Roman culture in early medieval southern Gaul

[Emperor Goblinus]

Southern Gaul had become very Romanized by the time of Julius Caesar and did not retain much of a Celtic identity to the extent that some of the northern regions of the province did. Consequently, the south stayed quite Roman culturally and linguistically to a great extent for a century or two after the fall of the western empire, far more than the Merovingian regions around cities like Paris and Orleans.

 

My question is; how exactly was this society organized? The local patricians were at least nominally loyal to the Frankish kings, but they basically did their own thing as few Franks migrated into areas like Aquitaine and Provence. It's a well-known fact that Gallo-Romans monopolized most of the higher ecclesiastical offices in Gaul until the about the mid-seventh century. But I've also read that Roman political civil offices, such as that of senator, remained for a while and were recognized by the kings. Were these Roman nobles just individuals who clung to their Roman trappings and agricultural systems in a changing world, or was there in fact a Roman civil system that continued in the absence of direct Frankish control?

[Ludovicus]

This looks like it may answer some of your questions. The book was published earlier this year. "Roman Aristocrats in Barbarian Gaul"

http://www.amazon.com/Roman-Aristocrats-Barbarian-Gaul-Strategies/dp/0292729839/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I289ZWDX38UN6H&colid=ZQCEJLBI4BIW