Fusion of German and Roman in Gaul

[Dana Carleton Munro, The Middle Ages, 395-1272 (New York: The Century Company, 1921), pp. 15-26]

Gradual Change. The manner of living in Gaul in the fifth century outwardly was but little changed from what it had been in the best days of the Roman civilization. The letters of Apollinaris Sidonius depict a highly cultivated and literary society, of which the decadence was not visible to the contemporaries. The writings of Salvian give the dark background of the picture, filled with the miseries of the people oppressed by taxation; his account is undoubtedly exaggerated, but leaves a decided impression that there was need of new blood to regenerate Gaul. The Romans had recognized this dimly, and had admitted individuals and whole tribes into the Empire. As long as the number was so small that the immigrants could be readily assimilated the civilization would be gradually transformed but was in no danger of being overthrown; when the country came wholly under the domination of barbarians like the Franks, the peril was imminent.

Civitas and Villa. The Germans, however, were relatively few compared with the total mass of the Roman population. They did not like to live in cities; all their habits and customs led them to prefer the country. The urban centers in the civitas were mainly left to the GalloRoman inhabitants under their rule. The latter were enabled in some cities or towns to continue their existence with comparatively little change at first. Their long training in the duties incident to city management made it easier for them to carry on the various activities after the results of the migrations had removed them from dependence upon the central government. Their new masters interfered but slightly at first with the internal affairs of the city; business and administration were left in the charge of the more civilized race. There was an inevitable decline, which was more marked as some Germans came to live in the cities and became influential. But the importance of the urban centers as elements of permanence in preserving some features of the older Roman civilization was very great. The villa, too, with its working population, frequently continued its existence either under the Roman noble, who had made terms with the barbarians, or else under a German owner who had dispossessed the former proprietor, but desired only the income which the villa yielded. Because it was almost a self-sufficing unit, it was able to continue its economic life, only gradually evolving into something quite different from its former condition. The agricultural and peaceful handicrafts continued on many estates with little change from one generation to another. The names of many of the places in France still bear testimony to their origin as Roman villas; near Paris, for example, Passy and Clichy are the former estates of the Gallo-Romans Paccius and Clippius.

Roman Law. A third factor which tended to preserve some features of the older civilization was the use of the Roman law. The Germans when they entered the Empire uTere in the stage of personal law; that is, they believed that a man, wherever he might chance to live, should be subject to the penalties and entitled to the benefits of the law of his tribe. Consequently they let the Romans keep the privileges of their own Roman law in all their relations with one another. The Visigothic king had an offficial compilation of the Roman law made for the Romans living in Gaul under his rule; this \vas published in 506, and is usually called the Brc.iar~! of Saris. Other German rulers had similar compilations drawn up for their Roman subjects. When the Germans came into contact with features of the Roman civilization which were entirely unknown to their experience, they were inclined to adopt, or adapt, the enactments of the Roman law concerning such subjects. Probably the tendency of the Germans to codify their own laws was due in part to the existence of the Roman law. Several of their codes have been preserved; namely, the code of the Rlisigoths, of the Burgundians, of the Salic Franks, of the Ripuarians, of the Saxons, of the Frisians, and of the Lombards. They are among the most important sources of our knowledge concerning the habits and the civilization of these peoples.

