the formularies of angers and marculf: two merovingian legal handbooks

This volume offers the first full English-language translation of two major sources for the Merovingian kingdoms: the formularies of Angers and Marculf (from the sixth and seventh centuries AD). These collections of model legal documents, compiled by scribes, constitute an important source of evidence on government, legal practice, and social life during the Merovingian period—at both the local and elite level. Illuminating aspects of life once considered too trivial to mention in a narrative source—such as making a gift, selling an infant, writing Christmas greetings, and settling murder disputes—this volume offers an outline of this type of source as a whole, putting the texts into perspective and providing a methodological foundation for them.