Spread of English-Speaking Peoples 17 



Rome and Novgorod, the imperial city of Italy as 

 well as the squalid capital of Muscovy, acknowl- 

 edged the sway of kings of Teutonic or Scandina- 

 vian blood. 



In most cases, however, the victorious invaders 

 merely intruded themselves among the original and 

 far more numerous owners of the land, ruled over 

 them, and were absorbed by them. This happened 

 to both Teuton and Scandinavian; to the descend- 

 ants of Alaric, as well as to the children of Rurik. 

 The Dane in Ireland became a Celt; the Goth of 

 the Iberian peninsula became a Spaniard; Frank 

 and Norwegian alike were merged into the mass 

 of Romance-speaking Gauls, who themselves finally 

 grew to be called by the names of their masters. 

 Thus it came about that though the German tribes 

 conquered Europe they did not extend the limits 

 of Germany nor the sway of the German race. On 

 the contrary, they strengthened the hands of the 

 rivals of the people from whom they sprang. They 

 gave rulers kaisers, kings, barons, and knights 

 to all the lands they overran; here and there they 

 imposed their own names on kingdoms and prin- 

 cipalities as in France, Normandy, Burgundy, and 

 Lombardy; they grafted the feudal system on the 

 Roman jurisprudence, and interpolated a few Teu- 

 tonic words in the Latin dialects of the peoples they 

 had conquered; but, hopelessly outnumbered, they 

 were soon lost in the mass of their subjects, and 

 adopted from them their laws, their culture, and 

 their language. As a result, the mixed races of 



