ON SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE TEUTONIC By J. A. PICTON, F.S.A. THE civilised life of modern times presents so complicated an aspect, its springs of action are so manifold, its relations so multifarious, that the analytical inquiry into its primitive elements is an exceedingly difficult task. And yet if we would rightly comprehend the political and social phenomena of the present time; if we would understand the distinctive features of the various nations of modern Europe, it is necessary that we should investigate, in a general way at least, the condition of the original stocks out of which these goodly branches have grown. The spring at the fountain-head gives the character. to the river which flows from it; and the physical and mental condition of our early ancestors has imparted its bias and tone to every period of our history. as On the present occasion, I propose to institute an inquiry, necessarily brief and slight, into the early social condition of the Teutonic race. This is the stock to which we Englishmen belong, and from which we derive most, both of our good and evil qualities. The sources from which I have principally drawn my illustrations are the early laws of the three principal Teutonic tribes, the Franks, the Alemanni, and the Anglo-Saxons. The laws of a people are an unerring test of their condition; of their government, personal relations, their prevalent vices and virtues, their manners, customs, property and mode of life. Every law shews us by implication the state of things requiring it, and thus pictures in strong colours the general state of society existing at the time of its enactment. Our earliest notices of the German races are derived from Cæsar, but the fullest account handed down from classical times is found in the Germania of Tacitus. The picture there presented is that of a people just advanced into what is called by ethnologists the iron age,* divided into numerous tribes with no regular government; electing their kings or chiefs as necessity required, but usually from particular families. The law was admi† nistered in assemblies of the whole people, called by Tacitus Concilia, equivalent to the folc-mot of our Saxon ancestors, or the Thing of our more Northern relatives.‡ Ignorant of letters as they are said to have been, § their laws and customs must, at this period, have been handed down by tradition only. About the year A. D. 360, letters were introduced amongst the Goths of Mosia, and the Scriptures translated into their language by their bishop, Ulphilas. They had also a collection of written laws, which have unfortunately been lost. Our business at present is with the Western branches of the great Teutonic stock. The multitude of separate clans named by Cæsar and Tacitus gradually crystalised into tribes, and these again formed themselves into confederacies, which ultimately became nations. The three great western Confederacies, or nations, were the Franks, the Alemanni, and the Anglo-Saxons. * Ne ferrum quidem superest sicut ex genere telorum colligitur.-Tac., Ger. sec. 6. + Reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt.-Tac., sec. 7. ‡ De minoribus rebus principes consultant; de majoribus omnes.—Tac., sec. 11. § Literarum secreta viri pariter ac feminæ ignorant.-Tac. sec. 19. The Franks are first heard of A. D. 240, when Aurelian, afterwards Emperor, encountered an invading force, and drove them back across the Rhine. Many derivations have been suggested for the name, but the most probable is that supported by the high authority of Gibbon and Grimm, that it implied a Confederacy or nation of free men. The Franks were separated into two divisions, the Ripuarians who inhabited the neighbourhood of the Rhine, and the Salian or Salic Franks, whose original seat was on the river Saal. There is a mythical account of a king Pharamond, who is said to have flourished in the fifth century; to have established the monarchy, and to have collected the Salic laws. The story, however, rests on no solid foundation. There can be no doubt that the laws of the Franks are the earliest illustrations of the condition of the German races, and in their original condition are of very high antiquity. They bear internal evidence of having been originally prepared before the existence of a kingly government over the whole nation. They were revised by king Clotaire A. D. 593, and enlarged and extended by Charlemagne A. D. 768-814. The existing text is in Latin of a barbarous dialect. There are several versions, some of them interspersed with old Frankish words, the import of which it is extremely difficult to determine. Two versions are given in Schilter's Thesaurus Antiquitatum Teutonicarum.* The Alemanni were a collection of tribes principally seated in the ancient Rhotia, between the sources of the Rhine and Danube. The name is supposed to be derived from the extent of the confederation, meaning “all men in the old German, alle männer. They are first noticed * Ulma, Danielis Bartholomæi, 1727 a. D., 3 vols. fol. in the reign of the Emperor Caracalla, A. D. 214; after various vicissitudes we find them, A. D. 496, beaten by the Franks under Clovis in a great battle. In the sixth century they united with the Suevi and formed the Duchy of Allemania. They occupied so important a position in the eyes of their western neighbours as to have given the name by which Germany is known to the French at this day, "Allemagne." Their laws, as handed down to us, were finally revised by Charlemagne in the eighth century. They exhibit a great change from the simplicity of the Salic code, embracing a greater variety of topics, and proceeding on different principles. They manifest the greater supremacy of law, and greater power of punishment. The Church had become mixed up in all the affairs of life, and weaves its tissue of influence through all the ramifications. A considerable part is also derived from the Roman civil law. The Jus Provinciale Alemannicum, is also found in Schilter's collections. The laws are written in the Theotisc, or old high German dialect, with a Latin paraphrase, which in many cases differs materially from the old German text. The early history of the Anglo-Saxon race in England, is too well known to require any summary here. We have a very full collection of the laws of the various Saxon kingdoms from the earliest times. My illustrations are drawn from the laws of Ethelbert, king of Kent, baptised in 597, died in 616; those of Ine, king of the West-Saxons, 688-725; Alfred, 871-901; Edward the elder, 901-924, Athelstan, 924-940, with others.* With these preliminary observations, let us now endeavour to ascertain what light is thrown on the social condition *These will all be found in the 1st volume of the Ancient Laws and Institutes of England, issued by the Record Commission, 1840, edited by Mr. B. Thorpe. of our early ancestors and congeners, by these various collections of laws. First, let us inquire into the personal condition of individuals in their relation to each other. However far back we search into the history of the Teutonic races, we find at least three orders recognised, the noble, the freeman and the slave. In Tacitus we find indeed four ranks; nobiles, ingenui, libertini and servi.* It has been held that originally there were only two orders. "Olim quicumque Liber nascebatur, nobilitatis etiam particeps quodammodo censebatur. Potentia et opes erant illae revera, quae unum supra alterum efferebant."t Captives taken in war became the first slaves, and from these simple relations arose the various subsequent complications of rank. Amongst the Alemanni there were three classes of free men, who are thus described : 66 Hie sol man hoeren von drier hande frien luten, waz rehtz die haben. Ez haizzent ains semper-frien; daz sint fri herren die ander frien ze manne habent. Daz ander sint mitler frien, daz sint die, die der hohen frien man sint. Daz dritte sint geburen, die fri sint, die haizzent fri lantsæzzen. Der hat jeglicher sunder reht, alz wir hernach ju wol gesagen." 66 'We shall here speak of three sorts of free people; what rights they possess. The first are called "entirely free;" these are they who have other freemen as vassals. The second are styled middle free; these are the vassals of the first. * Tacitus, Germania, secs. 24, 25. + Muratori, Antiq. Ital., vol. i. 714. |