Church as a Civilizing Agency. The greatest of all agencies in civilizing the Germans was the church. Its organization, which in many respects so closely paralleled the imperial organization, had been founded firmly before the migrations. All the Germans who had not alreadv been converted became Christians soon after entering the Empire. The Franks, because they were Catholics, were especially influenced by the church; and, as their sway was extended more widely, the other tribes were brought under this influence. It was, consequently, the one institution which exercised any real restraint upon the barbarian kings and leaders, although at times they chafed under its authority or rebelled against it. At first the officials of the church were almost all Romans, as some education was necessary for conducting its service. When the Frankish realm was divided into separate kingdoms, the church in Gaul was weakened. The members of the clergy in each kmg(lom were considered to be subjects of the king, and were not expected to have any intercourse with the clergy of the neighboring and usually hostile kingdoms. This isolation and partial subjection was one of the causes of the low state of Christianity in Gaul when St. Columban entered the land. This evil was done away with when all of the kingdoms were united under the powerful mayors of the palace. Boniface's work was all-important in unifying the church and restoring its prestige, as well as in connecting it closely with Rome. His labors made it a far more potent agency in the preservation of the older civilization. The missions and councils bound together the churches in the various lands and the more backward sections profited by the presence of missionaries from the more civilized centers. The organization of the church made it stronger and preserved the prestige of Rome, the old capital of the Empire. And in turn the feeling of unconscious reverence for the Roman Empire, a feeling which was shared by every German who had come under the influence of Rome, enhanced the glory of the Roman Church. The members of the clergy, especially the missionaries, did much to bring the Romans and the Germans together; the bishops were the natural intercessors between the Roman population and the German kings; the church edifice was the common asylum for all who needed protection; the monastery welcomed both Germans and Romans as members.

The Latin Language. Latin was the language of the church, and it was also the language of the great mass of the population, although the latter spoke vulgar Latin, which differed widely from the literary Latin spoken by the educated. As the vulgar Latin was the vernacular of the great majority of the people, it naturally supplanted both the rude German dialects of the invaders and the literary language used by a small and vanishing class of highly educated aristocrats. Gregory of Tours makes an apology for the rusticity of his Latin, but is consoled by the fact that the ordinary rustic will understand him better than would be the case if he could write really good Latin. This vulgar Latin became the idiom of all the kingdoms founded by the Germans within the old boundaries of the Empire, except England. Italian, French, Provencal, Spanish, and Portuguese are Romance, i. e., Roman, tongues. The variations which are still noticeable between the dialects of various portions of France or Italy are due partly to their isolation from one another when the languages were being formed and partly also to the differences in the number and provenance of the Germans who dwelt among them. But the variations are far less striking than the resemblances, and all betray, even to cvHIAI. casual observation, their Latin origin.

Education. As all education was under the control of the church, Latin was its vehicle. This resulted in the preservation of much of the old culture contained in the Latin literature, and enabled every educated man to profit by any Latin work which he could obtain. The similarity of the language to their own idioms made it easier for the students to acquire the Latin education of the schools. In the early Middle Ages practically all education in book-learning was obtained in the monasteries, or the cathedral schools, or occasionally from clerical tutors. As education was considered to be a function of the church, it was directed exclusively to subjects which would serve the interests of the latter. The old Roman curriculum was retained in part, but it was sadly emasculated. Compends formed the usual text-books and were committed to memory. The instruction was restricted to the so-called seven liberal arts: grammar, rhetoric, and dialectic, which composed the trivium or language studies; arithmetic music, geometry, and astronomy, which composed the quadrivium , or mathematical and scientific branches. The most advanced students then proceeded to theology, which included the study of the Scriptures and sorne works of the church fathers.

Cato. Certain text-books were generally used and remained in favor for many centuries, so that it is possible to form some conception of the average scholastic equipment of medieval students. The first study was naturally the alphabet, and for this the pupils were given tablets in which the individual letters were written. As soon as they had learned the alphabet, they began to read in psalter books written in large letters. Sometimes they learned to read the psalter glibly without understanding a word of it. After the psalter, Cato was the favorite reading book. Who the author of Cato was is unknown, but he lived in the third or fourth century and his little book retained its popularity for over a thousand years.[1] It contained about a hundred and fifty couplets, many of which have become common proverbs in the various modern languages. As examples mav be cited: the chief virtue is to know how to hold one's tongue; in good fortune beware of evil, as the outcome is often different from the beginning; bear poverty patiently, since you came into the world naked.

