Part 16

1. _Leges Wisigothorum._--Karl Zeumer's edition of these laws in the 4to series of the _Mon. Germ. Hist._ throws new light on all questions relating to their date and composition. It is now certain that the earliest written code of the Visigoths dates back to King Euric (466-485). Besides his own constitutions, Euric included in this collection constitutions of his predecessors, Theodoric I. (419-451), Thorismund (451-453), and Theodoric II. (453-466), and he arranged the whole in a logical order. Of this code fragments of chapters cclxxvi. to cccxxxvi.[1] have been discovered in a palimpsest MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris (Latin coll., No. 12161), a fact which proves that the code ran over a large area. Euric's code was used for all cases between Goths, and between them and Romans; in cases between Romans, Roman law was used. At the instance of Euric's son, Alaric II., an examination was made of the Roman laws in use among Romans in his dominions, and the resulting compilation was approved in 506 at an assembly at Aire, in Gascony, and is known as the Breviary of Alaric, and sometimes as the _Liber Aniani_, from the fact that the authentic copies bear the signature of the _referendarius_ Anian.

Euric's code remained in force among the Visigoths of Spain until the reign of Leovigild (568-586), who made a new one, improving upon that of his predecessor. This work is lost, and we have no direct knowledge of any fragment of it. In the 3rd codification, however, many provisions have been taken from the 2nd, and these are designated by the word "_antiqua_"; by means of these "_antiqua_" we are enabled in a certain measure to reconstruct the work of Leovigild.

After the reign of Leovigild the legislation of the Visigoths underwent a transformation. The new laws made by the kings were declared to be applicable to all the subjects in the kingdom, of whatever race--in other words, they became territorial; and this principle of territoriality was gradually extended to the ancient code. Moreover, the conversion of Reccared I. (586-601) to orthodoxy effaced the religious differences among his subjects, and all subjects, _qua_ Christians, had to submit to the canons of the councils, which were made obligatory by the kings. After this change had been accepted, Recceswinth (649-672) made a new code, which was applicable to Visigoths and Romans alike. This code, known as the _Liber judiciorum_, is divided into 12 books, which are subdivided into _tituli_ and chapters (_aerae_). It comprises 324 constitutions taken from Leovigild's collection, a few of the laws of Reccared and Sisebut, 99 laws of Chindaswinth (642-653), and 87 of Recceswinth. A recension of this code of Recceswinth was made in 681 by King Erwig (680-687), and is known as the _Lex Wisigothorum renovata_; and, finally, some additamenta were made by Egica (687-702). In Zeumer's edition of the _Leges Wisigothorum_ the versions of Recceswinth and Erwig, where they differ from each other, are shown in parallel columns, and the laws later than Erwig are denoted by the sign "_nov_."

For further information see the preface to Zeumer's edition; H. Brunner, _Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte_ (2nd ed., Leipzig, 1906); Urena y Smenyaud, _La Legislacion Gotico-hispana_ (Madrid, 1905).

2. _Lex Burgundionum._--This code was compiled by King Gundobald (474-516), very probably after his defeat by Clovis in 500. Some additamenta were subsequently introduced either by Gundobald himself or by his son Sigismund. This law bears the title of _Liber Constitutionum_, which shows that it emanated from the king; it is also known as the _Lex Gundobada_ or _Lex Gombata_. It was used for cases between Burgundians, but was also applicable to cases between Burgundians and Romans. For cases between Romans, however, Gundobald compiled the _Lex Romana Burgundionum_, called sometimes, through a misreading of the MSS., the _Liber Papiani_ or simply _Papianus_. The barbarian law of the Burgundians shows strong traces of Roman influence. It recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand sanctions the judicial duel and the _cojuratores_ (sworn witnesses). The vehement protest made in the 9th century by Agobard, bishop of Lyons, against the _Lex Gundobada_ shows that it was still in use at that period. So late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the Burgundians invoked as personal law in Cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code.

The text of the _Lex Burgundionum_ has been published by F. Bluhme in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, iii. 525; by Karl Binding in the _Fontes rerum Bernensium_ (vol. i., 1880); by J.E. Valentin Smith (Paris, 1889 seq.); and by von Salis (1892) in the 4to series of the _Mon. Germ. hist._ Cf. R. Dareste, "La Loi Gombette," in the _Journal des savants_ (July 1891).

