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89-712: The Edictum Rothari (lit. Edict of Rothari ; also Edictus Rothari or Edictum Rotharis ) was the first written compilation of Lombard law , codified and promulgated on 22 November 643 by King Rothari in Pavia by a gairethinx , an assembly of the army. According to Paul the Deacon , the 8th century Lombard historian, the custom law of the Lombards ( Lombardic : cawarfidae ) had been held in memory before this. The Edict, recorded in Vulgar Latin , comprised primarily

178-425: A taboo , that was owed to a freeborn Lombard woman was notable. Anyone who would "place himself in the way" (injure) of a free woman or girl must pay 900 solidi , an immense sum. For comparison, anyone who would "place himself in the way" of a free man had to pay him 20 solidi if there was no bodily injury, and in similar cases involving another man's slave, handmaid or aldius , 20 solidi to the lord had to be paid as

267-590: A betrayal, Thurisind made an alliance with the Kutrigurs who devastated Moesia before end of the armistice. The Langobard and Roman army joined together and defeated the Gepids in 551. In the battle, Audoin 's son, Alboin killed Thurisind 's son, Turismod . In 552, the Byzantines, aided by a large contingent of Foederati , notably Lombards, Heruls and Bulgars, defeated the last Ostrogoths led by Teia in

356-568: A certain day assigned he would take a law, or oath, in open court, that he did not owe the debt, and at the same time bring with him eleven neighbors (called compurgators), who should avow upon their oaths that they believed in their consciences that he spoke the truth" (see the Tractatus of Glanvill , c. 1188). Wager of law was replaced by jury , from early times, to determine fact, at a time when judges managed legal procedure and did not determine fact. Trial "by lawful Judgment of his Peers, or by

445-504: A champion of freedom. In 47, a struggle ensued amongst the Cherusci and they expelled their new leader, the nephew of Arminius, from their country. The Lombards appeared on the scene with sufficient power to control the destiny of the tribe that had been the leader in the struggle for independence thirty-eight years earlier, for they restored the deposed leader to sovereignty. To the south, in 166 Cassius Dio reported that just before

534-655: A cult of Odin, thus creating a conscious tribal tradition. Fröhlich inverts the order of events in Priester and states that with the Odin cult, the Lombards grew their beards in resemblance of the Odin of tradition and their new name reflected this. Bruckner remarks that the name of the Lombards stands in close relation to the worship of Odin, whose many names include "the Long-bearded" or "the Grey-bearded", and that

623-438: A fictitious averment of a promise by the defendant – as a means of recovering debts. Where a penalty was created by statute, it became a common form to insert a proviso that no wager of law was to be allowed in an action for the penalty. Wager of law was finally abolished in 1833 (3 & 4 William IV. c. 42). The practice of compurgation (known as qasāma ) was a part of the customary penal law in pre-Islamic Arabia , and became

712-453: A neighbour who was accused in court and swore that in good conscience they believed he was telling the truth. The number of oath-helpers required depended on the defendant's rank and the character of the lawsuit. Eventually it became standard practice to bring eleven neighbours into court to swear for the defendant. The oath-helpers were called compurgators, and the wager of law was called compurgation. The wager of law, also called compurgation,

801-400: A part of early Islamic jurisprudence . If the body of a murdered person was found on occupied lands or a village, fifty inhabitants were required to take an oath that they did not cause the person's death, nor did they have knowledge of who did. If fewer than fifty persons were available, the people present had to swear more than once until fifty oaths had been obtained. This freed the people at

890-546: A policy of internal reconciliation and tried to reorganize royal administration. The dukes yielded half their estates for the maintenance of the king and his court in Pavia. On the foreign affairs side, Authari managed to thwart the dangerous alliance between the Byzantines and the Franks. Authari died in 591 and was succeeded by Agilulf , the duke of Turin , who also married Theodelinda in the same year. Agilulf successfully fought

979-650: A port in the northern languages ; consequently, Skiæren-Heal is the port of the Skiæren, a name well adapted to the port of Stockholm , in the Upplandske Skiæren, and the country may be justly called Scorung or Skiærunga. The legendary king Sceafa of Scandza was an ancient Lombardic king in Anglo-Saxon legend . The Old English poem Widsith , in a listing of famous kings and their countries, has Sceafa [weold] Longbeardum, so naming Sceafa as ruler of

