The Edictum Rothari is the frst code of Lombard traditional common law, written down by order of king Rothari, and accepted in November 643 in Pavia by a gairethinx, an assembly of the army. The Edict forms the basis of all later Lombard law collections, the so-called Leges Langobardorum, ranging from Rothari (643) to Aistulf (755), and is followed in some codices by the additional titles issued by the Beneventan princes Arichis and Adelchis in 774 and 866, respectively. Though an evaluation of the juridical implications of the Leges exceeds the scope of this essay, it should be emphasised that the political and ideological value of the Edict is evident in the fact that all later laws depend on this text – albeit in different ways; the latter is thus widely recognised as the founding document of the Lombard juridical tradition.