BREVIARIUM ALARICIANUM

Breviarium Alaricianum       (bree-vee-air-ee-<<schwa>>m     al-<<schwa>>-ri-kay-n<< schwa>>m). [Latin] An abridgment (or breviary) of Roman law compiled by order of the Visigoth king Alaric II, published for the use of his Roman subjects in the year 506. • Revised versions were known as the Lex Romana Visigothorum. It was also termed the Breviarium Aniani after Alaric’s chancellor, Anian, who edited and distributed the work. — Also termed Breviary of Alaric (bree-vee-er-ee <<schwa>>v al-<<schwa>>-rik).

“Though the Breviarium was later replaced by the Lex Visigothorum in the Visigothic kingdom, it continued in use in southern France and Lombardy, which had meantime passed under the dominion of the Franks. Its qualities made the Breviarium a book of high authority throughout the whole of western Europe during the Middle Ages and it was one of the main channels through which Roman law entered western European law prior to the Reception.” David M. Walker, The Oxford Companion to Law 151–52 (1980). [Blacks Law 8th]