Rome’s Successors: Byzantium, Islam, and the Germanic West 131the framework of the tribe, it was almost useless when
applied to outsiders. Each of the Germanic peoples
“lived its own law,” even when on foreign territory.
That is, a crime committed by a Frank against a Burgun-
dian on Burgundian land could be resolved only by a
duel—if the parties could agree upon terms—or by war.
The only common feature of these Germanic codes,
apart from their reliance upon fines, was that they were
customary: Judges based their decisions upon the reso-
lution of similar cases in the past. Precedent was sup-
posed to reflect the accumulated wisdom of the people,
or “folk,” and formed the basis of “common” as opposed
to Roman law.
Taking their cue from the Romans, historians have
characterized these people as barbarians and the period
from the fifth to the eighth century as the Dark Ages. It
is, like most such characterizations, exaggerated, but
material life in these years reached a level far lower
than it had been or than it was later to become. Intel-
lectually and artistically, the glories of antiquity
dimmed and for a time almost vanished, while those of
the Middle Ages were as yet only beginning to emerge.
Learning flourished primarily in far-off Ireland, a
Celtic society that had been spared the turbulence of
the continent. Though not unlike the Germanic lands in
its social and political organization, the Christianization
of the island in the early fifth century had released ex-
traordinary energies. St. Patrick, who is generally cred-
ited with converting the Irish, had little interest in
monasticism, but by the seventh century a rich monastic
culture had evolved that stressed knowledge of the Latin
classics—religious and secular—as well as a strict per-
sonal discipline. Irish monks transmitted Christianity to
many parts of northern Europe, often at great personal
risk. They also preserved much of Latin learning, or-
namenting it with manuscript illuminations based on a
rich artistic heritage. The eighth-century Book of Kells
is a superb example of their work (see illustration 7.4).
Frankish Society and Politics
The development of a Frankish kingdom that would by
the eighth century impose political unity on much of
continental Europe began with the reign of Clovis
(c. 466–511), a chief of the Salian or “salty” Franks
whose center was at Tournai in what is now Belgium.
With skill and ferocity he consolidated his power over
other branches of the Franks and seized all of Gaul
north of the Loire River. He then routed an invasion by
the Alamanni, conquered the Burgundians, and drove
the Visigoths out of Aquitaine. When he died at what
was, for a Frank, the ripe old age of forty-five, Clovis
was master of everything from the North Sea coast to
the borders of Septimania, the province that extended
along the Mediterranean coast from Provence to the
Pyrenees. To his biographer, the Gallo-Roman bishop
Gregory of Tours (c. 539–c. 595), he was a new Con-
stantine because he converted to Catholic Christianity
under the influence of his wife, Clotilda, probably in
the year 506. His subjects therefore became Catholics,
unlike the Arian Burgundians and Visigoths. To tradi-
tional historians, Clovis was the first king of France and
founder of the Merovingian dynasty.
The Frankish kings regarded the monarchy as their
private possession. They divided its lands and privileges
equally among their sons when they died and seemed
to have no sense of obligation toward their subjects.
Personal interest dictated policy. Their subjects in turn
felt no special loyalty to the king and served him only
in return for benefices or gifts. These might take theIllustration 7.4
Page from the Book of Kells.The Book of Kells is perhaps
the greatest monument to the art and scholarship of the Irish
golden age. This illumination forms the first word of the Gospel
of St. Luke.