3. _Pactus Alamannorum_ and _Lex Alamannorum._--Of the laws of the Alamanni, who dwelt between the Rhine and the Lech, and spread over Alsace and what is now Switzerland to the south of Lake Constance, we possess two different texts. The earlier text, of which five short fragments have come down to us, is known as the _Pactus Alamannorum_, and from the persistent recurrence of the expression "et sic convenit" was most probably drawn up by an official commission. The reference to affranchisement _in ecclesia_ shows that it was composed at a period subsequent to the conversion of the Alamanni to Christianity. There is no doubt that the text dates back to the reign of Dagobert I., i.e. to the first half of the 7th century. The later text, known as the _Lex Alamannorum_, dates from a period when Alamannia was independent under national dukes, but recognized the theoretical suzerainty of the Frankish kings. There seems no reason to doubt the St Gall MS., which states that the law had its origin in an agreement between the great Alamannic lords and Duke Landfrid, who ruled the duchy from 709 to 730.

The two texts have been published by J. Merkel in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, iii., and by Karl Lehmann in the 4to series of the same collection.

4. _Lex Bajuvariorum._--We possess an important law of the Bavarians, whose duchy was situated in the region east of the Lech, and was an outpost of Germany against the Huns, known later as Avars. Parts of this law have been taken directly from the Visigothic law of Euric and from the law of the Alamanni. The Bavarian law, therefore, is later than that of the Alamanni. It dates unquestionably from a period when the Frankish authority was very strong in Bavaria, when the dukes were vassals of the Frankish kings. Immediately after the revolt of Bavaria in 743 the Bavarian duke Odilo was forced to submit to Pippin and Carloman, the sons of Charles Martel, and to recognize the Frankish suzerainty. About the same period, too, the church of Bavaria was organized by St Boniface, and the country divided into several bishoprics; and we find frequent references to these bishops (in the plural) in the law of the Bavarians. On the other hand, we know that the law is anterior to the reign of Duke Tassilo III. (749-788). The date of compilation must, therefore, be placed between 743 and 749.

There is an edition of the _Lex Bajuvariorum_ by J. Merkel in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, iii. 183, and another was undertaken by E. von Schwind for the 4to series of the same collection. Cf. von Schwind's article in the _Neues Archiv_, vol. xxxi.

5. _Lex Saxonum._--Germany comprised two other duchies, Saxony and Frisia, of each of which we possess a text of law. The _Lex Saxonum_ has come down to us in two MSS. and two old editions (those of B.J. Herold and du Tillet), and the text has been edited by Karl von Richthofen in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, v. The law contains ancient customary enactments of Saxony, and, in the form in which it has reached us, is later than the conquest of Saxony by Charlemagne. It is preceded by two capitularies of Charlemagne for Saxony--the _Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae_ (A. Boretius i. 68), which dates undoubtedly from 782, and is characterized by great severity, death being the penalty for every offence against the Christian religion; and the _Capitulare Saxonicum_ (A. Boretius i. 71), of the 28th of October 797, in which Charlemagne shows less brutality and pronounces simple compositions for misdeeds which formerly entailed death. The _Lex Saxonum_ apparently dates from 803, since it contains provisions which are in the _Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum_ of that year. The law established the ancient customs, at the same time eliminating anything that was contrary to the spirit of Christianity; it proclaimed the peace of the churches, whose possessions it guaranteed and whose right of asylum it recognized.

6. _Lex Frisionum._--This consists of a medley of documents of the most heterogeneous character. Some of its enactments are purely pagan--thus one paragraph allows the mother to kill her new-born child, and another prescribes the immolation to the gods of the defiler of their temple; others are purely Christian, such as those which prohibit incestuous marriages and working on Sunday. The law abounds in contradictions and repetitions, and the compositions are calculated in different moneys. From this it would appear that the documents were merely materials collected from various sources and possibly with a view to the compilation of a homogeneous law. These materials were apparently brought together at the beginning of the 9th century, at a time of intense legislative activity at the court of Charlemagne.

There are no MSS. of the document extant; our knowledge of it is based upon B.J. Herold's edition (_Originum ac Germanicarum antiquitatum libri_, Basel, 1557), which has been reproduced by Karl von Richthofen in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, iii. 631.

