The Whole North Into Gaul

[Michael Kerr]

Hans Delbruck in his book The Barbarian Invasions mentions the Lex Gundobada but there is no reference to the date 451AD as some sort of cut-off point. But he writes about how there were 3 types of agricultural property classifications in 5th Century Gaul. Small farmers who work their farms themselves, medium landholders who no longer work their land themselves but have slaves do the farming and the large landholders who have managers supervise tenants or half free serfs tied to the land as small farmers. He writes.

“Concerning the manner in which the German areas of domination were established in the former Roman provinces in the course of the fifth century, we learn most from the Burgundians, whose Notices of the Chronicles, as well as the articles of a book of laws, the lex Gundobada, have come down to us.
After the Burgundians, who had originally come from eastern Germany, had first settled on the left bank of the Rhine in the area of Worms, where under King Gunther they suffered their legendary defeat by the Huns, a few years later (443AD) they were assigned by Aetius new areas in Sapaudia, that is Savoy. “Spaudia is given to the remnants of the Burgundiones to be divided with the natives” we are told by the chronicler Prosper Tiro.
Fourteen years later (456 0r 457) another chronicler, Marius von Avenches, who was familiar with this region, reports “In this year the Burgundiones occupied part of Gaul and divided that land with the Gallic senators.” Still another, later chronicler, Fredegar, recounts that the Burgundians had come at the invitation of the Romans themselves, who in this way had wished to get rid of their tax burden.
According to these accounts, on both occasions – when they first settled in Savoy and again when they extended their area beyond Lyons and across the Rhone – the Burgundians did not come as conquerors but were settled in agreement with the Romans. The specific provisions under which the settling was to take place have not been preserved for us, but they were related to the forms of the Roman billeting procedure that is mentioned in the sources. Like that procedure they were also called “hospitalitas”; King Gundobad says in his Book of Laws (Title 54): “At the time when our people received one-third of the serfs and two-thirds of the land from the locality where he was assigned a living area.” He also says that this order was disregarded by quite a few; for that reason, it was thereby commanded that the land that had been unrightfully taken from the inhabitants would be returned, so that the previously maltreated Romans would enjoy security.
This is the significant content of the historical source from which we have to form a picture of how the intersettling and establishment of the Germans among the Romans took place, by which the whole course of later history was determined.

Don't know if this helps.

Regards
Michael Kerr