Writing. In connection with the reading, writing was taught. Sometimes the teachers seem to have used blocks into which the letters were cut deeply. The pupil was required to f ollow the lines in the block with his pen until his hand was accustomed to the form of the letters. After that, or sometimes first of all, tablets covered with wax were used. At the top the teacher wrote the copy and then guided the pupil's hand while the latter formed the letters. Finally, the ablest pupils were given practice in fine writing on parchment; but, as parchment was expensive, many never attained to this height. Double tablets, covered with wax on the inner sides, were sometimes used for letters. The epistle was written in the wax, the tablets were tied together and sealed, thus insuring the letter's remaining unread unless the seal was broken. But writing was a comparatively rare accomplishment in the early Middle Ages.

Donatus. The elementary text-book in grammar was the work of Donatus, who lived in the fourth century and was probably the teacher of St. Jerome. He Wrote two books on grammar, the Ars Minor and the Ars Major or Ars Grammatica. The first occupies only twelve pages in a modern printed edition and consists of elemen tary questions and answers, with some declensions and conjuga tions. It was highly appreciated in the early centuries and re mained in use for several hundred years. Of the larger work only the last book, which treated of rhetoric, was commonly used in the schools. A more advanced text-book in grammar was that of Priscian, which furnished many quotations from classical authors;[2] and grammar when studied from Priscian included some training in literature, history, and mythology.

Seven Liberal Arts, After they had been donatistae or grammar-grade pupils, the bright boys might be introduced to Martianus Capella, who furnished the main stuff of learning in his Marriage of Mercury and Philiology. This is an encyclopedic text-book, thinly disguised under the form of an allegory, partly in prose and partly in verse. Gregory of Tours praised this work highly as contain ing all the knowledge needful for education. After a somewhat lengthy account in the first two books of the wedding, each of the other books is devoted to a treatise on one of the seven liberal arts. It is to be noted that geometry included some geography and natural history. \\hile many of the statements seem trivial or laughable, there is much sound learning and exact information; for instance, Martianus knew that the world is round and flattened at the poles.

Education Confined to Few. Comparatively few ever mastered the seven liberal arts. It was the custom of some nobles in the seventh century to send their sons to the monasteries to be educated, but very few acquired more than a smattering of learning. Several of the Merovingian kings were not unwilling to be patrons of learning; and one, Chilperich, who died in 584, invented several new letters which he commanded should be used in all books; but this attempt, like later ones, to improve spelling by fiat was unsuccessful. Among the best teachers in Gaul during this period were the Irish monks, and later the English, under the influence of Boniface.

Condition in Cities. Roman customs still held sway over many features in the life of the citizens, but they gradually lost control of the administration and finances, and these passed under the power of the counts or the bishops. Some traces of the old organization remained and some usages had been adapted to new ones. All business arrangements and all arts and crafts retained much of the Roman method and skill. It is possible that some of the Roman colleges or gilds, such as that of the boatmen of Paris, continued to exist for centuries, but cities suffered from their isolation and the ne- d cessity of defense. The insecurity of travel prevented the carrying on of extensive commerce and each center was thrown back upon itself. For the purpose of defense walls were built around the cities; in order to avoid labor the district to be walled in was restricted as much as possible, and the people crowded together. As the population increased, the necessity of living within the protection of the wall caused the citizens to encroach upon all open squares, and gradually almost the whole space was occupied by the houses. As the latter were built of wood, fires were frequent and very disastrous, and many cities were burned more than once, either by enemies or by accident.

Army. The Germans controlled military affairs, political institutions and j udicial procedure, because they were the conquerors and were interested in those matters. The army was composed almost entirely of foot-soldiers until Charles Martel was compelled to raise a force of cavalry in order to check the invasions of the Moslems. Every free man was required to serve at his own expense when summoned by the king, and any who did not obey the king's summons were fined very heavily. Those who were too poor to equip themselves became dependents of their wealthy neighbors, for the latter were desirous of having a large following, which added to their strength and reputation.