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1068-526: Is an old legal practice, dating back to Saxon and feudal times, which was contemporaneous to the appeal to God to prove fact by trial by battle (wager of battle, trial by combat , or judicial duel), and of trial by ordeal . The use of the oath instead of the real or feigned combat – real in English law , feigned in Roman law – no doubt represents an advance in legal development. The technical term sacramentum

1157-785: Is the Historia Langobardorum ( History of the Lombards ) of Paul the Deacon , written in the eighth century. Paul's chief source for Lombard origins, however, is the seventh-century Origo Gentis Langobardorum ( Origin of the Lombard People ). The Origo Gentis Langobardorum tells the story of a small tribe called the Winnili dwelling in Northern Germany/Denmark zone (the Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani writes that

1246-425: Is the bond of union between the two stages of law. In the wager of law the defendant, with eleven compurgators, appeared in court, and the defendant swore that he did not owe the debt, or (in detinue ) that he did not detain the plaintiff's chattel ; while the compurgators swore that they believed that he spoke the truth. A variation was for the defendant to give gage, or sureties, in an action of debt, and "that at

1335-472: Is traced by Blackstone to the Mosaic law, Exodus 22:10–15 ; but it seems historically to have been derived from the system of compurgation, introduced into England from Normandy, a system which is now thought to have had an appreciable effect on the development of the English jury. It also has some points of resemblance, perhaps some historical connection, with the sponsio and the decisory oath of Roman law, and

1424-580: The Avars and then to the Franks. Grimoald managed to regain control over the duchies and deflected the late attempt of the Byzantine emperor Constans II to conquer southern Italy. He also defeated the Franks. At Grimoald's death in 671 Perctarit returned and promoted tolerance between Arians and Catholics, but he could not defeat the Arian party, led by Arachi, duke of Trento , who submitted only to his son,

1513-572: The Battle of Taginae . In approximately 560, Audoin was succeeded by his son Alboin , a young and energetic leader who defeated the neighboring Gepidae and made them his subjects; in 566, he married Rosamund , daughter of the Gepid king Cunimund . In the same year, he made a pact with Khagan Bayan . Next year the Lombards and the Avars destroyed the Gepid kingdom in the Lombard–Gepid War ,

1602-579: The Early Christian Church . Gradually, they adopted Roman or Romanized titles, names, and traditions, and partially converted to orthodoxy (in the seventh century), though not without a long series of religious and ethnic conflicts. By the time Paul the Deacon was writing, the Lombard language, dress and even hairstyles had nearly all disappeared in toto . The whole Lombard territory was divided into 36 duchies, whose leaders settled in

1691-885: The Elbe shortly after the beginning of the Christian era, next to the Chauci . Strabo states that the Lombards dwelt on both sides of the Elbe. He treats them as a branch of the Suebi , and states that: Now as for the tribe of the Suebi, it is the largest, for it extends from the Rhenus to the Albis; and a part of them even dwells on the far side of the Albis, as, for instance, the Hermondori and

1780-760: The Frankish king Charlemagne and integrated into the Frankish Empire . However, Lombard nobles continued to rule southern parts of the Italian peninsula well into the eleventh century, when they were conquered by the Normans and added to the County of Sicily . In this period, the southern part of Italy still under Lombard domination was known to the Norse as Langbarðaland ('land of the Lombards'), as inscribed in

1869-573: The Historia between 787 and 796 he was a Catholic monk and devoted Christian . He thought the pagan stories of his people "silly" and "laughable". Paul explained that the name "Langobard" came from the length of their beards. A modern theory suggests that the name "Langobard" comes from Langbarðr , a name of Odin . Priester states that when the Winnili changed their name to "Lombards", they also changed their old agricultural fertility cult to

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1958-639: The Lower Elbe as Langobardic . The burial sites are crematorial and are usually dated from the sixth century BC through the third century AD, so a settlement breakoff seems unlikely. The lands of the lower Elbe fall into the zone of the Jastorf Culture and became Elbe-Germanic , differing from the lands between Rhine , Weser , and the North Sea . Archaeological finds show that the Lombards were an agricultural people. Tacitus also counted

