Lex Burgundionum

Many of the barbarian tribes settled in the Roman Empire peacefully rather than by conquest. The Burgundians, an east German people, were one such tribe. Migrating from their homeland near the Vistula River in what today is northern Poland, the Burgundians traveled westward, eventually settling in the northeast corner of the Roman Empire in an area extending from the Rhine to the Danube Rivers. Like virtually all of the Germanic tribes, their legal system was based entirely upon custom and personal relationships. As such, their laws frequently came into conflict with the more formal Roman law codes. One of the Burgundian kings, Gundobad (474–516), attempted to resolve the dilemma of conflicting legal systems by converting Burgundian customary law into a written law code. The result was the Lex Burgundionum, the Law of the Burgundians. It is one of the best surviving examples of...