Political Institutions. It has generally been stated that the Germans brought into the civilization, as their most important political contribution, the public assemblies and elective monarchy. This statement must be accepted with some caution; the public assemblies which Tacitus describes had ceased to exercise many of their functions and the kingship had become so fully hereditary that the father's kingdom was usually divided among all of his sons, and the latter became kings, each over his own inheritance. This was taken for granted among the Franks; and the political institutions of the AIerovingians, described in the preceding chapter, are fairly typical of the Germanic kingdoms as a whole. One of the most striking features is the delegation of military, financial, and executive powers to the same official, a count or a duke. This made it peculiarly easy for the count or duke to revolt successfully. Another feature was the assignment to the officials of land from which they might derive an income, in addition to the portion of the fines which they received.

Judicial Procedure. The judicial procedure of the Germans in the case of accusations was very different from the Roman. A charge did not need to be proved; the accused individual must clear himself; that is, the burden of proof was thrown on the negative and the defendant must prove that he was not guilty. As this frequently could not be accomplished, at least by any human agency, they had recourse to divine assistance. They had brought over from their pagan civilization certain customs which had been accepted by the church. In invoking the aid of God, all rested on the conception that He would maintain the right and punish by divine vengeance any one who, when guilty, impiously called upon Him to vouch for a falsehood. When Gregory of Tours was accused of calumniating the queen, he purged himself at three separate altars by performing mass and taking an oath that he was innocent. By this his innocence was fully established in the minds of his associates, and the man who had accused Gregory was severely punished by the king. Relics were frequently used to enhance the value of an oath, and when those upon which an oath was taken were especially sacred, perjury was considered a far more heinous crime than when a man had sworn falsely upon an empty reliquary.

Compurgation. Compurgation, or wager of law, was another means frequently resorted to, when the oath of the accused was deemed insufficient. In the early times the compurgators were kinsmen, but later any one might be allowed by the court to act in this capacity. The number required varied with the rank or standing of the accused and with the gravity of the crime or the importance of the subject. Twelve, including the principal, was frequently the standard; e. g., if a noble had slain another noble, he must obtain eleven compurgators; if, however, he had killed a free man, he needed only seven in addition to himself; and if he had killed a slave, three; whereas a free man would need eleven besides himself for the killing of another free man, seventeen besides himself for the killing of a noble, and five for the killing of a slave. In cases of great moment a large number was sometimes required, when Guntram declared that he doubted the legitimacy of the child for whom his brother's kingdom was claimed, Fredegund satisfactorily established the paternity of her son by herself taking oath that Chilperich was his father, and by bringing forward three bishops and three hundred nobles to swear that they believed she was telling the truth. Usually compurgation was allowed only when there was no means of certain proof; if the accused were later proved guilty, the compurgators were sometimes punished as perjurers.[3]

Ordeals. Ordeals, by which the judgment of heaven is invoked, have been widely practised in all times. They had been common among the heathen Germans and were accepted as Christian customs, for which elaborate formulas were prescribed by the church. There were many different varieties; the use of hot water, cold water, fire, or red-hot iron seem to have been the most common. In the ordeal of boiling water, a kettleful was heated and in it some small object was thrown or suspended. The water was duly blessed, God was besought to show the right, and the accused was required to take out the object from the boiling water; his hand was then sealed up and left for three days or more. In the interval salt and holy water were mixed with his food. If, at the end of the period, his hand was found to be uninjured he was judged innocent. In the ordeal of cold water the accused, after a preliminary hallowing of the water, was " bound by a rope and cast into the water." If he floated or remained unsubmerged he was considered guilty, for, as Bishop Hincmar claimed, "the pure nature of the water recognizes as impure and therefore rejects as inconsistent with itself such human nature as has once been regenerated by the waters of baptism and is again infected by falsehood." Consequently, to prove his innocence, the man had to sink. In the ordeal of fire the accused seems at first to have put his hand into the fire; later he might be obliged to walk between two burning piles of wood; the severity of the ordeal was determined by the size of the piles and the distance between them. The ordeal of red-hot iron might be administered in various forms. A person might be required to step successively upon nine hot plowshares; then guilt or innocence would be determined by the extent and the persistence of the resultant burning. He might be required to walk blindfolded among the red-hot plowshares; if innocent, he would be guided divinely so that he would not touch any. He might be required to carry a piece of red-hot iron for nine feet; after which his culpability was determined by much the same method as in the ordeal of hot water. Other forms were frequently used until the custom was condemned by both popes and lay rulers in the thirteenth century.