2047-578: The Marcomannic Wars , 6,000 Lombards and Obii (sometimes thought to be Ubii ) crossed the Danube and invaded Pannonia . The two tribes were defeated, whereupon they ceased their invasion and sent Ballomar, King of the Marcomanni, as ambassador to Aelius Bassus , who was then administering Pannonia. Peace was made and the two tribes returned to their homes, which in the case of the Lombards

2136-562: The Ravenna Cosmography , Mauringa was the land east of the Elbe. The crossing into Mauringa was very difficult. The Assipitti (possibly the Usipetes ) denied them passage through their lands and a fight was arranged for the strongest man of each tribe. The Lombard was victorious, passage was granted, and the Lombards reached Mauringa. The Lombards departed from Mauringa and reached Golanda. Scholar Ludwig Schmidt thinks this

2225-401: The gairethinx ("spear donation") in the presence of free men. Slaves might be emancipated in various ways, but there were severe laws for the pursuit and restoration of fugitives. In judicial procedure, a system of compurgation prevailed, as well as the wager of battle . The general assembly of free men continued to add ritual solemnity to important acts such as the enactment of new laws or

2314-529: The Deacon wrote in the History of the Lombards (written between 787 and 796) that the Lombards descended from a small tribe called the Winnili, who dwelt in northern Germany before migrating to seek new lands. Earlier Roman-era historians wrote of the Lombards in the first century AD as being one of the Suebian peoples, also from what is now northern Germany, near the Elbe river. They migrated south, and by

2403-534: The Dukes ") during which the dukes did not elect any king, a period regarded as a time of violence and disorder. In 586, threatened by a Frankish invasion, the dukes elected Cleph's son, Authari , as king. In 589, he married Theodelinda , daughter of Garibald I of Bavaria , the Duke of Bavaria . The Catholic Theodelinda was a friend of Pope Gregory I and pushed for Christianization. In the meantime, Authari embarked on

2492-580: The Germanic custom law of the Lombards, with some modifications to limit the power of feudal rulers and strengthen the authority of the king. Although the edict has been drafted in Latin, a few Lombard words were left untranslated, such as "grabworfin, arga, sculdhais, morgingab, metfio, federfio, mahrworfin, launegild, thinx, waregang, gastald, mundius, angargathung, fara, walupaus, gairethinx, aldius, actugild or, wegworin". The Edict, divided into 388 chapters,

2581-500: The Langobardi; and at the present time these latter, at least, have, to the last man, been driven in flight out of their country into the land on the far side of the river. Consistent with this, Suetonius wrote that Roman general Nero Claudius Drusus defeated a large force of Germans and drove some "to the farther side of the Albis (Elbe)" river. The German archaeologist Willi Wegewitz defined several Iron Age burial sites at

2670-604: The Law of the Land (legus terrae)" Cap. 29 of Magna Carta 1215 to 1297. Wager of law was practised in England (and English American colonies) until the 16th century, in criminal matters, and the 19th century, in civil matters. A defendant who elected to "make his law" was permitted to make a statement before the court, swear an oath that it was true, and present one or more individuals, often 12, who swore that they believed he had told

2759-844: The Lombard given name Ansegranus ("he with the beard of the gods") shows that the Lombards had this idea of their chief deity. The same Old Norse root Barth or Barði, meaning "beard", is shared with the Heaðobards mentioned in both Beowulf and in Widsith , where they conflict with the Danes . They were possibly a branch of the Langobards . Alternatively, some etymological sources suggest an Old High German root, barta, meaning "axe" (and related to English halberd), while Edward Gibbon puts forth an alternative suggestion which argues that: ...Börde (or Börd) still signifies "a fertile plain by

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2848-546: The Lombards as a remote and aggressive Suebian tribe, listing them between the Semnones on the Elbe, and the Nerthus -worshipping tribes whose land of rivers and forest stretched to the sea. Writing in the late first century AD, he described the Langobardi in his Germania saying that "their scanty numbers are a distinction" because "surrounded by a host of most powerful tribes, they are safe, not by submitting, but by daring

2937-505: The Lombards occurred between AD 9 and 16, by the Roman court historian Velleius Paterculus , who accompanied a Roman expedition as prefect of the cavalry. Paterculus says that under Tiberius the "power of the Langobardi was broken, a race surpassing even the Germans in savagery". From the combined testimony of Strabo (AD 20) and Tacitus (AD 117), the Lombards dwelt near the mouth of

