This document, according to most recent authorities, relates to a district between the Frisians and Saxons to the North and East, with the river Meuse to the South.[171]
[Sidenote: The Chamavi under Frankish law.]
Its real title seems to be _Notitia vel commemoratio de illa euva quæ se ad Amorem habet_, and it seems to be not so much a code as a memorandum of the wergelds and fines of a Frankish people settled in the district alluded to. Probably in date it may belong to the time of Charlemagne, but before his changes in the currency.
It is of some interest to this inquiry because of its peculiar position, as relating to a tribe or people under Frankish rule, and yet with customs of its own which have survived Frankish conquest.
The Notitia starts with the declaration that in ecclesiastical matters, as regards the _bannus dominicus_, the same laws prevail ‘as other Franks have.’
[Sidenote: Wergeld of the Homo Francus three times that of the ingenuus.]
And then it at once describes the wergeld, as follows:--
The wergelds of this law are as under. Whoever kills--
Homo Francus 600 solidi et pro fredo 200 sol. Ingenuus 200 ” ” 66⅔ ” Lidus 100 ” ” 33½ ” Servus 50 ” ” 16⅔ ”
Then follows a clause (VII.) which states that if any ‘Comes’ be slain in his own ‘comitatus’ the wergeld is to be three times that according to his birth.
The _Homo Francus_ thus has a triple wergeld, like the Comes. But the _Comes_ may possibly be not _ingenuus_. He may be a lidus with official position, and so presumably, according to Clause VII., with a threefold wergeld of only 300 solidi.
In the next clause the Royal ‘Missus’ is put in the same position while on the King’s business. His wergeld is also to be trebled.
What, then, is the _Homo Francus_ with a wergeld three times that of the ordinary _ingenuus_ of the district of Amor?
The wergeld of the latter is the full normal wergeld of 200 solidi. The Homo Francus in this district was therefore very much above the ordinary freemen of other laws. He was evidently a Frankish landowner on a large scale, towering in social position above the ordinary freemen of the district.
The _casa_ and _curtis_ of the Homo Francus alone were protected by special clauses (XIX. and XX.), and of him alone are any hints given as to kindred or inheritance. Clause XLII., in the following few words, enlightens us as to his social position:--