The laws of the Salian Franks / translated and with an introduction by Katherine Fischer Drew.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Drew, Katherine Fischer.

Series:

Middle Ages series.

Middle Ages series

Standardized Title:

Lex Salica. English.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Salic law.

Law, Frankish.

Law, Medieval.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia [Pa.] : University of Pennsylvania Press, c1991.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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:

Frontmatter

Contents

Foreword

I. The Roman World and the Germanic Franks

II. Roman Law and Germanic Law

III. The Franks as Seen Through Their Law Code

IV. Transmission of Lex Salica and This Translation

Pactus Legis Salicae. The 65-Title Version of the Code Ascribed to Clovis Plus the Later Sixth-Century Additions

Lex Salica Karolina: Systematic Version

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [243]-251) and index.

ISBN:

9786613210975

9780812282566

0812282566

9781283210973

1283210975

9780812200508

0812200500

OCLC:

760174601