3026-656: The Lombards or Winnili lived originally in the Vinuiloth (Vinovilith) mentioned by Jordanes , in his masterpiece Getica , to the north of Uppsala , Sweden. Scoringa was near the province of Uppland , so just north of Östergötland . The footnote then explains the etymology of the name Scoringa: The shores of Uppland and Östergötland are covered with small rocks and rocky islands , which are called in German Schæren and in Swedish Skiaeren. Heal signifies

3115-495: The Lombards, who could retain their own laws. Rothari's son Rodoald succeeded him in 652, still very young, and was killed by his opponents. At the death of King Aripert I in 661, the kingdom was split between his children Perctarit , who set his capital in Milan, and Godepert , who reigned from Pavia ( Ticinum ). Perctarit was overthrown by Grimoald , son of Gisulf, duke of Friuli and Benevento since 647. Perctarit fled to

3204-509: The Lombards. From the second century onwards, many of the Germanic tribes recorded as active during the Principate started to unite into bigger tribal unions, such as the Franks , Alamanni , Bavarii , and Saxons . The Lombards are not mentioned at first, perhaps because they were not initially on the border of Rome, or perhaps because they were subjected to a larger tribal union, like

3293-566: The Lombards. Similarities between Langobardic and Gothic migration traditions have been noted among scholars. These early migration legends suggest that a major shifting of tribes occurred sometime between the first and second century BC, which would coincide with the time that the Teutoni and Cimbri left their homelands in Northern Germany and migrated through central Germany, eventually invading Roman Italy. The first mention of

3382-570: The Norse runestones . Their legacy is also apparent in the name of the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. According to their traditions, the Lombards initially called themselves the Winnili . After a reported major victory against the Vandals in the first century, they changed their name to Lombards . The name Winnili is generally translated as 'the wolves', related to the Proto-Germanic root *wulfaz 'wolf'. The name Lombard

3471-500: The Pope, who was supporting the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento against him, and entered Rome in 772, the first Lombard king to do so. But when Pope Hadrian I called for help from the powerful Frankish king Charlemagne , Desiderius was defeated at Susa and besieged in Pavia , while his son Adelchis was forced to open the gates of Verona to Frankish troops. Desiderius surrendered in 774, and Charlemagne, in an utterly novel decision, took

3560-486: The Queensland Common Practice Act of 1867 which makes direct reference to the abolition of wager of law. The word compurgation is composed of Latin, com "with" and purgare "to make clean, cleanse, excuse". Latin com- is also an intensifier and turns a word into the superlative form, so compurgation, by etymology, means "to thoroughly clean or excuse". The procedure in a wager of law

3649-633: The Rev. Fearon Jenkinson of Gnosall, Staffordshire used it against a Stafford ironmonger who claimed he was owed money by him. Jenkinson and his compurgators did not appear on the date. Wager of law survived to recent centuries and in many jurisdictions it has been abolished by statute. It was abolished in New South Wales in 1841 by the Advancement of Justice Act 1841 (both Victoria and Queensland were still part of New South Wales at this time). This

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3738-568: The Saxons. It is, however, highly probable that, when the bulk of the Lombards migrated, a considerable part remained behind and afterwards became absorbed by the Saxon tribes in the Elbe region, while the emigrants alone retained the name of Lombards. However, the Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani states that the Lombards were subjected by the Saxons around 300 but rose up against them under their first king, Agelmund, who ruled for 30 years. In

3827-520: The Winnili first dwelt near a river called Vindilicus on the extreme boundary of Gaul ). The Winnili were split into three groups and one part left their native land to seek foreign fields. The reason for the exodus was probably overpopulation . The departing people were led by Gambara and her sons Ybor and Aio and arrived in the lands of Scoringa , perhaps the Baltic coast or the Bardengau on

3916-577: The above-mentioned Suebic territories, east of the Angrivarii on the Weser , and south of the Chauci on the coast, probably indicating a Lombard expansion from the Elbe to the Rhine. This double mention has been interpreted as an editorial error by Gudmund Schütte, in his analysis of Ptolemy. However, the Historia Langobardorum codicis Gothani also mentions Patespruna ( Paderborn ) in connection with

4005-431: The agricultural slaves. In the laws pertaining to inheritance, illegitimate offspring had rights as well as legitimate ones. No father could disinherit his son except for certain grievous crimes. Donations of property were made in the presence of an assembly called the thinc , which gave rise to the barbarous Latin verb thingare , to grant or donate before witnesses. If a man wishes to thingare his property, he must make

