The Salian
Franks (Latin: Salii) are a subgroup of the early Franks who in the 3rd century
AD lived north of the Rhine delta and therefore north of the limes of Roman
Gaul, which ran along the Rhine. They are warlike Germanic people and pirates,
and as Laeti (allies of the Romans). Shortly thereafter, they became the first
Germanic tribe from beyond the limes to settle permanently on Roman land. After
moving into Batavia, a border island in the Rhine, in 358, they came to some
form of agreement with the Romans who allowed them to settle south of the Rhine
in Toxandria.
Etymology
Salii may have derived from the name of the IJssel river, formerly called Sala, which was the Salians' original residence.
Culture
After settling within Roman territory, they develop an organized society that develop the agriculture in regions that had become underpopulated.
The Salian tribes constitute a loose confederacy that band together to negotiate with Roman authority. Each tribe consist of extended family groups centered around a particularly renowned or noble family. The importance of the family bond is made clear by the Salic Law, which ordain that an individual had no right to protection if not part of a family.
History
The Salian Franks' original proximity to the sea is attested when Carausius was put in charge of defending the coasts of the Straits of Dover against Saxon and Frankish pirates. This changed when the Saxons drove them south into Roman territory. They first crossed the Rhine during the Roman upheavals and subsequent Germanic breakthrough in 260 AD.
When peace had returned, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus allowed the Salians to settle in 297 AD amongst the Batavians, where they soon came to dominate the Batavian island in the Rhine delta. The backgrounds of the seafaring Franks whose story was written down during the reign of emperor Probus (276-282), when this people were unwillingly obliged to serve the Roman army as had the Batavians before them, assigned another territory close to the Black Sea. The story tells of a large group who decided to hijack some Roman ships and return with them from Eastern Europe – reaching their homes in the Rhine estuaries without large losses through Greece, Sicily and Gibraltar, although not without causing mayhem.
Franks ceased to be associated with seafaring when Saxons drove them to the south. The Salians received protection from the Romans and in return were recruited by Constantius Gallus – together with the other inhabitants of the Batavian isle. This did not prevent the onslaught of the Germanic tribes to the north, especially by the Frankish Chamavi. The subsequent "insolent" settlement of the Salians within Roman territory in Toxandria (between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium) was rejected by the future Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate, who attacked them. The Salians surrendered to him in 358 AD and accepted Roman terms. When the Salians in Batavia came under attack from Saxons, who were this time raiding Roman (and the Salians) from the sea, Julian took the opportunity to peacefully allow the Salii to settle in Toxandria, where they had previously been expelled:
One particular Salian family comes to light of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time to become the Merovingians – Salian kings named after Childeric's mythical father Merovech, whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements.
From the 420s onwards, headed by a certain Chlodio, they expand their territory to the Somme into northern France. They will form a kingdom in that area with the Belgian city of Tournai becoming the center of their domain. This kingdom will be extended further by Childeric and especially Clovis, who´ll gain control over Roman Gaul.
In 451, Flavius Aëtius, de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire, call upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by Attila's Huns. The Salian Franks answer the call and fought in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in a temporary alliance with Romans and Visigoths, which de facto end the Hunnic threat to Western Europe.
Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, became the absolute ruler of a Germanic kingdom of mixed Roman-Germanic population in 486. He will consolidate his rule with victories over the Gallo-Romans and all the other Frankish tribes and establish his capital in Paris.
Lex Salica
Salic law (/ˈsælɨk/ or /ˈseɪlɨk/; Latin: Lex Salica), or Salian Law, is an ancient Germanic law and it is the major body of Frankish law governing all the Franks under the rule of its kings.
Salic law provide both civil law, such as the statutes governing inheritance, and criminal law, such as the punishment for murder
Salic Law is recorded only in the minds of designated elders, who would meet in council when their knowledge is required. Transmission was entirely oral. Salic Law therefore reflects ancient usages and practices. A code will be commissioned by the first king of all the Franks, Clovis I (c. 466–511). He appointed four commissioners to research uses of laws.
The criminal laws establish damages to be paid and fines levied in recompense of injuries to persons and damage to goods, e.g., slaves, theft, and unprovoked insults. One-third of the fine pay court costs. Judicial interpretation is by a jury of peers.
The rights of family members are defined; for example, the equal division of land among all living male heirs in opposition to primogeniture.
Agnatic succession
One tenet of the civil law is agnatic succession, the rule excluding females from the inheritance of a throne or fief. Salic law regulates succession according to sex. Agnatic succession means succession to the throne or fief going to an agnate of the predecessor; for example, a brother, a son, or nearest male relative through the male line, including collateral agnate branches, for example very distant cousins. Chief forms are agnatic seniority and agnatic primogeniture. The latter, which has been the most usual, means succession going to the eldest son of the monarch; if the monarch had no sons, the throne would pass to the nearest male relative in the male line.
