390 FOUKTH PERIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
attain to no civic dignity which was held in honor, as that of the defensors, though such offices as were burdensome might be imposed even on Jews. 'The assemblies of all heretics were forbidden, their books were to be collected and burned, their rites, baptisms, and ordinations prohibited. Children of heretical parents might embrace orthodoxy ; the males the parent could not disinherit, to the females he was bound to give an adequate dowry. The testimony of Manicheans, of Samari tans, and Pagans could not be received ; apostates to any of these sects and religions lost all their former privileges, and were liable to all penalties."
§ 90. The Capitularies of Charlemagne.
STEPH. BALUZIUS (Baluze, Prof, of Canon law in Paris, d. 1718): Regum Francorum Capitularia, 1677; new ed. Paris, 1780, 2 vols. PERTZ : Monumenta Germanice historica, Tom. Ill (improved ed. of the Capitularia). K. FR. EICHHORN: Deutsche Staats-und Rechtsgeschichte, Gottingeu, 1808, 4 Parts ; 5th ed. 1844. J. GRIMM : Deutsche Rechtsalterthumer, Gottingen 1828. Giesebrecht (I. 800) calls this an " unusually rich collection with profound glances into the legal life of the German people." W. DONNIGES : Das deutsche Staatsrecht und die deutsche Reichsverfassung, Berlin 1842. F. WALTHER: Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, second ed. Bonn 1857. J. HILLEBRAND : ' Lehrbuch der deutschen Staats-und Rechtsgeschichte, Leipzig 1856. 0. STOBBE: Geschichte der deutschen Rechtsquetten, Braunschweig, 1860 (first Part). W. GIESEBRECHT : Geschichte der deutschen Kaiserzeit, third ed. Braunschweig 1863 sqq. Bd I. 106-144.
The first and greatest legislator of the Germanic nations is Charlemagne, the founder of the Holy Roman Empire (800- 814). What Constantine the Great, Theodosius the Great, and Justinian did for the old Roman empire on the basis of heathen Rome and the ancient Grseco-Latin church, Charlemagne did for the new Roman Empire in the West on the basis of Germanic customs and the Latin church centred in the Roman papacy. He was greater, more beneficial and enduring in his influence as a legislator than as a soldier and conqueror.1 He proposed to himself the herculean task to organize, civilize and Christianize the crude barbarian customs of his vast empire, and he carried it out with astonishing wisdom. His laws are embodied in the
1 The same may be said of Napoleon I., whose code has outlived his mili tary conquests.
2 90. THE CAPITULARIES OF CHARLEMAGNE. 391
i
Capitular ia, i. c. laws divided into chapters. They are the first
great law-book of the French and Germans1. They contain his edicts and ordinances relating to ecclesiastical, political, and civil legislation, judicial decisions and moral precepts. The influence of the church and the Christian religion is here more direct and extensive than in the Romau Code, and imparts to it a theocratic element which approaches to the Mosaic legislation. The Roman Catholic church with her creed, her moral laws, her polity, was the strongest bond of union which held the Western barbarians together and controlled the views and aims of the emperor. He appears, indeed, as the supreme ruler clothed with sovereign authority. But he was surrounded by the clergy which was the most intelligent and influential factor in legis lation both in the synod and in the imperial diet. The emperor and his nobles were under the power of the bishops, and the bishops were secular lords and politicians as well as ecclesiastics. The ecclesiastical affairs were controlled by the Apocrisiarius2 (a sort of minister of worship) ; the secular affairs, bv the Comes Palatii;3 both were aided in each province by a delegated bishop and count who were to work in harmony. On important questions the pope was consulted.4 The legislation proceeded from the imperial will, from ecclesiastical councils, and from the diet or imperial assembly. The last consisted of the dignitaries of church and state, the court officials, bishops, abbots, dukes, counts, etc., and convened every spring. The emperor was surrounded at his court by the most eminent statesmen, clergy -
1 Giesebrecht (I. 128): "Ein Itiesenschritt in der Entwicklung des deutschen Geistes geschah durch Karls Gesetzgebung. . . Jfit Ehrfvrclit und heiliger Scheu schlUgt man die Capitidarien des grossen Kaisers a?// das ersie grosse Gesetzbuch der Germanen, ein Werk, dem mehrcre Jahrhunderte vorher und nachher kein Vo/k ein gleiches an die Seite gcsctzt hat. Das Bild des Karolingischen Staates tritt uns in roller Gegenwartigkeit hier vor die Seele ; \dr sehen, wie Grosses erreicht, wie das Hb'chste erstrebt wurde."
2 Also called Archicapdlanus, Archicancellarius. 3 PfaJzgraf.
4 Hence many Capitularies are issued " apostolicce scdis hortatu, inoncnte Pontifice, ex prcecepto Pontificis" At the Synod of Francfort in 794 two delegates of Pope Hadrian were present, but Charlemagne presided. See Mansi XVIII. 884; Pertz, Monum. I. 181.