Secular Law

The Early Middle Ages

The Roman Law Library Website compiled by Y. Lassard and A. Koptev (University of Grenoble Alpes) as a repository for some of the major texts of Roman law, which influenced “barbarian” law once the latter began to be written down. They are not presented in translation. While not searchable (though there is a simple Google search bar embedded on the site), it has a detailed Table of Contents and extensive bibliographies for researchers of this field. Besides the collection of source texts found here (that range from the time of the Republic and into the Middle Ages), the Resources page in particular has hundreds of links to valuable online texts, journals, blogs, and videos on legal history in the West. Notable texts found under Leges Rom. Barbarorum include:

Lex Romana Burgundionum (AD 500-506)
Lex Romana Ostrogothorum (AD 511-515)
Leges Romanae Barbarorum: Roman Influence in the Barbarian Kingdoms
Visigothic Epitome of the Gregorian and Hermogenian Codes (AD 5th Century)

Lex Frisionum and Ewa ad Amorem, or Lex Francorum Chamavorum By Kees Nieuwenhuijsen, offers original Latin text and English translations of these two early medieval law codes from regions in the Netherlands, compiled c. 800 on the order of Charlemagne but including many elements of earlier customary law.

Visgothic Laws. The Lex Visigothorum was promulgated by a Visigothic king in 642-643 and enlarged in 654. The laws were influenced by Roman law, canon law, and Germanic customary law and represented the first time a set of laws was applied to all subjects (including the Roman majority) of the Visigothic kingdom, which was located in Iberia and southwestern France. Scholars have been especially interested in the greater legal autonomy granted to women in the code. The impact of the laws lasted well into the central middle ages.

Edition:
English Translation: Widely available, but the translation is flawed: S. P Scott, trans., The Visigothic Code (Forum Judicum) (Boston: Boston Book Company, 1910).

Bibliotheca Legum: A Database on Carolingian Secular Law Texts (University of Cologne) This project provides an overview, and makes searchable information about, secular law texts, mostly “barbarian” customs, of the Frankish empire. Each entry lists the repository or archive where the manuscript can be found, the origin or provenance of the text, a physical description of the manuscript, a list of its contents, a list of editions and relevant scholarly literature, and an option to download the entry as an XML file. In German and English.