7. _Lex Angliorum el Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum._--In early times there dwelt in Thuringia, south of the river Unstrut, the Angli, who gave their name to the _pagus Engili_, and to the east, between the Saale and the Elster, the Warni (Werini, or Varini), whose name is seen in Werenofeld. In the 9th century, however, this region (then called Werenofeld) was occupied by the Sorabi, and the Warni and Angli either coalesced with the Thuringi or sought an asylum in the north of Germany. A collection of laws has come down to us bearing the name of these two peoples, the _Lex Angliorum et Werinorum, hoc est, Thuringorum_. This text is a collection of local customs arranged in the same order as the law of the Ripuarians. Parts of it are based on the _Capitulare legi Ribuariae additum_ of 803, and it seems to have been drawn up in the same conditions and circumstances as the law of the Saxons. There is an edition of this code by Karl von Richthofen in the _Mon. Germ. hist._, _Leges_, v. 103. The old opinion that the law originated in south Holland is entirely without foundation.

8. _Leges Langobardorum._--We possess a fair amount of information on the origin of the last barbarian code, the laws of the Lombards. The first part, consisting of 388 chapters, is known as the _Edictus Langobardorum_, and was promulgated by King Rothar at a diet held at Pavia on the 22nd of November 643. This work, composed at one time and arranged on a systematic plan, is very remarkable. The compilers knew Roman law, but drew upon it only for their method of presentation and for their terminology; and the document presents Germanic law in its purity. Rothar's edict was augmented by his successors; Grimoald (668) added nine chapters; Liutprand (713-735), fifteen volumes, containing a great number of ecclesiastical enactments; Ratchis (746), eight chapters; and Aistulf (755), thirteen chapters. After the union of the Lombards to the Frankish kingdom, the capitularies made for the entire kingdom were applicable to Italy. There were also special capitularies for Italy, called _Capitula Italica_, some of which were appended to the edict of Rothar.

At an early date compilations were formed in Italy for the use of legal practitioners and jurists. Eberhard, duke and margrave of Rhaetia and Friuli, arranged the contents of the edict with its successive additamenta into a _Concordia de singulis causis_ (829-832). In the 10th century a collection was made of the capitularies in use in Italy, and this was known as the _Capitulare Langobardorum_. Then appeared, under the influence of the school of law at Pavia, the _Liber legis Langobardorum_, also called _Liber Papiensis_ (beginning of 11th century), and the _Lombarda_ (end of 11th century) in two forms--that given in a Monte Cassino MS. and known as the _Lombarda Casinensis_, and the _Lombarda Vulgata_.

There are editions of the _Edictus_, the _Concordia_, and the _Liber Papiensis_ by F. Bluhme and A. Boretius in the _Mon. Germ. hist., Leges_, iv. Bluhme also gives the rubrics of the _Lombardae_, which were published by F. Lindenberg in his _Codex legum antiquarum_ in 1613. For further information on the laws of the Lombards see J. Merkel, _Geschichte des Langobardenrechts_ (1850); A. Boretius, _Die Kapitularien im Langobardenreich_ (1864); and C. Kier, _Edictus Rotari_ (Copenhagen, 1898). Cf. R. Dareste in the _Nouvelle Revue historique de droit francais et etranger_ (1900, p. 143). (C. Pf.)

FOOTNOTE:

[1] The lacunae in these fragments have been filled in by the aid of the law of the Bavarians, where the chief provisions are reproduced.

GERMANICUS CAESAR (15 B.C.-A.D. 19), a Roman general and provincial governor in the reign of Tiberius. The name Germanicus, the only one by which he is known in history, he inherited from his father, Nero Claudius Drusus, the famous general, brother of Tiberius and stepson of Augustus. His mother was the younger Antonia, daughter of Marcus Antonius and niece of Augustus, and he married Agrippina, the granddaughter of the same emperor. It was natural, therefore, that he should be regarded as a candidate for the purple. Augustus, it would seem, long hesitated whether he should name him as his successor, and as a compromise required his uncle Tiberius to adopt him, though Tiberius had a son of his own. Of his early years and education little is known. That he possessed considerable literary abilities, and that these were carefully trained, we gather, both from the speeches which Tacitus puts into his mouth, and from the reputation he left as an orator, as attested by Suetonius and Ovid, and from the extant fragments of his works.