Wager of Battle. The third method which was commonly used for determining questions of guilt was the wager of battle, or duel. This defense of one's honor by fighting naturally appealed to a barbarous people, and when the belief that God would protect the right was general, the wager of battle seemed the most satisfactory way of deciding important cases. Under Otto the Great it was used even for a strictly legal question concerning inheritance, and in Gothic Spain for deciding which form of ritual should be used in the church. The custom was widely extended; not only the principals might decide the question by fighting, but the accused might challenge the truth of the testimony of any witness against him and demand the wager of battle. When one party was unfit to participate in the fighting personally, a champion was allowed as a substitute; women and members of the clergy were especially privileged in this respect.

Penalties. When a man was convicted of wounding or killing a person the penalty was a fine, as a compensation to the injured party or his family. When the Germans entered the Empire, they had advanced beyond the stage of " life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe," and in the interests of the tribe as a whole were endeavoring to restrict private vengeance and feuds. The various Germanic laws attempted to fix for each offense a sum which the guilty party would be willing to pay and the injured party willing to receive, and thus further strife would be averted. Some of the laws go into the most minute details about injuries; of these the Frisian and, later, the code of Alfred are particularly noteworthy. Alfred the Great copied to some extent the laws of his predecessors, but changed the penalties and made the list of injuries more complete. For instance, he fixed the payment for knocking out a front tooth at eight shillings, a " cheek tooth " at twelve shillings, and a " man's tusk " at fifteen shillings. The values of the fingers were respectively: the " shooting" or forefinger, fifteen shillings; the middle, twelve shillings; CvHIIIthe " gold finger," or ring finger, seventeen shillings; the little finger, nine shillings. The nails varied from one shilling for the little finger to five shillings for the thumb. In the Frisian law each wound was rated according to its length, and, as in Alfred's law, the list of possible injuries is very detailed.

Wergeld. If a person were killed the compensatory payment was called wergeld and varied according to the worth or position of the victim. Among the Franks the wergeld for " a free Frank, or a barbarian living under the Salic law " was two hundred shillings; for a free Roman one hundred; for a Frank who was in the service of the king and for " a Roman who eats in the king's house " the penalties were three-fold the above. If the murderer attempted to conceal the body the penalty was also three-fold. Consequently the fine was eighteen hundred shillings when a f ree Frank in the service of the king had been killed and the body hidden in a well or elsewhere. A Roman who paid tribute was valued at only sixty-three shillings; while the slaying of a Frankish boy under ten years of age entailed a penalty of six hundred. The penalties for women varied according to their age and condition, their worth depending mainly upon the possibility of their having offspring. Thus a woman who had begun to bear children was valued at six hundred, one who was pregnant at seven hundred, but one who had passed the child-bearing age at only two hundred shillings; evidently the interests of the tribe in having as many warriors as possible was the determining element.

Intermingling. Although the customs and desires of the Romans and Germans were so different, the people naturally intermingled because they were living in the same localities. Even when individual Romans were actually enslaved by the barbarians, their association developed some acquaintance and intimacy and sometimes resulted in the acquisition of new tastes by the barbarians. Gregory of Tours tells an interesting tale which illustrates the possibilities and furnishes a glimpse of the life in Gaul in the first third of the sixth century. Many sons of Roman nobles had been seized as hostages and finally made slaves to the barbarians. One of these slaves had been set to tending horses. His family grieved over his fate, but were entirely unable to accomplish his rescue. Finally one of their faithful slaves offered to secure the release of his young master from slavery, and having received permission went to the place where the latter was held in bondage and caused himself to be sold to the same owner. When questioned he said he was " skilful in cooking everything that ought to be eaten at a gentleman's table." He so pleased the barbarian palate that he became highly trusted. After a full year had elapsed, the cook decided that the time for escape had come, as there was to be a great banquet when all the barbarians were sure to eat and drink heavily. At the conclusion of the banquet the chief guest asked the cook jokingly, " When are you going to steal my father-in law's horses and run away home?" The cook replied, "I am thinking of starting this very night, please God," and they both enjoyed the joke. Soon the two slaves, the cook and his young master, were off with a supply of clothing and arms and driving all the barbarian's horses before them. They were pursued and had to abandon the horses, but succeeded in escaping and finally reached home in safety.

