who
was in this respect of a conservative mind.[291] The Romans had, indeed,
good reason to remember with sorrow the valiant Boadicea, queen of the
Britons.[292] Regarding the Germans Tacitus wrote a whole book in which
he idealises that nation as a contrast to the lax morality of civilised
Rome, much as Rousseau in the eighteenth century extolled the virtues of
savages in a state of nature. What Tacitus says in regard to lofty
morals we shall do well to take with a pinch of salt; but we may with
more safety trust his accuracy when he depicts national customs. From
Tacitus we learn that the Germans believed something divine resided in
women[293]; hence their respect for them as prophetesses.[294] One
Velaeda by her soothsaying ruled the tribe of Bructeri completely[295]
and was regarded as a goddess,[296] as were many others.[297] The German
warrior fought his best that he might protect and please his wife.[298]
The standard of conjugal fidelity was strict[299]; men were content with
one wife, although high nobles were sometimes allowed several wives as
an increase to the family prestige.[300] The dowry was brought not by
the wife to the husband, but to the wife by the husband--evidently a
survival of the custom of wife purchase; but the wife was accustomed to
present her husband with arms and the accoutrements of war.[301] She was
reminded that she took her husband for better and worse, to be a
faithful partner in joy and sorrow until death.[302] A woman guilty of
adultery was shorn and her husband drove her naked through the village
with blows.[303]

[Sidenote: The written laws of the barbarians.]

We see, then, that by no means all of these barbarian nations had the
same standards in regard to women. Of written laws there were none as
yet. But contact with the civilisation of Rome had its effect; and when
Goths, Burgundians, Franks, and Lombards had founded new states on the
ruins of the western Roman Empire, the national laws of the Germanic
tribes began to be collected and put into writing at the close of the
fifth century. Between the fifth and the ninth centuries we get the
Visigothic, Burgundian, Salic, Ripuarian, Alemannic, Lombardian,
Bavarian, Frisian, Saxon, and Thuringian law books. They are written in
medieval Latin and are not elaborated on a scientific basis. Three
distinct influences are to be seen in them: (1) native race customs,
ideals, and traditions; (2) Christianity; (3) the Roman civil law, whi