At the age of twenty he served his apprenticeship as a soldier under Tiberius, and was rewarded with the triumphal insignia for his services in crushing the revolt in Dalmatia and Pannonia. In A.D. 11 he accompanied Tiberius in his campaign on the Rhine, undertaken, in consequence of the defeat of Varus, with the object of securing the German frontier. In 12 he was made consul, and increased his popularity by appearing as an advocate in the courts of justice, and by the celebration of brilliant games. Soon afterwards he was appointed by Augustus to the important command of the eight legions on the Rhine. The news of the emperor's death (14) found Germanicus at Lugdunum (Lyons), where he was superintending the census of Gaul. Close upon this came the report that a mutiny had broken out among his legions on the lower Rhine. Germanicus hurried back to the camp, which was now in open insurrection. The tumult was with difficulty quelled, partly by well-timed concessions, for which the authority of the emperor was forged, but chiefly owing to his personal popularity. Some of the insurgents actually proposed that he should put himself at their head and secure the empire for himself, but their offer was rejected with indignation. In order to calm the excitement Germanicus determined at once on an active campaign. Crossing the Rhine, he attacked and routed the Marsi, and laid waste the valley of the Ems. In the following year he marched against Arminius, the conqueror of Varus, and performed the last rites over the remains of the Roman soldiers that still lay there unburied, erecting a barrow to mark the spot. Arminius, however, favoured by the marshy ground, was able to hold his own, and it required another campaign before he was finally defeated. A masterly combined movement by land and water enabled Germanicus to concentrate his forces against the main body of the Germans encamped on the Weser, and to crush them in two obstinately contested battles. A monument erected on the field proclaimed that the army of Tiberius had conquered every tribe between the Rhine and the Elbe. Great, however, as the success of the Roman arms had been, it was not such as to justify this boastful inscription; we read of renewed attacks from the barbarians, and plans of a fourth campaign for the next summer.

But the success of Germanicus had already stirred the jealousy and fears of Tiberius, and he was reluctantly compelled to return to Rome. On the 26th of May 17 he celebrated a triumph. The enthusiasm with which he was welcomed, not only by the populace, but by the emperor's own praetorians, was so great that the earliest pretext was seized to remove him from the capital. He was sent to the East with extraordinary powers to settle a disputed succession in Parthia and Armenia. At the same time Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso, one of the most violent and ambitious of the old nobility, was sent as governor of Syria to watch his movements. Germanicus proceeded by easy stages to his province, halting on his way in Dalmatia, and visiting the battlefield of Actium, Athens, Ilium, and other places of historic interest. At Rhodes he met his coadjutor Piso, who was seeking everywhere to thwart and malign him. When at last he reached his destination, he found little difficulty in effecting the settlement of the disturbed provinces, notwithstanding Piso's violent and persistent opposition. At Artaxata Zeno, the popular candidate for the throne, was crowned king of Armenia. To the provinces of Cappadocia and Commagene Roman governors were assigned; Parthia was conciliated by the banishment of the dethroned king Vonones.

After wintering in Syria Germanicus started for a tour in Egypt. The chief motive for his journey was love of travel and antiquarian study, and it seems never to have occurred to him, till he was warned by Tiberius, that he was thereby transgressing an unwritten law which forbade any Roman of rank to set foot in Egypt without express permission. On his return to Syria he found that all his arrangements had been upset by Piso. Violent recriminations followed, the result of which, it would seem, was a promise on the part of Piso to quit the province. But at this juncture Germanicus was suddenly attacked at Epidaphne near Antioch by a violent illness, which he himself and his friends attributed to poison administered by Plancina, the wife of Piso, at the instigation of Tiberius. Whether these suspicions were true is open to question; it seems more probable that his death was due to natural causes. His ashes were brought to Rome in the following year (20) by his wife Agrippina, and deposited in the grave of Augustus. He had nine children, six of whom, three sons and three daughters, survived him, amongst them the future emperor Gaius and the notorious Agrippina, the mother of Nero. The news of his death cast a gloom over the whole empire. Nor was Germanicus unworthy of this passionate devotion. He had wiped out a great national disgrace; he had quelled the most formidable foe of Rome. His private life had been stainless, and he possessed a singularly attractive personality. Yet there were elements of weakness in his character which his short life only half revealed: an impetuosity which made him twice threaten to take his own life; a superstitious vein which impelled him to consult oracles and shrink from bad omens; an amiable dilettantism which led him to travel in Egypt while his enemy was plotting his ruin; a want of nerve and resolution which prevented him from coming to an open rupture with Piso till it was too late.

