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From Hutton Webster's, Early European History (1917); edited for this on-line publication, by ELLOPOS
X. WESTERN EUROPE DURING THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES, 476-962 A.D.
» Contents of this Chapter
Page 27
THE FUSION OF GERMANS AND ROMANS
THE GERMANIC KINGDOMS
We have now followed the fortunes of the Germans for five centuries from the end of the Roman Empire in the West. Most of their kingdoms, it has been seen, were not permanent. The Visigothic and Burgundian dominions in Gaul yielded to the Franks, and those of the Visigoths in Spain, to the Mohammedan Arabs. The Vandal possessions in North Africa were regained by the emperors at Constantinople. The rule of the Ostrogoths in Italy endured for only sixty years and that of the Lombards passed away after two centuries. The kingdoms established by the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons alone developed into lasting states.
HINDRANCES TO THE FUSION OF GERMANS AND ROMANS
But even where the Germans did not found permanent kingdoms, they mingled with the subject provincials and adopted much of the old Roman civilization. The fusion of the two peoples naturally required a long time, being scarcely completed before the middle of the tenth century. It was hindered, in the first place, by the desire of the Germans to secure the lands of the Romans. Wherever the barbarians settled, they appropriated a large part of the agricultural soil. How much they took varied in different countries. The Ostrogoths seem to have seized one- third of the land in Italy; the Visigoths, two-thirds of that in Gaul and Spain; the Anglo-Saxons, perhaps all the tillable soil of Britain. It could not but be galling to the Romans to surrender their farms to the barbarians. In the second place, the Germans often assessed heavy taxes on the Romans, which they themselves refused to pay. Tax-paying seemed to the Germans a mark of servitude. In the third place, a barrier between the two peoples arose from the circumstance that each had its particular law. For several centuries following the invasions there was one law for the Romans—that which they had enjoyed under the empire—and another law for the Germans—their old tribal customs. After the Germans had lived for some time in contact with the Romans they wrote out their laws in the Latin language. These "Laws of the Barbarians" still survive and throw much light on their early beliefs and manners.
THE MAKING OF EUROPE / EARLY EUROPEAN HISTORY: Table of Contents
url: www.ellopos.net/politics/european-history/default.asp
Cf. The Ancient Greece * The Ancient Rome
Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) * Western Medieval Europe * Renaissance in Italy
