This collection of eighteen essays aims to explore how the practices and norms of the Roman army contributed to the legal systems and organisation of the various so-called ‘barbarian’ kingdoms that succeeded the Roman empire in the West during the fifth and sixth centuries ce, that is, the kingdoms of the Goths, Franks, Lombards and others. It is not the direct result of a conference but represents rather the continuation of their work by a group of scholars who first met for a conference held at Cagliari in 2012, the proceedings of which were published in 2015 (F. Botta and L. Loschiavo [edd.], Civitas, Iura, Arma. Organizzazioni militari, istituzioni giuridiche e strutture sociali all’origine dell’Europa (secc. III–VIII)).
After a first chapter by I. Wood, which surveys the transformation of the professional standing army of the Late Roman Empire into armies of obligation in the successor kingdoms, that is, armies drawn from farmer-soldiers at time of need, the remaining chapters are divided into four parts. In Part 1, ‘The Words of the Soldiers’, A. Trisciuoglio explores the rights and obligations of both parties when soldiers were temporarily billeted upon civilians under the Late Roman Empire. P. Porena then investigates the relationship between the traditionally temporary billeting of soldiers upon civilians under the Late Roman Empire and the way in which various barbarian groups were allocated long-term settlements in Roman territory during the fifth century. Next, W. Haubrichs investigates the meanings of various Frankish and Lombardic names, while also surveying the military loanwords present in Medieval Latin that are of Frankish or Lombardic origin. Finally, C. Falluomini analyses the origin of Gothic military terminology, where the evidence chiefly consists of the surviving parts of the fourth-century translation of the bible into Gothic. In Part 2, ‘Social and Juridical Structures’, V. Marotta argues that military service provided the main way for ‘barbarians’ to obtain Roman citizenship and that the distinction between citizens and non-citizens remained important as late as the reign of Justinian I. In the next chapter S. Esders explores the Late Roman military origin of the Frankish centena, a territorial unit, while F. Castagnino surveys the right of soldiers to marry during the period from the late second to the sixth century ce, with the emphasis on the possibility of marriage between Roman citizens and ‘barbarians’ as the Western Empire dissolved into its successor states. Finally, I. Ruggiero investigates the influence of the way in which Roman soldiers were able to make wills upon the provisions for the drawing up of wills in the ‘barbarian’ successor states, with the emphasis on the evidence of the Pactus Legis Salicae. In Part 3, ‘Symbols, Rituals and Identity Models’, A.A. Verardi surveys the continued use of the Roman cingulum militiae in the ‘barbarian’ successor states and its changing symbolic significance over several centuries. By contrast, E. Osaba engages in the detailed analysis of a section of the Lex Visigothorum (first promulgated in 654) containing nine laws punishing the failure to answer the call to arms. Next, F. Borri discusses the significance of the terms ‘Traditionskern’, an aristocratic group close to the royal house, and ‘Gefolgschaft’, a group of fighting men bound together by oath, as used by the German historian R. Wenskus. Finally, S. Gasparri surveys the history of what he describes as ‘Arimannic theory’, the belief in the existence of a particular type of Lombardic military settlement, before outlining a very different understanding of Lombardic military organisation. In Part 4, ‘Geometries of the Power and Military Justice’, J.-P. Poly describes the settlement of ‘barbarians’ as Laeti and Gentiles in Roman Gaul during the fourth century. Loschiavo investigates the origin of the legal pluralism of the ‘barbarian’ successor states to conclude that military function rather than ethnic identity was the key factor in the evolution of this pluralism. S. Kerneis draws attention to the potential contribution of a fourth-century lead curse tablet from Trier to the evolution of trial by ordeal in the early medieval period. F. Botta analyses the similarities and differences between Roman military law and the ‘barbarian’ law codes where these relate to collective criminal responsibility. Finally, W. Pohl concludes the volume with a summary of the wider topic and how each of the individual essays fits into it.
The Classicist will find less of interest here than one might have expected given the nature of the title. Although some essays clearly contribute very well to the stated aim of exploring Roman military influence in the post-Roman West (e.g. Porena, Esders, Ruggiero, Verardi, Loschiavo, Botta), it is difficult to detect any relevance to this aim in several other contributions (e.g. Haubrichs, Falluomini, Osaba, Borri, Gasparri). Furthermore, the structure of the volume does not help much as there is little guidance as to how individual essays contribute to the wider topic. There is no proper introduction to explain why the essays are grouped into the four different parts in the way that they are or how these parts contribute to an understanding of the wider topic. Indeed, it is striking that Pohl groups the essays differently in his summary of the volume. He treats the contents under three headings rather than four parts, where these are ‘From Tax to Land: Conditions of Settlement’ (chapters 2, 3, 14), ‘Personality of the Law or Legal Pluralism’ (chapter 15) and ‘From Ius Speciale to the Laws of the Kingdoms’ (chapters 4, 7, 5, 8, 9, 16, 11, 17, 12, 10 in that order). As for the individual essays, factual errors are rare, although the reference to a denarius of Constantius II (p. 399), when this emperor did not in fact strike denarii, and the casual reference to Aelius Spartianus as the author of the life of Pescennius Niger in the Historia Augusta as if he were a historical individual (p. 466), before then treating his alleged evidence far more seriously than it deserves to be, do not instil too much confidence. Still, most of the contributions seem plausible, if not convincing even. However, the authors of the contributions dealing with legal history make few concessions to those who are not legal historians, or Latin linguists, as they frequently introduce technical legal terms or phrases, often in Latin, with little effort to explain their meaning for non-specialists. Loschiavo performs best in this respect as he introduces his essay by carefully explaining the principle of the personality of the law (pp. 413–16), which has nothing to do with personality as normally understood.
Two contributions seem seriously problematic. Poly devotes a large part of the essay to an analysis of how the remains from a graveyard at Mont-Augé can contribute to the understanding of ‘barbarian’ settlement in late fourth-century Gaul (pp. 399–405), but he pushes the evidence far further than it can go and strives too hard to create connections with known historical events. Kerneis is no more convincing in the discussion of a curse tablet, which he treats as some form of judicial record rather than as a simple curse tablet. He uses too much space at the start of the essay for an irrelevant discussion of material from Vindolanda rather than discussing in proper detail why he translates the inscription on this tablet in the way that it does. As it is, he presents a difficult Latin text as if its translation were unproblematic. He interprets a brief reference to a cucuma (‘cauldron’) as if this were an instrument of torture and simply assumes ‘that the barbarian litigant has to put his hand into the boiling water in the cauldron’ (p. 454). However, it seems more likely that the author of this curse simply wanted revenge for the theft of this cucuma. The suggestion that this tablet can contribute to the understanding of the development of trial by ordeal is highly unlikely.
Unfortunately, one cannot fairly review the book without commenting on the poor quality of the English. There are a number of sentences that seem to have been clumsily translated into English from their original language (Italian, one suspects, in most cases).
In conclusion, the volume will certainly benefit those with an interest in Roman military influence in the post-Roman West. Furthermore, as an effort to make recent continental, particularly Italian, scholarship on the legal history and institutions of the post-Roman West more accessible to Anglophone readers, this volume is highly commendable. However, it is a more difficult read than it need have been and would have benefited greatly from tighter editing.