He possessed considerable literary abilities; his speeches and Greek comedies were highly spoken of by his contemporaries. But the only specimen of his work that has come down to us is the translation in Latin hexameters (generally attributed to him, although some consider Domitian the author), together with scholia, of the _Phaenomena_ of Aratus, which is superior to those of Cicero and Avienus (best edition by A. Breysig, 1867; 1899, without the scholia). A few extant Greek and Latin epigrams also bear the name Germanicus.

In addition to monographs by A. Zingerle (Trent, 1867) and A. Breysig (Erfurt, 1892), there are treatises on the German campaigns by E. von Wietersheim (1850), P. Hofer (1884), F. Knoke (1887, 1889), W. Fricke (1889), A. Taramelli (1891), Dahm (1902).

See Tacitus, _Annals_, i.-iv. (ed. Furneaux); Suetonius, _Augustus, Tiberius_; J.C. Tarver, _Tiberius_ (1902); Merivale, _Hist. of the Romans under the Empire_, chs. 42, 43; H. Schiller, _Geschichte der romischen Kaiserzeit_, i. 1 (1883), pp. 227, 258, 261-266, 270-276; M. Schanz, _Geschichte der romischen Litteratur_, pt. ii. (2nd ed., 1901), and Teuffel-Schwabe, _Hist. of Roman Literature_ (Eng. tr., 1900), 275.

GERMANIUM (symbol Ge, atomic weight 72.5); one of the metallic elements included in the same natural family as carbon, silicon, tin and lead. It was discovered in 1886 by C. Winkler in argyrodite, a mineral found at Freiberg in Saxony. On examination of the metal and its salts it was shown to be identical with the hypothetical element _ekasilicon_, whose properties had been predicted by D. Mendeleeff many years previously. The element is of extremely rare occurrence, being met with only in argyrodite and, to a very small extent, in euxenite. It may be obtained from argyrodite by heating the mineral in a current of hydrogen; or by heating the dioxide to redness with carbon. It forms grey coloured octahedra of specific gravity 5.496 at 20 deg. C., melting at 900 deg. C.; it burns at a red heat, is insoluble in hydrochloric acid, but dissolves in _aqua regia_, and is also soluble in molten alkalis. Two oxides of germanium are known, the _dioxide_, GeO2, being obtained by roasting the sulphide and treatment with nitric acid. It is a white powder, very slightly soluble in water, and possesses acid properties. By heating with a small quantity of magnesium it is converted into _germanious oxide_, GeO. By heating the metal with chlorine, _germanic chloride_, GeCl4, is obtained as a colourless fuming liquid boiling at 86-87 deg. C., it is decomposed by water forming a hydrated germanium dioxide. _Germanium dichloride_, GeCl2, and _germanium chloroform_, GeHCl3, have also been described.

Germanium compounds on fusion with alkaline carbonates and sulphur form salts known as _thiogermanates_. If excess of a mineral acid be added to a solution of an alkaline thiogermanate a white precipitate of _germanium disulphide_, GeS2, is obtained. It can also be obtained by passing sulphuretted hydrogen through a solution of the dioxide in hydrochloric acid. It is appreciably soluble in water, and also in solutions of the caustic alkalis and alkaline sulphides. By heating the disulphide in a current of hydrogen, _germanious sulphide_, GeS, is formed. It sublimes in thin plates of a dark colour and metallic lustre, and is soluble in solutions of the caustic alkalis. Alkyl compounds of germanium such as _germanium tetra-ethyl_, Ge(C2H5)4, a liquid boiling at 160 deg. C., have been obtained. The germanium salts are most readily recognized by the white precipitate of the disulphide, formed in acid solutions, on passing sulphuretted hydrogen. The atomic weight of the element was determined by C. Winkler by analysis of the pure chloride GeCl4, the value obtained being 72.32, whilst Lecoq de Boisbaudran (_Comptes rendus_, 1886, 103, 452), by a comparison of the lines in the spark spectrum of the element, deduced the value 72.3.