The Burgundian Code: Book of Constitutions or Law of Gundobad; Additional Enactments

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION The Burgundians were one of the East Germanic tribes. They first came into contact with the Roman Empire in the third century when they had established themselves just east of the Rhine along the Main River, where they and other groups of barbarians continually threatened the Roman frontier. For over a century longer the Romans were able to prevent the barbarian hordes from overrunning the Empire completely, but by the fifth century internal conditions within the Empire had so weakened it that the frontier gamsons and armies were no longer able or willing to maintain their defenses. In the year 406, when the attention of Rome was directed toward the Visigoths who had crossed the Balkan peninsula and were threatening Italy, the Vandals, together with the Alani, Suevi, and the Silingii, poured across the undefended Rhine frontier. Perhaps the Burgundians also intended to join this invasion. At any rate, by 413 they had appeared on the west side of the Rhine and had entered on a campaign against Roman upper Germany, conquering Worms, Speier, and Strassburg. Here in the region west of the Rhine, the center of which was the city of Worms, the Emperor Honorius gave them land, making the Burgundians foederati of the Roman Empire. Lasting from about 413 until 436, this first Burgundian kingdom is the one of legendary fame, of the Nibelungenlied and Waldhere legends. It was overthrown by a Hunnish army in the employ of Rome in 436, at which time the Burgundian king, Gundahar , and a large number of Burgundians were killed. Somewhat later the remnants of the Burgundian tribe were assigned territory in Sabaudia north of Lake Geneva by the Roman government. Here they became firmly enough established to be able to set up a second federate kingdom by 443 under the leadership of their king, Gundioc (437-74). From here the Burgundians 1 2 THE BURGUNDIAN CODE gradually extended their kingdom southward along the Rhone River. In 474 Gundobad, the son of Gundioc, became king of the Burgundians, perhaps sharing the kingship for a time with his two brothers, Godigisel and Chilperic. This Gundobad was king of the Burgundians from 474 to 516. Under his leadership, the Burgundian kingdom reached its greatest extent: to the northwest it extended as far as Langres; to the northeast to the northern Jura Mountains; to the east to the Alps; to the west it was bounded by a portion of the Rhone River and the upper course of the Loire; and for a time, the Burgundian kingdom also included Provence to the south, but this was soon lost to the Ostrogoths.Also under Gundobad, a codification of the Burgundian customary law was begun, and this work was completed by his son, Sigismund . For a time the Burgundian kingdom was threatened by the stronger kingdom of the Visigoths to the west and south, but following the accession of Clovis as king of the Salian Franks in 481, the Franks rose rapidly in position and influence. Under the guise of furthering Catholic Christianity against the Arian Christianity of the Burgundians, Clovis attacked Gundobad in 500, but being unable to win a decisive victory over him, Clovis instead entered into an alliance with Gundobad against the Visigoths, and together they succeeded in winning a decisive victory over the Visigoths at Poitiers in 507. In 516 Gundobad died and was succeeded by his son, Sigismund , who may have shared the rule with his brother Godomar. In 523 the Franks, now under the leadership of Clovis' sonsChlodomir , Childebert, and Clothaire (Ch1otar)-renewed their attacks against the Burgundian kingdom. Sigismund was killed, and a part of the Burgundian kingdom was lost while Sigismund's brother, Godomar, became king of the Burgundians. Godomar made repeated efforts to renew the strength of his kingdom, but the Franks were determined to have Burgundy. In 532 the Burgundians were defeated and Godomar driven into flight, and in 534 the Burgundian kingdom was divided among the Frankish rulers. This was the end of the second and the last independent Burgundian kingdom, although her local counts remained strong and from time to time became powerful enough to be able to rule INTRODUCTION 3 almost independent of their Frankish and later Hapsburg rulers. The tradition of independence lived on in the region, and Burgundy as part of that much disputed Middle Kingdom was destined to play an important role throughout the Middle Ages. When dealing with...