The sixteen papers in this volume investigate the links between law and society during Late Antiquity (260-640 CE). On the one hand, they consider how social changes such as the barbarian settlement and the rise of the Christian church resulted in the creation of new sources of legal authority, such as local and "vulgar" law, barbarian law codes, and canon law. On the other, they investigate the interrelationship between legal innovations and social change.

Skin-clad barbarians ransacking Rome remains a popular image of the "decline and fall" of the Roman Empire, but why, when, and how the Empire actually fell are still matters of debate among students of classical history. In this pioneering study, Ralph W. Mathisen examines the "fall" in one part of the western Empire, Gaul, to better understand the shift from Roman to Germanic power that occurred in the region during the fifth century AD

Mathisen uncovers two apparently contradictory trends. First, he finds that barbarian settlement did provoke significant changes in Gaul, including...

Das Jahrbuch und die Begleitreihe Millennium-Studien wollen Grenzen uberschreiten, Grenzen zwischen den Epochen und regionalen Raumen wie auch Grenzen zwischen den Disziplinen. Millennium ist international, transdisziplinar und epochenubergreifend ausgerichtet. Das Herausgebergremium und der Beirat reprasentieren ein breites Spektrum von Fachern: Kunst- und literaturwissenschaftliche Beitrage kommen ebenso zu ihrem Rechtwie historische, theologische und philosophische, Beitrage zu den lateinischen und griechischen Kulturen ebenso wie zu den orientalischen.

In den Studien...