4094-738: The allies halved the prize of war and the nomads settled in Transylvania . In the spring of 568, Alboin, now fearing the aggressive Avars, led the Lombard migration into Italy , which he planned for years. According to the History of the Lombards, "Then the Langobards, having left Pannonia , hastened to take possession of Italy with their wives and children and all their goods." The Avars have agreed to shelter them if they wish to come back. Various other peoples who either voluntarily joined or were subjects of King Alboin were also part of

4183-758: The banks of the Elbe . Scoringa was ruled by the Vandals and their chieftains, the brothers Ambri and Assi, who granted the Winnili a choice between tribute or war. The Winnili were young and brave and refused to pay tribute, saying "It is better to maintain liberty by arms than to stain it by the payment of tribute." The Vandals prepared for war and consulted Godan (the god Odin ), who answered that he would give victory to those whom he would see first at sunrise. The Winnili were fewer in number and Gambara sought help from Frea (the goddess Frigg ), who advised that all Winnili women should tie their hair in front of their faces like beards and march in line with their husbands. At sunrise, Frea turned her husband's bed so that he

4272-429: The cause of action were the same. The Lateran Council of 1215 effectively abolished trial by ordeal in Catholic countries (which England was at the time) by forbidding priests from taking part, thus robbing it of its legitimacy. Trial by battle was abolished in 1819 and wager of law was abolished in 1833, although both had fallen into disuse before their formal abolition. Wager of law was used as late as 1829, when

4361-407: The disagreements between the Pope and Byzantium concerning the reverence of icons , he annexed the Exarchate of Ravenna and the duchy of Rome . He also helped the Frankish marshal Charles Martel drive back the Arabs . The Slavs were defeated in the Battle of Lavariano , when they tried to conquer the Friulian Plain in 720. Liutprand's successor Aistulf conquered Ravenna for the Lombards for

4450-581: The end of the fifth century, the Lombards had moved into the area roughly coinciding with modern Austria and Slovakia north of the Danube . Here they subdued the Heruls and later fought frequent wars with the Gepids . The Lombard king Audoin defeated the Gepid leader Thurisind in 551 or 552, and Audoin's successor Alboin eventually destroyed the Gepids in 567. The Lombards also settled in Pannonia (modern-day Hungary). Near Szólád , archaeologists have unearthed burial sites of Lombard men and women buried together as families, unusual among Germanic peoples at

4539-488: The first Lombard duchy, which he entrusted to his nephew Gisulf . Soon Vicenza , Verona and Brescia fell into Germanic hands. In the summer of 569, the Lombards conquered the main Roman centre of northern Italy , Milan . The area was then recovering from the terrible Gothic Wars , and the small Byzantine army left for its defence could do almost nothing. Longinus, the Exarch sent to Italy by Emperor Justin II , could only defend coastal cities that could be supplied by

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4628-446: The first time but had to relinquish it when he was subsequently defeated by the king of the Franks, Pippin III , who was called by the Pope. After the death of Aistulf, Ratchis attempted to become king of Lombardy, but he was deposed by Desiderius , duke of Tuscany , the last Lombard to rule as king. Desiderius managed to take Ravenna definitively, ending the Byzantine presence in northern Italy. He decided to reopen struggles against

4717-448: The governance of trade or the duties of a citizen; instead, it is minutely concerned with compensations for wrongs, a feature familiar from the weregild system of Anglo-Saxons and the defence of property rights. Though Lombard women were always in some status of wardship to the males of the family—and a freeborn Lombard woman who married an aldius (semi-free man) or a slave might be slain or sold by her male kin—the respect, amounting to

4806-422: The increasing power of the Franks. In response, the kings tried to centralize power over time, but they definitively lost control over Spoleto and Benevento in the attempt. In 572, Alboin was murdered in Verona in a plot led by his wife, Rosamund, who later fled to Ravenna . His successor, Cleph , was also assassinated, after a ruthless reign of 18 months. His death began an interregnum of years (the " Rule of

4895-441: The land to the west of the Soča River, namely the Gorizia Hills and the Venetian Slovenia . A new ethnic border was established that has lasted for over 1200 years up until the present time. The Lombard reign began to recover only with Liutprand the Lombard (king from 712), son of Ansprand and successor of the brutal Aripert II . He managed to regain a certain control over Spoleto and Benevento, and, taking advantage of

