Lex Alamannorum

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Pactus Alamannorum and Lex Alamannorum are names for the Alemannic legal records of the early Middle Ages . They were published in parts for the first time in 1530 by Johannes Sichard in Basel . These are the oldest and most important text documents of the Alemannic duchy with important information about the economy and society, everyday life and culture in the Alemannic-Swabian region. The text is in Latin but contains Germanic fragments.

Tradition and content

The Pactus Alamannorum (also Pactus legis Alamannorum ) as an older text level from the first third of the 7th century has been handed down in a single manuscript from the 9th / 10th century and consists of four externally unrelated fragments of leaves. Its content represents the legislative attempt to bring traditional vengeance and feuding habits in the event of legal violations (from defamation to killing a person) under control by means of a standardized catalog of penalties .

The Lex Alamannorum is attested by fifty manuscripts from the 8th to 12th centuries, which reproduce a Merovingian and a Carolingian version. The Lex is ascribed to Herzog Lantfrid (727 to 730) according to the initial formula in two manuscripts . However, it is very likely a forgery that was created in the Reichenau island monastery, which primarily aims to achieve a privileged ecclesiastical position, but otherwise accurately reflects the Alemannic legal relationships. It is divided into three parts: Church matters, that is, above all, the formation of church assets; Ducal matters, that is, formation and securing of ducal rule; People's affairs, that is, a catalog of penalties like in the Pactus.

The laws show an advanced social and state consolidation of the Alemannic tribal structures into a class order with free and unfree or semi-free. There is also a certain closeness to the text to other Germanic legal records . The Alemannic legal record already belongs to the context of the Franconian Empire , whose kings exercised sovereignty over the Alemannic dukes, who were independent in their own interests and law, but were not unaffected. In the part of the Lex Alamannorum on church matters, the church organization, which is already well developed despite the relatively young Christianization, is expressed. While the Pactus Alamannorum still has no ecclesiastical influence, the church has secured its rights to a large extent in the Lex Alamannorum .

The authenticity of the Lex Alamannorum is disputed in recent research. Clausdieter Schott sees it as a forgery from Reichenau, which "was made towards the end of the 1930s at the earliest". Steffen Patzold sees “no compelling source-critical reasons” for a forgery and assumes “the authenticity of the texts”.

Excerpt from the catalog of fines

Si quis digitum police alteri truncaverit, solvat solidos 12.
("If someone cuts off someone else's thumb, he pays 12 shillings.")
Si mancat aut in primo noto truncatus fuerit, solvat solidos 6.
("If he is paralyzed or cut off in the first joint, you pay 6 shillings.")
Si secundum digito truncatus fuerit, solidos 10 solvat. Si mancat, solvat solidos 5.
("If the second finger is cut off, pay 10 shillings. If it becomes paralyzed, pay 5 shillings.")
Si prima iunctura truncata fuerit, solvat solidos 3.
("If the first link is cut off, you pay 3 shillings.")
Si tercius digitus truncatus fuerit, solvat solidos 3.Si mancat, solvat solidos 3.
("If the third finger is cut off, pay 6 shillings. If it is paralyzed, pay 3 shillings.")
Si quartus digitus truncatus fuerit, solvat solidos 5.
("If the fourth finger is cut off, you pay 5 shillings.")
Si in primo noto truncatus fuerit, solvat solidos 3.
("If he is cut off in the first joint, you pay 3 shillings.")
Si minimus digitus truncatus fuerit, solvat solidos 10. Si mancaverit, solvat solidos 5.
("If the little finger is cut off, pay 10 shillings. If it is paralyzed, pay 5 shillings.")

(Second fragment of the Pactus Alamannorum, legal clauses No. 16–23; Latin original with German translation.)

swell

  • Karl August Eckhardt: The laws of the Carolingian empire 714-911 II Alemanni and Bavaria . Weimar 1934.
  • Karl August Eckhardt: Leges alamannorum. 2nd edition Hannover 1966 (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Leges nationum germanicarum, V, 1)
  • Clausdieter Schott : Lex Alamannorum - Law and Constitution of the Alemanni , Augsburg 1997 (facsimile edition).

literature

  • Adalbert Erler , Ekkehard Kaufmann (Hrsg.): Concise dictionary for German legal history . 2nd completely revised and expanded edition. Volume 2: Front door - Lippe . Schmidt, Berlin 1978, ISBN 3-503-00015-1 , Sp. 1902ff.
  • Lexicon of the Middle Ages . 1980-1989. Vol. 5, Col. 1927f.
  • Clausdieter Schott: Pactus, Lex and Law . In: Wolfgang Hübener : The Alemanni in the early days . Konkordia, Bühl (Baden) 1974 ( publications of the Alemannisches Institut Freiburg 34, ZDB -ID 741612-x ), pp. 135-168.
  • Clausdieter Schott: Lex and scriptorium. A study on the southern German tribal rights . In: Gerhard Dilcher , Eva-Marie Distler (eds.): Leges - Gentes - Regna. On the role of Germanic legal customs and the Latin writing tradition in the formation of the early medieval legal culture . Interdisciplinary conference "Germanic tribal traditions, popular rights and legal customs - A contribution to the establishment of the medieval European legal culture?" In Fürstenfeldbruck from June 17 to 20, 2004. E. Schmidt, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-503-07973-4 , p. 257 -290.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Clausdieter Schott: The origin and tradition of Pactus and Lex Alamannorum. In: Sebastian Brather (Hrsg.): Law and culture in early medieval Alemannia. Legal history, archeology and history of the 7th and 8th centuries. Berlin 2017, pp. 139–151, here: p. 150.
  2. Steffen Patzold: The 'Lex Alamannorum' - a forgery by monks of Reichenau? In: Sebastian Brather (Hrsg.): Law and culture in early medieval Alemannia. Legal history, archeology and history of the 7th and 8th centuries. Berlin 2017, pp. 153–168, here: p. 168.