ABSTRACT
The law as cited is somewhat ambiguous, including the rubric which reads 'Concerning Alods', and not 'Concerning Inheritance' as the subject matter would seem to demand. Alexander Murray has also proposed that Frankish law never barred women from succeeding to land. He maintains instead that Lex Salica 59.5 implies only that the inheritance of females was postponed by surviving male relatives. A satisfactory explanation of title 59 is possible only within the context of the Frankish colonization of Gaul. On several occasions in the early fifth century, Roman officials regularized the settlement of barbarian peoples in Gaul through treaties of federation. Certainly not all Frankish peoples served extensively in the Roman army; after Clovis' death, his sons and grandsons continued to consolidate control over the remaining Frankish tribes across the Rhine. The absolute exclusion as formulated in early Salic law, however, could not be maintained for long.
