gundobald (474-516), very probably after his defeat by Clovis in 500. Some additamenta were subsequently introduced either by Gundobald himself or by his son Sigismund. This law bears the title of Liber Constitutionum, which shows that it emanated from the king; it is also known as the Lex Gundobada or Lex Gombata. It was used for cases between Burgundians, but was also applicable to cases between Burgundians and Romans. For cases between Romans, however, Gundobald compiled the Lex Romana Burgundionum, called sometimes, through a misreading of the MSS., the Liber Papiani or simply Papianus. The barbarian law of the Burgundians shows strong traces of Roman influence. It recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand sanctions the judicial duel and the cojuratores (sworn witnesses). The vehement protest made in the 9th century by Agobard, bishop of Lyons, against the Lex Gundobada shows that it was still in use at that period. So late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the Burgundians invoked as personal law in Cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code.

The text of the Lex Burgundionum has been published by F. Bluhme in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iii. 525; by Karl Binding in the Fontes rerum Bernensium (vol. i., 1880); by J.E. Valentin Smith (Paris, 1889 seq.); and by von Salis (1892) in the 4to series of the Mon. Germ. hist. Cf. R. Dareste, “La Loi Gombette,” in the Journal des savants (July 1891).

3. Pactus Alamannorum and Lex Alamannorum.—Of the laws of the Alamanni, who dwelt between the Rhine and the Lech, and spread over Alsace and what is now Switzerland to the south of Lake Constance, we possess two different texts. The earlier text, of which five short fragments have come down to us, is known as the Pactus Alamannorum, and from the persistent recurrence of the expression “et sic convenit” was most probably drawn up by an official commission. The reference to affranchisement in ecclesia shows that it was composed at a period subsequent to the conversion of the Alamanni to Christianity. There is no doubt that the text dates back to the reign of Dagobert I., i.e. to the first half of the 7th century. The later text, known as the Lex Alamannorum, dates from a period when Alamannia was independent under national dukes, but recognized the theoretical suzerainty of the Frankish kings. There seems no reason to doubt the St Gall MS., which states that the law had its origin in an agreement between the great Alamannic lords and Duke Landfrid, who ruled the duchy from 709 to 730.

The two texts have been published by J. Merkel in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iii., and by Karl Lehmann in the 4to series of the same collection.

4. Lex Bajuvariorum.—We possess an important law of the Bavarians, whose duchy was situated in the region east of the Lech, and was an outpost of Germany against the Huns, known later as Avars. Parts of this law have been taken directly from the Visigothic law of Euric and from the law of the Alamanni. The Bavarian law, therefore, is later than that of the Alamanni. It dates unquestionably from a period when the Frankish authority was very strong in Bavaria, when the dukes were vassals of the Frankish kings. Immediately after the revolt of Bavaria in 743 the Bavarian duke Odilo was forced to submit to Pippin and Carloman, the sons of Charles Martel, and to recognize the Frankish suzerainty. About the same period, too, the church of Bavaria was organized by St Boniface, and the country divided into several bishoprics; and we find frequent references to these bishops (in the plural) in the law of the Bavarians. On the other hand, we know that the law is anterior to the reign of Duke Tassilo III. (749-788). The date of compilation must, therefore, be placed between 743 and 749.

There is an edition of the Lex Bajuvariorum by J. Merkel in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by E. von Schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. Cf. von Schwind’s article in the Neues Archiv, vol. xxxi.

5. Lex Saxonum.—Germany comprised two other duchies, Saxony and Frisia, of each of which we possess a text of law. The Lex Saxonum has come down to us in two MSS. and two old editions (those of B.J. Herold and du Tillet), and the text has been edited by Karl von Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, v. The law contains ancient customary enactments of Saxony, and, in the form in which it has reached us, is later than the conquest of Saxony by Charlemagne. It is preceded by two capitularies of Charlemagne for Saxony—the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae (A. Boretius i. 68), which dates undoubtedly from 782, and is characterized by great severity, death being the penalty for every offence against the Christian religion; and the Capitulare Saxonicum (A. Boretius i. 71), of the 28th of October 797, in which Charlemagne shows less brutality and pronounces simple compositions for misdeeds which formerly entailed death. The Lex Saxonum apparently dates from 803, since it contains provisions which are in the Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum of that year. The law established the ancient customs, at the same time eliminating anything that was contrary to the spirit of Christianity; it proclaimed the peace of the churches, whose possessions it guaranteed and whose right of asylum it recognized.

6. Lex Frisionum.—This consists of a medley of documents of the most heterogeneous character. Some of its enactments are purely pagan—thus one paragraph allows the mother to kill her new-born child, and another prescribes the immolation to the gods of the defiler of their temple; others are purely Christian, such as those which prohibit incestuous marriages and working on Sunday. The law abounds in contradictions and repetitions, and the compositions are calculated in different moneys. From this it would appear that the documents were merely materials collected from various sources and possibly with a view to the compilation of a homogeneous law. These materials were apparently brought together at the beginning of the 9th century, at a time of intense legislative activity at the court of Charlemagne.

There are no MSS. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon B.J. Herold’s edition (Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum libri, Basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by Karl von Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, iii. 631.

7. Lex Angliorum el Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum.—In early times there dwelt in Thuringia, south of the river Unstrut, the Angli, who gave their name to the pagus Engili, and to the east, between the Saale and the Elster, the Warni (Werini, or Varini), whose name is seen in Werenofeld. In the 9th century, however, this region (then called Werenofeld) was occupied by the Sorabi, and the Warni and Angli either coalesced with the Thuringi or sought an asylum in the north of Germany. A collection of laws has come down to us bearing the name of these two peoples, the Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum. This text is a collection of local customs arranged in the same order as the law of the Ripuarians. Parts of it are based on the Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum of 803, and it seems to have been drawn up in the same conditions and circumstances as the law of the Saxons. There is an edition of this code by Karl von Richthofen in the Mon. Germ. hist., Leges, v. 103. The old opinion that the law originated in south Holland is entirely without foundation.