399 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION F. 
on the Continent, and also of those which settled in Britain. 
They picture peoples who had passed out of savagery into 
barbarism, and with descent in the male line strongly marked, 
although that in the female line was still recognised in certain 
customs, such as the allocation of the wergeld by the Salic law, 
one-half going _—s the sons of the man who was killed, and the 
other divided between the paternal and maternal kindred. 
There is no indication as to the proportion which each received, 
but some light is thrown upon the matter by the Anglo-Saxon 
laws. The first instalment of the Wer, namely, the halsfang, 
went to the children, the brothers, and the paternal uncles ; the 
remainder was divided between the paternal and the maternal 
maegs, two-thirds to the former, and one-third to the latter. 
This evidence is the more valuable because the Anglo-Saxons 
had not been in contact with the romanised provincials as the 
Salian Franks, the Burgundians, Visigoths, and others had 
been, and thus carried to Britain their old tribal customs, 
which were there reduced to writing. Next in value to the 
Anglo-Saxon laws are those of the Salian Franks, and it is one 
enactment in these laws that I have taken for the subject of 
my paper. 
There are five recensions of the Salic law extant, of which I 
have been able to consult two (a). The passage to which I 
desire to invite attention is the law entitled De Reippus (6). 
This term is explained by the commentators as being the price 
paid on the remarriage of a widow (c). 
The two versions of this law agree as to the procedure to 
be followed by a man who desired to marry a widow, but they 
differ materially in some of the later clauses, and these dif- 
ferences are interesting in their bearing on the question which 
I have taken as the theme of this paper. In order to bring 
this out clearly, I shall state concisely the provision of the law 
as it stands in the Lex Salica Reformata, and then the version 
in the Pactus Legis Salicae Antiquior, giving the full text of 
each in the Appendices A and B. 
When a man desired to marry a widow he was required to 
take certain procedure before the Tunginus or the Cen- 
tenarius (d). | 
This was to be done at a public assembly, and, no objection 
being raised, three solidi and one denarius were paid to the 
person entitled to receive them as the “ bride price.” Rules 
(a) *‘ Pactus Legis Salicze Antiquior, in Canciani, Barbarorum Leges Antique,’’ Vol. IT., 
and the ‘‘ Lex Salica Reformata,” in the same volume. The “ Pactus Legis Salice”’ is the 
same version as the ‘‘ Liber Legis Salicze” of Bignon’s edition, and also the earlier one of 
Lindenbrog. 
(b) In the glossary to ‘Lindenbrog’s text is the following :—“ Reipus, de sponsalitiis 
viduarum, Pretium emptionis de sponsalitiis viduse matrimonii causa.”’ 
(c) Footnote, “‘Canciani,” Vol. IT., p. 283:— Gloss. Judex qui post Comitem est. In 
priscis Anglorum legibus Theg.”’ 
(2) ‘‘Canciani,” Vol. IT., p. 86, Eccard speaks of the Centenarii as ‘‘ minores judices.”’ 
