Talk:Visigothic Code

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Note to next editor(s): Following Mr. Schamp (comment below of Aug. 2, 2004) we have:

"Among all the Teutonic nations the Visi-Goths were the first who had written laws. (Isidorus Hispalensis, 'Chron. ad annum Aer. Hisp. 504, A.D. 466'). A collection of them was made by their king Euric (A.D. 466-484), which is written in Latin and has the title of 'Lex Visigothorum.' Its present form dates from King Egica, whose new code was translated into the Gothic language under King Receswind. It contains many traces of the Roman law, and is the only early Teutonic law which may be considered as a code in the modern signification of the word. The Lex Visigothorum must not be confounded with the Breviarium Alarici (Alaric II., in 506), or the Code for the Romans, who were subjects of the Visi-Goths, and continued to live under their own laws until they were abolished by the kings Chindaswind and Receswind, who declared the revised Lex Visigothorum obligatory on all the inhabitants of the kingdom of the Visi-Goths."

Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, Vol. XXIV., London: Charles Knight & Co., 1842. Google Books WorldCat (Weirpwoer 04:12, 5 September 2007 (UTC))

The forum judicum is not the first of the written Visigothic law codes. Visigothic law was probably first written down much earlier than the 7th century. The Lex Romanum Visigothorum preceded the forum judicum, if I remember correctly, and sometime shortly after the Visigoths entered the territory of the Roman Empire there was the so-called Breviary of Alaric. I don't have my notes handy right now, so I can't make citations, but I'll try to dig something up soon and add more details to this discussion. Craig Schamp 23:40, Aug 2, 2004 (UTC)