A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle AgeThatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
History
A Source Book for Mediæval History: Selected Documents illustrating the History of Europe in the Middle Age
Thatcher, Oliver J. (Oliver Joseph)
Europe -- History -- 476-1492 -- Sources; Middle Ages -- Sources
{26} For the position of the _grafio_, see introduction. His _wergeld_
is seen to be the same as that of the freeman in the king's service, and
may indeed be regarded as a special instance of the general case of a
man employed in the royal service.
{27} The _sacebaro_ and the _obgrafio_ are apparently subordinate
officials of the _grafio_. They were probably not infrequently unfree
persons, as they are here.
LVI. _He who refuses to come to Court._
If anyone refuses to come to court or to do what the _rachinburgii_ have
commanded, that is, to give pledge for payment, or for the ordeal, or
for anything which the law requires, then the complainant is to summon
him to the presence of the king. And twelve witnesses, being sworn in
turn by threes, shall say: [the first three] that they were present when
the _rachinburgius_ condemned him to undergo ordeal or to give pledge
for payment, and that he had not obeyed. The second three are to swear
that they were present on the day when the _rachinburgii_ [again]
condemned him to clear himself by ordeal or by paying the fine; that is,
that, forty nights from the first day, the sun set on him in the
_mallberg_{28} again, and that he would in no way obey the law. Then the
complainant is to summon him before the king, in fourteen nights [after
the last _mallus_], and three witnesses are to swear that they were
present when he summoned him and the sun set on him. If he will not
come, then these nine witnesses, having sworn, are to say what we have
said above. Likewise, if he will not come [to the king's court] on that
day, let the sun set on him, and there shall be three witnesses who were
present when the sun set.{29} If the complainant has done all these
things, and he who was summoned refuses to come to any court, the king
shall put him outside of his protection [_i.e._, outlaw him]. Then the
criminal and all his goods are liable. And whoever shall feed him or
give him hospitality, even if it be his own wife, shall be held liable
for 600 denarii, which make 15 solidi, until he shall have paid all that
has been imposed on him.
{28} _Mallberg_ or _malloberg_ is the place where the _mallus_ or
public court is held, and is here used as equivalent to the court.
{29} The process described from the end of the first sentence to this
point is supposed to have taken place before the summons to the king's
court mentioned in that first sentence; this is shown by the statement
that there are to be twelve witnesses at the king's court, these twelve
witnesses appearing in the passage as follows: three each for the two
public trials in the _mallus_, three for the summons to the king's court
fourteen days after the second trial, and three for the first session of
the king's court; these delays having been granted and the delinquent
not appearing at the second session of the royal court, he is there
finally outlawed.
5. Selections from the History of the Franks, by Gregory of Tours.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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