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art of writing [Rumc LKTWM], although only lor religious 

 purpOM-s. (Rhabanus Maunis, in Goldost, s-r//<r. Rcr. 

 Y 1.7 : Hi !>. MUS, The*. Ling. .V/I/CH/I-. The 

 groundwork of their social anil po'.r itution was 



tin- union of u certain number of families into a comnm- 

 nity, 'Marcha,' erd-iimrcha,' now Mark-Gcnossenst-haft.' 

 .il marclias fonned a 'now,' now -gau,' a district 

 which had its own administration. Twice a month, and 

 sometimes c\cn week, the members of a gow assembled 

 and held tin- 'gowding:' tin- gowdinipi were civil and 

 criminal courts, and also incctiiu.'* for legislation, and 

 war and peace were decided on in them. Besides the 

 gowdings there were 'graven' or 'irrevcn' u r ia\ioncs. 

 comites), or delegate- "I tin- iro-.\ding. who were II 

 in their judiciary functions b\ a certain number of free- 

 men. The magistrate* were chosen from the nobles 

 (edelings or adding*), the principes ' of Tacitus, who had 

 also the right of forming a kind of senate, where they deli- 

 berated on important affairs previously to their being 

 brought before the gowding. and tliey dispatched matters 

 of little importance, which did not come before tb*gow- 

 ding. The nobles had also the privilege of keeping a 

 die list -gelblge,' or a band of freemen who served them in 

 their feuds and wars: and they had individually the right 

 of protecting uiifrec people in the gowding. a right which 

 also belonged to tJie community as a body, but not to in- 

 dividual freemen. The privileges of the nobles were pro- 

 bably connected with the religions institutions, of which 

 we liavc no positive knowledge, although it appears that 

 priests and nobles formed only one cla.-s. an opinion which 

 is corroborated bv the fact that wherever Christianity was 

 introduced into Germany, it met with no opposition from 

 the common people as soon as the nobles were converted. 

 Some of the earlier Teutonic nations had hereditary kings, 

 the Teges' of Tacitus who however had a very limited 

 authority. The greater part of them chose princes only as 

 i ommanders of the army in time of war. The name of 

 commanders was ''herzog,' in low German ' hertog,' 

 or hartog,' in Latin ' dux.' 



Besides the freemen and the nobles, there were bondsmen, 

 ' lazzi,' ' lati,' or ' liti,' now ' leute,' in low German liide,' 

 or'lide,' who were either the primitive inhabitants of a 

 conquered territory, or prisoners of war, or freemen who 

 had lost or sold their liberty. Their condition was in no 

 way like that of the Roman Servi, who, legally speaking, 

 were not considered as persons, but in most respect.-. 

 things. Domestic and personal services, and especially 

 agriculture, were their exclusive occupations. 



The military organization of the Teutonic nations was 

 founded on two principles. \Vhen a gow, or a confedera- 

 tion of several gows, determined on war, every freeman 

 was obliged to take up arms for the defence of the com- 

 monwealth. These wars had rather a defensive character, 

 Mid they occurred principally among the inhabitants of 

 northern Germany between the Baltic and the Rhine. 

 But war was sometimes made for the .private interest of 

 some powerful noble, who carried it on with his ' dienst- 

 gefolge,' which was a numerous body when the military- 

 renown of the chiefs, or the hope of easy conquests, pro- 

 mised rich rewards to the adventurous band. These were 

 .ally offensive wars, and we find that they occurred 

 elm-fly among the Suevian nations. 



\\"e know little about the religion of the antient Teu- 

 tonic nations. They worshipped a supreme being under 

 the name of Wodan or Odin, but the true character of 

 their religion was the worship of Nature in her different 

 manifestations. Thor. Hcrtha. and Freva were personifi- 

 cations of the power of heaven, of earth, and of love and 

 procreation. 



Such was the moral, social, and political state of tin- 

 Teutonic nations when they began their wars with Home. 

 The Vallum Romanum prevented tln-m from inv ailing the 

 Roman empire during the first and second centuries. In 

 the third century they often crossed it. In the fourth 

 they conquered a considerable part of the countries on the 

 Danube; and in the fifth they invaded and conquered all 

 the European provinces of the Roman empire. Instead 

 of following the chronological order, which would cause 

 confusion, we shall give a view of all 11.- ms by 



referring them to their several heads, according to the 

 people by which they were effected. 



Atrmanni. [AuMAIun.] Towards the middle of the 

 fourth century swarms of people belonging to the Suevi 



enme from noith-ciistein Germany to the country between 

 the Rhine and the Dan'ibe, when- they settled, fhe Roman 

 army and colonists having retired beyond these two rivers. 

