The Laws of the Salian Franks

University of Pennsylvania Press, May 23, 2012 - History - 272 pages

Following the collapse of the western Roman Empire, the Franks established in northern Gaul one of the most enduring of the Germanic barbarian kingdoms. They produced a legal code (which they called the Salic law) at approximately the same time that the Visigoths and Burgundians produced theirs, but the Frankish code is the least Romanized and most Germanic of the three. Unlike Roman law, this code does not emphasize marriage and the family, inheritance, gifts, and contracts; rather, Lex Salica is largely devoted to establishing fixed monetary or other penalties for a wide variety of damaging acts such as "killing women and children," "striking a man on the head so that the brain shows," or "skinning a dead horse without the consent of its owner." An important resource for students and scholars of medieval and legal history, made available once again in Katherine Fischer Drew's expert translation, the code contains much information on Frankish judicial procedure.

Drew has here rendered into readable English the Pactus Legis Salicae, generally believed to have been issued by the Frankish King Clovis in the early sixth century and modified by his sons and grandson, Childbert I, Chlotar I, and Chilperic I. In addition, she provides a translation of the Lex Salica Karolina, the code as corrected and reissued some three centuries later by Charlemagne.

Contents

• I The Roman World and the Germanic Franks: 3
• II Roman Law and Germanic Law: 12
• III The Franks as Seen Through Their Law Code: 28
• IV Transmission of Lex Scdica and This Translation: 52
• The 65Title Version of the Code Ascribed to Clovis Plus the Later SixthCentury Additions: 57
• Systematic Version: 169
• Notes: 227
• Bibliography: 243
• Index: 253

About the author

Katherine Fischer Drew is Lynette S. Autrey Professor of History Emerita at Rice University and is translator of both The Lombard Laws and The Burgundian Code, also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Laws of the Salian Franks; The Middle Ages Series
• Translated by: Katherine Fischer Drew
• Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2012
• ISBN: 0812200500, 9780812200508
• Length: 272 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / Medieval; Law / Legal History