Legal and Political Transformation: Justinian, Germanic Tribes, and Medieval Europe

Justinian and the Restoration of Roman Law

Justinian determined to restore the former glory of the empire by recovering the city of Rome. The lawyers he employed to compile the Corpus Juris Civilis came from the Eastern half of the Empire, and were Greek speakers.

Germanic Kingdoms and Roman Traditions

Germanic Tribes and Roman Influence

The major Germanic Tribes—Ostrogoths, Visigoths, Franks, and Burgundians—admired Roman traditions and were Christians.

Germanic peoples were ready to adapt many of the institutions with which they had come into contact; written law particularly impressed them. Many legal codes were written in Latin for Romans living under Germanic rule, such as the Edictum Theodorici, which also applied to Germans.

Legal Development Shifts from France (Post-9th Century)

After the 9th century, the center of interest in the development of law in Europe turned away from France, where the Kingship went into profound eclipse. After Hugh Capet, the slow process of recovery began, based on the lands the kings controlled directly in the Île-de-France.

The Rise of Germany and Imperial Power

German Recovery and Legal Diversity

In Germany, recovery from the tribulations of the 9th and 10th centuries was quicker. There were fewer over-mighty vassals and a more stable society, with a limited degree of popular participation in public affairs. Separatism existed between main races: Bavarians, Swabians, and East Franks.

The Emperors ruled a federal rather than a united realm. This particularism also helps to explain why such diversity of custom law survived in Germany, including:

• Lehnrecht (Feudal Law)
• Stadtrecht (Town Law)
• Hofrecht (Peasant Law)

Italy and Imperial Overlordship

In Italy, the descendants of Charlemagne continued to rule from the cities, as the Lombards had before them, until the mid-10th century. The German-based emperors continued, however, to exercise a more or less effective overlordship in the North, as well as involving themselves in the affairs of the Papacy.

Legal Identity in France

In France, the Lex Romana Visigothorum was the legal code of the clergy and the Gallo-Romans. People continued to describe themselves as Romans, not Franks.

Henry the Fowler and the Post-Carolingian Order

The reign of Henry the Fowler (919–936), Duke of Saxony, marks the coming of the new, post-Carolingian order. He gained at least nominal allegiance from Thuringia, Swabia, and Bavaria, and recovered Lorraine for Germany.

Otto I: Imperial Coronation and Italian Influence

In 951, at Pavia, Otto I took the Italian crown by marrying the widow of the previous king. He returned to Italy in 962 and achieved his ambition, being crowned Emperor—a title thereafter normally linked with the rulers of Germany.

Otto's power gained strength in Northern Italy. His reign involved:

• Intervention in the affairs of the Papacy.
• Moderate success in the South (Calabria was lost to the Saracens).
• Attempts to encourage Germans and Italians to mingle in Northern Italy.
• Frequent manipulation of the Papacy.

Canon Law and the Western Church

The 5th and 6th centuries centered upon the successful invasion of the Western Empire by Germanic peoples who settled in the region and gained political control over what is now Western Europe.

The Western Church had to adapt Canon Law. Few people in the new Germanic kingdoms that replaced Roman government were Christians; those few Germans who had converted before the invasion were mainly Visigoths and Ostrogoths.