Mutual Attraction. Moreover, Germans and Romans were mutually attracted by one another. Many a German learned to desire the luxuries which could be procured in the cities; many a Roman boy learned to love life in the country. Intermarriages were common. The Romans needed the protection which could be secured from the barbarian king or noble, for the Salic law read: " If any one shall have killed a Roman who eats in the king's house and the deed is proven he shall be fined I2,000 denars, which make 300 shillings." As stated above, this was three times as much as had to be paid for the murder of an ordinary Roman and one-half as much again as had to be paid in the case of a free Frank who was not in the immediate service of the king. The Germans needed the Romans for all callings where education was essential; The odoric had employed Cassiodorus and many other noble Romans; the royal secretaries of the Franks were usually, if not always, Gallo-Romans. Many of the Roman nobles held office as counts under the Merovingian rulers, and by the end of the sixth century many of the chief positions under the Frankish kings were held by men of Roman descent. At the beginning of the seventh cen tury a Roman became mayor of the palace. By the middle of the eighth century the fusion of the two nationalities was practically complete. In the pages of Gregory of Tours, who died in 594, the Romans are carefully distinguished from the barbarians. In the chronicles of the latter part of the eighth century no such dis tinction is possible. Then it was a nation of Franks; the Romans and the barbarians had all come to form one society. The same evolution was going on in all the other portions of the Empire set tled by the Germans; but in some the process was less rapid. The Lombards in Italy, partly because of their Arianism, remained distinct from the Romans longer than any of the other Germans.

Modification of Roman Customs. In some features of the civilization the Germans first adopted Roman customs as they found them, and then gradually modified them until the result was something very different. In the matter of finance, they seem originally to have levied in Gaul the same imposts as the imperial officials; but they granted many exemptions, and the Merovingian kings finally received no taxes and were wholly dependent upon the income from their landed estates. The latter were managed at first according to the Roman method. the most important change in the early period of the migrations was that the master's home became transformed into a fortress, surrounded by a stockade. Gradually the more advanced methods of agriculture fell into disuse, and the decline in productiveness was very marked. But, on the other hand, in German lands which had never formed a part of the Empire, Roman methods were introduced to some extent and were a great improvement compared with the crude German customs in agriculture.

Results of Fusion. As a result of the long process of fusion, the civilization which ensued was less advanced than the Roman, but far higher than the Germans had known before the invasion. Its different sources and composite character are reflected in many of the institutions under the Carolingians and later, so that it is often difficult to say whether the Roman or the German influence was the more important. In studying the feudal structure of society, for instance, some scholars have derived all of its most fundamental concepts from the German customs, while others have traced the evolution back to Roman institutions. Both are probably right and both wrong, as the feudal usages were shaped by the fusion of Roman and German points of view.

Notes:

1. The copy from which I am quoting was printed in 1766 in Germany. It contains the Latin distichs and below, at the bottom of the pages, translations into German iambics, trochees, and dactyls for each couplet.

2. Priscian quotes Homer 78 times. Horace 158, Juvenal 121, Lncretius 25, Ovid 73, Salltlst 80 Terence 225, Vergil's Aeneid 721, and Vergil's other writings 146 times. From Priscian many medieval writers learned the classical quotations which they used. The preference for Vergil's writings is especially noteworthy.

3. Compurgation was not abolished by law in England untii I833 although it had fallen into disuse long before.