 They called themselves Alemanui. In the beginning of the 

 tilth century the Alemanni conquered the country on the left 

 bank of the Rhine, as well ns parts nf Noricum, Vindelicia, 

 and Helvetia, and founded the kingdom of Alemannia. 

 dovia, king of the Franks, eonqueied the western part of it 

 in -I'M: the eastern and larger pait, which w protected 

 byTheodoric, king of the Ostro-Goths. was acquired by the 

 Franks in :">:)(>. > t'assiodonis. / 'nr., ii. 41.) The freemen 

 lost a considerable part of their lands, almost all the nobles 

 were deprived <if their estates many of them were killed, 

 and the i emainder became vassals of the Franks. Between 

 (il:} and (J2H the laws of the Alemanni were collected 

 by order of the Frankish kins; Clotarius, under the name of 

 Lex Alemannonim. This collection is in Latin, like the 

 laws of the other Teutonic nations of that period, ei 

 the laws of the Anglo-Saxons, which are written m their 

 own language. 



The Lex Alemannonim was revised in the time of l)a- 

 gobert, king of the Franks, and again by Lantfried, the 

 Frankish duke of Alemannia. in the hc<rinning of the 

 eighth century. There is no trace of the Roman law in 

 it except iii one single case (tit. 30). The Lex Ale- 

 inannoruni, as well as all the other earlier codes of the 

 Teutonic nations, are contained in Ferdinand Walter's 

 ' Corpus Juris Germaniei.' Sichard published an edition of 

 I it in the Leges Ripuariorum, Bajuvariorum, et Aleman- 

 norum,' 1530, 8vo. Besides these collections, tlu; Teutonic 

 laws are in the collections of Herold, Lindenbroir, Eccard, 

 Heineccius, Georgish, Canciani, and Balu/.ius. 



BurgtmdiatU. [BURGUNDY.] The Burgundians came 

 from north-east Germany, and first assisted the Alemanni 

 against the Romans; but they left Germany as early as 

 the begiunin<r of the fifth century, penetrated into Gaul, 

 and formed the powerful kingdom of Burgundy on both 

 sides of the .lura, which was incorporated with the kingdom 

 of the Franks in 534. The collection of the Burgnndian 

 laws, Lex Burgundionum, ' Gundobada,' * Gundobanla.' 

 ' Loi Gombette,' was made towards the end of the. fifth 

 century, under king Gundobald, wlio died in 51b', and 

 was augmented (517) by king Siegraund, who died in 

 523. 



The legislation of Gundobald goes as far as title 42. 

 The following titles, although they contain laws and re- 

 gulations of Gundobald, were added by Siegmund, who 

 completed the code by two ' additamenta.' containing his 

 own laws. Charlemagne made a third additamentum, 

 without altering the code itself. The Lex Burgundionum, 

 which is written in much purer Latin than most of the 

 other Teutonic codes, contains several of the rules of Hie 

 Roman law concerning donations, and especially testa- 

 ments (tit. 43 and CO). A separate edition was pub- 

 lished at I .yon in 1011. 



Franks. [FRANCE.] In the very countries which the 

 Romans traversed on their way to tfie woods where Varus 

 -lain, the Usipctes, the Tencteri, the Sieambri. the 

 Brncteri, the Ansibarii. the Marsi, the Tubantes, the (,'ha- 

 inavi, and theChatti all tribes belonging to the noithern, 

 now Saxon branch (Ingaevones)of the Germani fonned 

 a confederation, and called themselves Franks, either be- 

 cause they were particularly ' free and bold,' or on account 

 of their barbed lances' (frameae). Their name first 

 appears in 242, when some of them made an expedition into 

 Gaul during the reign of the emperor Gordianus, whose 

 ircncral. Aurelianus, defeated them. In the beginning of the 

 fifth century they had conquered Belgium as tar as the 

 Somme, and" in 487 their king Clovis put an end to the 

 Roman power north of the Loire. The Franks subsequently 

 conquered Southern Gaul, then divided between the Bur- 

 gunuians and the Visigoths: Germany, and the Slavonian 

 ( -(.untnes as far as Poland : part of Piinnonia ; the Longo- 

 bard kingdom in Italy : and Spain between the Ebro and 

 the Pyrenees. Charlemagne was the lord of all the Teu- 

 tonic nations, except the Scandinavians, the Anglo-Saxons 

 in England, and the remainder of the Goths in (lie moun- 

 tains of Asturias. The Frankish language, a dialect of tin- 

 Low German, was spoken at the court of this emperor, 

 among the nobles in France, and by many freemen. In 

 Germany the Franks sell led among the Suevian tribes on 

 the Middle Rhine and the Main, and the mixture of r 

 languages is the origin of the present Middle German or 



