Archaeology

Law Codes

Histories

Roman Records

Overall concern over whom texts written for,by and about

Sources

Ethnic

Geographical/“National”

Kinship

Lordship

Questions of Identity

Family/clan/tribe as primary tie on loyalty

Kinship

Merovingians

Merovech

Impact of family:

Protection - danger of feuds - wergeld

Marriage - limited rights of women

Inheritance

Kinship

Lordship (Voluntary Relationship)

Swear loyalty in return for protection andplunder

Permanent relationship from end 1st c.

Classes: NoblesFreemenFreed-menSlaves

Warrior nobility supported by others

Justice

Popular courts - assemblies of free warriors

Compurgation and ordeal

Assembled people as witnesses to holy rite

Role of Government

Warriors having limited influence on choiceof leadership

Councils of war as “pep rallies”

Limited roles of government: leadership inwar, restraint on feuds

Role of Clergy

Increasingly influential in civic affairs, esp.bishops:

Major leader in diocese

Representative of town’s patron saint

Director of religious festivals: reinforcingloyalties

Some bishops were married

Nobility

Warrior nobility living on estates, supportedby peasantry