4984-413: The main cities. The king ruled over them and administered the land through emissaries called gastaldi . This subdivision, however, together with the independent indocility of the duchies, deprived the kingdom of unity, making it weak even when compared to the Byzantines, especially since these had begun to recover from the initial invasion. This weakness became even more evident when the Lombards had to face

5073-438: The migration. Whence, even until today, we call the villages in which they dwell Gepidan , Bulgarian , Sarmatian , Pannonian , Suabian , Norican , or by other names of this kind." At least 20,000 Saxon warriors, old allies of the Lombards, and their families joined them in their new migration. The first important city to fall was Forum Iulii ( Cividale del Friuli ) in northeastern Italy , in 569. There, Alboin created

5162-412: The most energetic of all Lombard kings. He extended his dominions, conquering Liguria in 643 and the remaining part of the Byzantine territories of inner Veneto , including the Roman city of Opitergium ( Oderzo ). Rothari also made the famous edict bearing his name, the Edictum Rothari , which established the laws and the customs of his people in Latin : the edict did not apply to the tributaries of

5251-467: The old lands of the Burgundes . In Vurgundaib, the Lombards were stormed in camp by " Bulgars " (probably Huns ) and were defeated; King Agelmund was killed and Laimicho was made king. He was in his youth and desired to avenge the slaughter of Agelmund. The Lombards themselves were probably made subjects of the Huns after the defeat but rose up and defeated them with great slaughter, gaining great booty and confidence as they "became bolder in undertaking

5340-414: The perils of war". Tacitus also noted that the Lombards were subjects of Marobod the King of the Marcomanni , who was allied with Rome when Arminius and his allies won the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. However, after the outbreak of war between Arminius and Marobod in 17 AD the Lombards and Semnones switched to the alliance of Arminius. They detested Marobod's title of king, and saw Arminius as

5429-404: The philo-Catholic Cunincpert . The Lombards engaged in fierce battles with Slavic peoples during these years: from 623 to 626 the Lombards unsuccessfully attacked the Carantanians , and, in 663–64, the Slavs raided the Vipava Valley and the Friuli . Religious strife and the Slavic raids remained a source of struggle in the following years. In 705, the Friuli Lombards were defeated and lost

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5518-401: The powerful Byzantine fleet. Pavia fell after a siege of three years, in 572, becoming the first capital city of the new Lombard kingdom of Italy. In the following years, the Lombards penetrated further south, conquering Tuscany and establishing two duchies, Spoleto and Benevento under Zotto , which soon became semi-independent and even outlasted the northern kingdom, surviving well into

5607-435: The preamble, as shown in the full text of the edict hereby cited. It was written down by one Ansoald, a scribe of Lombard origin, and was affirmed by a gairethinx convened by Rothari in 643. The gairethinx was a gathering of the army that passed the law by clashing their spears on their shields in old Germanic fashion, a fitting passing for a Latin code that was so Germanic. The Edict makes no references to public life,

5696-426: The price for copulation with another man's slave. Roman slaves were of lower value in these matters compared to Germanic slaves. Physical injuries were all minutely catalogued, with a price set for damage done to each tooth, finger or toe. Property was a concern: many laws in the Edict dealt specifically with injuries to an aldius or to a household slave. A still lower class, according to their assigned values, were

5785-428: The rebel dukes of northern Italy, conquering Padua in 601, Cremona and Mantua in 603, and forcing the Exarch of Ravenna to pay tribute. Agilulf died in 616; Theodelinda reigned alone until 628 when she was succeeded by Adaloald . Arioald , the head of the Arian opposition who had married Theodelinda's daughter Gundeperga, later deposed Adaloald. Arioald was succeeded by Rothari , regarded by many authorities as

5874-487: The reference to oath of Scottish law . [Compurgation] had originated in Anglo-Saxon England in the ties of kinship that bound people together in the period before the year 1000, a time when each man was responsible for the acts of his blood relatives. Later, kinship gave way to a more tribal affiliation and a loyalty to the place of one's birth. When disputes more often than not led to violence, it seemed natural that neighbors would band together. They aligned themselves with

