accounted for in two ways: first, there was not sufficient warlike
spirit in the country to successfully oppose them; secondly, they were
hailed as liberators rather than as conquerors, because at their coming
the real barbarians, who were still threatening the country, were forced
to leave. The central idea of the Gothic social system, which was soon
established in all parts of the country, was its recognition of the
independence of the individual, and especially of the women of the
family. The head of the household did not consider himself as the sole
possessor of all rights and privileges; the women and children were
expected to do their share of fighting the enemy, and were given their
share of food and plunder in all equity. The equality of the wife with
her husband was strictly enjoined, not only in the marriage ceremony,
but also by law, which gave her full control of her own property and a
half-interest in the possessions held by them both in common.

Alaric II. caused to be published in 506 the code of laws which had been
compiled by King Euric, but which was called the _Breviarium
Alaricianium_, wherein, among various other matters, the rights of women
are especially enforced. This code was intended only for the use of the
Goths, who took position at once as a ruling and noble race, and the
rest of the population was still governed by the old Roman code. For
almost a hundred and fifty years this double system of legal procedure
was maintained, and then its many disadvantages became so evident that a
vigorous king sought to remedy the tottering fortunes of the Gothic
realm by promulgating a single code, to which all should be subject and
which should represent the better features of the two codes hitherto in
vogue. Chindaswinth, who ruled from 642 to 654, was responsible for this
new departure; and his son Recceswinth, who followed him upon the
throne, was the first to administer the revised code, which is known as
the _Lex Visigothorum_. Although the document is but an adaptation of
the Roman law to the special needs of the country from the standpoint of
Christianity, it shows at the same time the strong influence of the
social traditions of the Goths, and especially with reference to its
treatment of women.

It is evident from a perusal of these laws that the Goths had high
ideals of family life, and that it was their most earnest endeavor to
maintain, by means of legal enactment, a rather unusual state of