landed property: this may have been the prototype of the analogous institution of dower in early English law. If a man betrothed a young woman and her parents later refused, they were liable to return four-fold the bride-price. But if she refused of her own accord, or if the wedding was not celebrated within two years, she could be re-engaged without penalty. If the man broke off the engagement, he got no refund. (§27) The laws of the Burgundians show strong traces of Roman influence. It recognizes the will and attaches great importance to written deeds, but on the other hand, sanctions the judicial duel and the cojuratores (sworn witnesses). The vehement protest made in the 9th century by Agobard, bishop of Lyon, against the Lex Gundobada shows that it was still in use at that period. So late as the 10th and even the 11th centuries we find the law of the Burgundians invoked as personal law in Cluny charters, but doubtless these passages refer to accretions of local customs, rather than to actual paragraphs of the ancient code. See also Mund (in law) Notes References Guy Halsall (2007) "Barbarian Migrations and the Roman West 376-568" Cambridge University Press Hoyt (1967) Life and Thought in Early Middle Ages The University of Minnesota Press Katherine Fisher Drew (trans.) (1972) The Burgundian code: book of constitutions or law of Gundobad University of Pennsylvania Press Katherine Fisher Drew (1988a) "The Germanic Family of the Leges Burgundionum," in Drew, Law and Society in Early Medieval Europe Variorum Reprints Katherine Fisher Drew (1988b) "The Barbarian Kings as Lawgivers and Judges," in Drew, Law and Society in Early Medieval Europe Variorum Reprints External links Information on the lex Burgundionum and its manuscript tradition on the website, A database on Carolingian secular law texts (Karl Ubl, Cologne University, Germany, 2012). Burgundians Germanic legal codes 6th-century books