5963-434: The reign of King Liutprand (712–743), most inhabitants of Lombard Italy were considered Lombards regardless of their ancestry and followed Lombard Law. Lombards The Lombards ( / ˈ l ɒ m b ər d z , - b ɑːr d z , ˈ l ʌ m -/ ) or Longobards ( Latin : Longobardi ) were a Germanic people who conquered most of the Italian Peninsula between 568 and 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul

6052-399: The second half of the fourth century, the Lombards left their homes, probably due to bad harvests, and embarked on their migration. The migration route of the Lombards in 489, from their homeland to " Rugiland ", encompassed several places: Scoringa (believed to be their land on the Elbe shores), Mauringa , Golanda , Anthaib , Banthaib , and Vurgundaib ( Burgundaib ). According to

6141-403: The selection of a king. Lombard law applied to Lombards solely. The Roman population ruled by the Lombard aristocracy expected to live under long-codified Roman law . The Edict stipulated that foreigners who came to settle in Lombard territories were expected to live according to the laws of the Lombards unless they obtained from the king the right to live according to some other law. Later, by

6230-439: The side of a river," and a district near Magdeburg is still called the lange Börde. According to this view Langobardi would signify "inhabitants of the long bord of the river;" and traces of their name are supposed still to occur in such names as Bardengau and Bardewick in the neighborhood of the Elbe. According to the Gallaecian Christian priest , historian and theologian Paulus Orosius (translated by Daines Barrington ),

6319-403: The then late rebellion in Wales and complains that the Welshmen are still taking revenge for the deaths of their kinsmen against the king's faithful lieges. Some of such lieges they keep in prison until they have paid ransom, or until they have purged themselves of the death of the said rebels. As the kings consolidated their power, suppressing violence and increasing the authority of the courts,

6408-631: The time. Contemporary traces have also been discovered of Mediterranean Greeks and a possible migrant from France. Following Alboin's victory over the Gepids, he led his people into northeastern Italy , which had become severely depopulated and devastated after the long Gothic War (535–554) between the Byzantine Empire and the Ostrogothic Kingdom . The Lombards were joined by numerous Saxons , Heruls , Gepids, Bulgars , Thuringians and Ostrogoths , and their invasion of Italy

6497-550: The title "King of the Lombards". Before then the Germanic kingdoms had frequently conquered each other, but none had adopted the title of King of another people. Charlemagne took part of the Lombard territory to create the Papal States . The Lombardy region in Italy, which includes the cities of Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, and the old capital Pavia, is a reminder of the presence of the Lombards. Compurgation Compurgation

6586-545: The toils of war." During the reign of King Claffo , the Langobards occupied parts of modern-day Upper and Lower Austria and converted to Arian Christianity . In 505 the Herulians attacked and defeated them, obliging them to pay tax and withdraw to Northern Bohemia . In 508, King Rodulf sent his brother to the Lombard court to collect tribute and extend the truce; however, he was stabbed by Rometrud, sister of King Tato . Rodulf personally led his forces against Tato, but

6675-515: The truth under oath. The predominant form of defense in the feudal courts, it persisted for a time in the common-law courts. The individuals "did not testify about the fact itself and, indeed, might have no personal knowledge concerning it. The value of a man’s oath might vary with his status; sometimes it was necessary for a defendant to meet a charge by assembling oaths of a prescribed monetary value. Because oath making often had religious implications for those who served as oath helpers and because there

6764-540: The twelfth century. Wherever they went, they were joined by the Ostrogothic population, which was allowed to live peacefully in Italy with their Rugian allies under Roman sovereignty. The Byzantines managed to retain control of the area of Ravenna and Rome, linked by a thin corridor running through Perugia . When they entered Italy, some Lombards retained their native form of paganism , while some were Arian Christians. Hence they did not enjoy good relations with

6853-429: The wager of law lost some of its ancient power and became a nuisance to litigants, who suspected that it frequently opened the door to false swearing. Different forms of action developed that did not permit the wager of law as a defense, and plaintiffs used them as much as possible. The procedure of wager of law had long since been obsolete when it was abolished during the reign of Henry IV (1399–1413). The taking of oaths

6942-454: Was almost unopposed. By late 569, they had conquered all of northern Italy and the principal cities north of the Po River except Pavia , which fell in 572. At the same time, they occupied areas in central and southern Italy. They established a Lombard Kingdom in north and central Italy, which reached its zenith under the eighth-century ruler Liutprand . In 774, the kingdom was conquered by

