Theodoric, king of Italy, whose spirit and policy was always to distinguish himself from the other barbarian kings, sending his army into Gaul, wrote to the general : “I want the Roman laws to be followed, and for you to restore fugitive slaves to their masters : the defender of liberty must not favor the abandonment of servitude. Let other kings indulge in pillage and the ruin of the cities they have taken : we want to conquer in such as way that our subjects will complain that they acquired subjection too late.” It is clear that he wanted to make the kings of the Franks and Burgundians odious, and was alluding to their right of nations.

This right subsisted in the second dynasty. Pépin’s army, having entered Aquitaine, came back to France laden with an infinite number of spoils and serfs, say the Annals of Metz.