Cambridge Ancient Hi.. - Index of

520 18. the north-western provinces
to be enforced on the whole population of the kingdom, Roman or barbarian,
by officials who represented the continuance of fifth-century regional
government.
The Burgundian kingdom, like the kingdom of Toulouse, could build
directly on the Roman past. What disruption there had been was less severe
than the disruption further north, despite a civil war in 500 culminating in
the siege of Vienne. 205 Like the kingdom of Toulouse, however, the
Burgundian kingdom fell prey to the Franks – momentarily, in 524, when
Sigismund was handed over to Chlodomer, and permanently, after 534,
when Childebert I and Chlothar I took over the kingdom. 206 Thereafter it
was to be one of the major units in the Merovingian kingdom of the
Franks.
The Frankish kingdom of the mid sixth century enclosed a sizeable area
of land stretching from Germany east of the Rhine to the Pyrenees, and
from the Alps to the North Sea. It was a kingdom of infinite variety, and
not just because it was divided into a series of separate units centred on
Paris, Orleans, Soissons and Rheims. Geographically, it included land
which had never been part of the Roman empire, together with regions that
had suffered greatly during the migration period, and other regions which
had scarcely suffered at all. In Burgundy, in Aquitaine, which had been part
of the kingdom of Toulouse, and perhaps above all in Provence, there was
considerable continuity from the imperial past. Whatever the variety, the
Merovingians came more and more, in the course of the sixth century, to
cultivate an image of romanitas. Indeed, it is often not possible to say
whether we are dealing with Roman continuity or revival.
A use of Roman forms is apparent even at the lowest levels of government.
Collections of formulae, particularly from Clermont, Angers and
Bourges, 207 show that the town archives were still in use for the registration
of property. In fact, we know more about the functioning of the town
archives of Gaul in the Merovingian period than under the Roman empire.
From the will of bishop Bertram, made at the start of the seventh century,
we know that the gesta municipalia were in operation in the city of Le
Mans. 208 Such documentation suggests remarkable continuity, even in the
north – though it may not be prudent to extrapolate the evidence for one
city and apply it to all. It is, however, clear that Frankish cities were usually
managed by comites, acting as their predecessors had done in the fifth
century, although in a number of places, and increasingly, the power of the
comes passed to the bishop. The reasons for this transfer of power are by no
means clear and were probably varied, depending on the traditions of a see
and the relations of an individual bishop with the king. Whether in the
205 Marius of Avenches, s.a. 500;Greg.Tur.Hist. ii.32–3. 206 Greg. Tur. Hist. iii.6, 11.
207 Ed. K. Zeumer, MGH, Formulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi (Hanover 1886); Wood (1986) 9.
208 Wood, Merovingian Kingdoms 208.
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