7031-437: Was also a possibility of legal sanctions (penalties), individuals might refuse to give oaths for persons with bad reputations. One reason for the long survival of the practice was that 'wagers in law' were often considered better evidence than account books in cases of debt." Welsh law allowed for a form of compurgation called assach, which required not 12 but 300 compurgators. A statute from 1413 ( 1 Hen. 5 . c. 6), refers to

7120-522: Was ambushed and killed from a hill. In the 540s, Audoin (ruled 546–560) led the Lombards across the Danube once more into Pannonia . Thurisind , King of the Gepids attempted to expel them, and both peoples asked for help from the Byzantines. Justinian I sent his army against the Gepids; however, it was routed on the way by the Herulians and the sides signed a two-year truce. Revenging what he felt as

7209-469: Was an eminently unsatisfactory way of arriving at the merits of a claim, and it is therefore not surprising to find that the policy of the law was in favour of its restriction rather than of its extension. Thus it was not permitted where the defendant was not a person of good character, where the king sued, where the defendant was the executor or administrator of the person alleged to have owed the debt, or in any form of action other than those named, even though

7298-459: Was facing east, and woke him. So Godan spotted the Winnili first and asked, "Who are these long-beards?," and Frea replied, "My lord, thou hast given them the name, now give them also the victory." From that moment onwards, the Winnili were known as the Longbeards (Latinised as Langobardi , Italianised as Longobardi , and Anglicized as Langobards or Lombards ). When Paul the Deacon wrote

7387-631: Was found in early Germanic law , in early French law ( très ancienne coutume de Bretagne ), in Welsh law , and in the English ecclesiastical courts until the seventeenth century. In common law it was substantially abolished as a defence in felonies by the Constitutions of Clarendon in 1164. The defence was still permitted in civil actions for debt and vestiges of it survived until its statutory repeal at various times in common law countries: in England in 1833, and Queensland at some point before

7476-616: Was further east, perhaps on the right bank of the Oder . Schmidt considers the name the equivalent of Gotland , meaning simply "good land". This theory is highly plausible; Paul the Deacon mentions the Lombards crossing a river, and they could have reached Rugiland from the Upper Oder area via the Moravian Gate . Moving out of Golanda, the Lombards passed through Anthaib and Banthaib until they reached Vurgundaib, believed to be

7565-523: Was not a Roman product, and unlike the near-contemporary Forum Iudicum of the Visigoths, it was not influenced by Canon law . Its only dealing with ecclesial matters was a prohibition on violence in churches. The Edict gives military authority to the dukes and gives civil authority to a schulthais (or reeve ) in the countryside and a castaldus (or gastald ) in cities. Rothari could name his lineage back to eleven generations, and wrote it down in

7654-486: Was primitive in comparison to other Germanic legislation of the time. It was also comparatively late, for the Franks , Visigoths , and Anglo-Saxons had all compiled codices of law long before. Unlike the 6th century Breviarium Alaricianum of Visigoth king Alaric II , the Edict was mostly Germanic tribal law dealing with weregilds , inheritance , and duels , not a code of Roman law . In spite of its Latin language, it

7743-508: Was re-enacted after separation of Queensland from New South Wales in the Queensland Common Law Practice Act 1867, but was strictly unnecessary, given its earlier abolition in 1841 which makes direct reference to the abolition of wager of law. No wager of law was allowed in assumpsit , even though the cause of action were a simple debt. This led to the general adoption of assumpsit – proceeding originally upon

7832-556: Was reportedly derived from the distinctively long beards of the Lombards. It is probably a compound of the Proto-Germanic elements * langaz (long) and * bardaz (beard). According to their own legends, the Lombards originated in Northern Germany/Denmark zone including modern-day Denmark. The Germanic origins of the Lombards is supported by genetic, anthropological, archaeological and earlier literary evidence. A legendary account of Lombard origins, history, and practices

7921-695: Was the lands of the lower Elbe. In the mid-second century, the Lombards supposedly appeared in the Rhineland , because according to Claudius Ptolemy , the Suebic Lombards lived "below" the Bructeri and Sugambri , and between these and the Tencteri . To their east stretching northwards to the central Elbe are the Suebi Angili . But Ptolemy also mentions the "Laccobardi" to the north of

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