Etymology
Salii may have derived from the name of the IJssel river, formerly called Sala, which was the Salians' original residence.
Culture
After settling within Roman territory, they develop an organized society that develop the agriculture in regions that had become underpopulated.
The Salian tribes constitute a loose confederacy that band together to negotiate with Roman authority. Each tribe consist of extended family groups centered around a particularly renowned or noble family. The importance of the family bond is made clear by the Salic Law, which ordain that an individual had no right to protection if not part of a family.
History
The Salian Franks' original proximity to the sea is attested when Carausius was put in charge of defending the coasts of the Straits of Dover against Saxon and Frankish pirates. This changed when the Saxons drove them south into Roman territory. They first crossed the Rhine during the Roman upheavals and subsequent Germanic breakthrough in 260 AD.
When peace had returned, Roman Emperor Constantius I Chlorus allowed the Salians to settle in 297 AD amongst the Batavians, where they soon came to dominate the Batavian island in the Rhine delta. The backgrounds of the seafaring Franks whose story was written down during the reign of emperor Probus (276-282), when this people were unwillingly obliged to serve the Roman army as had the Batavians before them, assigned another territory close to the Black Sea. The story tells of a large group who decided to hijack some Roman ships and return with them from Eastern Europe – reaching their homes in the Rhine estuaries without large losses through Greece, Sicily and Gibraltar, although not without causing mayhem.
Franks ceased to be associated with seafaring when Saxons drove them to the south. The Salians received protection from the Romans and in return were recruited by Constantius Gallus – together with the other inhabitants of the Batavian isle. This did not prevent the onslaught of the Germanic tribes to the north, especially by the Frankish Chamavi. The subsequent "insolent" settlement of the Salians within Roman territory in Toxandria (between the Meuse and the Scheldt rivers in the Netherlands and Belgium) was rejected by the future Roman Emperor Julian the Apostate, who attacked them. The Salians surrendered to him in 358 AD and accepted Roman terms. When the Salians in Batavia came under attack from Saxons, who were this time raiding Roman (and the Salians) from the sea, Julian took the opportunity to peacefully allow the Salii to settle in Toxandria, where they had previously been expelled:
One particular Salian family comes to light of Frankish history in the early fifth century, in time to become the Merovingians – Salian kings named after Childeric's mythical father Merovech, whose birth was attributed with supernatural elements.
From the 420s onwards, headed by a certain Chlodio, they expand their territory to the Somme into northern France. They will form a kingdom in that area with the Belgian city of Tournai becoming the center of their domain. This kingdom will be extended further by Childeric and especially Clovis, who´ll gain control over Roman Gaul.
In 451, Flavius Aëtius, de facto ruler of the Western Roman Empire, call upon his Germanic allies on Roman soil to help fight off an invasion by Attila's Huns. The Salian Franks answer the call and fought in the battle of the Catalaunian Fields in a temporary alliance with Romans and Visigoths, which de facto end the Hunnic threat to Western Europe.
Clovis, king of the Salian Franks, became the absolute ruler of a Germanic kingdom of mixed Roman-Germanic population in 486. He will consolidate his rule with victories over the Gallo-Romans and all the other Frankish tribes and establish his capital in Paris.
Lex Salica
Salic law (/ˈsælɨk/ or /ˈseɪlɨk/; Latin: Lex Salica), or Salian Law, is an ancient Germanic law and it is the major body of Frankish law governing all the Franks under the rule of its kings.
Salic law provide both civil law, such as the statutes governing inheritance, and criminal law, such as the punishment for murder
Salic Law is recorded only in the minds of designated elders, who would meet in council when their knowledge is required. Transmission was entirely oral. Salic Law therefore reflects ancient usages and practices. A code will be commissioned by the first king of all the Franks, Clovis I (c. 466–511). He appointed four commissioners to research uses of laws.
The criminal laws establish damages to be paid and fines levied in recompense of injuries to persons and damage to goods, e.g., slaves, theft, and unprovoked insults. One-third of the fine pay court costs. Judicial interpretation is by a jury of peers.
The rights of family members are defined; for example, the equal division of land among all living male heirs in opposition to primogeniture.
Agnatic succession
One tenet of the civil law is agnatic succession, the rule excluding females from the inheritance of a throne or fief. Salic law regulates succession according to sex. Agnatic succession means succession to the throne or fief going to an agnate of the predecessor; for example, a brother, a son, or nearest male relative through the male line, including collateral agnate branches, for example very distant cousins. Chief forms are agnatic seniority and agnatic primogeniture. The latter, which has been the most usual, means succession going to the eldest son of the monarch; if the monarch had no sons, the throne would pass to the nearest male relative in the male line.