54 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. 



and Saxons moved into Britain ; the Rugii and Heruli seized upon 

 JSToricum and the adjoining districts, and the Ostrogoths took Italy and the 

 Khsetian and Hljrian provinces. The eastern empire, too, was compelled 

 helplessly to witness the spoliation of its European provinces, particularly 

 those of the north. In passing to the west, the Gothic tribes had seized 

 upon the rich and cultivated territories lying on the Danube and about Mount 

 TIsemus, and soon after the Gepidse, a cognate people, settled in Pannonia. 

 Next to these came the terrible Huns, driving all before them, and moving 

 unchecked as far as the Loire and the Po ; and finally, the no less savage 

 ]3algarians, Avari, &g. 



These vast national incursions continued down to the beginning of the 

 eio-hth centurv. The Slavonic and new Germanic tribes became the successors 

 of the Asiatic invaders, and took up their abodes in the Roman, Germanic, 

 and Sarmatian dominions. About this period were organized the realms of 

 the Saxons, Frisii, Thuringians. and Bavarians. The Lombards secured the 

 ascendency in Upper Italy, while the Wendic, Slavonic, Turkish, and 

 Tartar races, entered the regions lying between the Black and Baltic 

 seas, and waged perpetual wars with each other. In this way many new 

 kingdoms were founded, most of which soon again went to ruin, so that 

 their very names were forgotten ; others, again, lost their independence. 

 Thus the vast and powerful kingdom of the Huns was entirely dissolved, 

 soon after the death of their leader, Attila, 454 A.D. From the Palus 

 Mseotis to the boundaries of Bavaria, the Calmuck and Tartar hordes 

 enjoyed unmolested empire, while beyond them, towards the north, ruled 

 Slavonic tribes. The Yisigoths conquered the Suevi and Alans in Spain. 

 The Yandals, who had crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, and settled in aSTorth 

 Africa, were obliged to relinquish their homes, and thus the powerful state 

 founded by Genseric was destroyed by the Bom an commander, Belisarius, 

 in the first part of the sixth century, and fell under Boman dominion. Not 

 long after, under the immediate successors of the great Theodoric, the 

 Ostrogothic empire tottered to its fall ; and only a few years later, the 

 Longobardi, who had already subverted the kingdom of the Gepidse and 

 Heruli, wrested Upper Italy from the Byzantines ; but in their turn, were 

 at last obliged to submit to the victorious Franks, 774 A.D. 



Clodowig, or Clovis, founded the monarchy of the Franks, 496 A.D. 

 The empire rose rapidly. Having crushed the few remains of Boman 

 dominion, Clovis next subdued the Alemanni, and expelled the Yisigoths 

 from Southern Gallia. He afterwards reduced to a condition of dependence, 

 the Burgundians, Thuringians, Frisii, Bavarians, and a considerable 

 division of the Saxons, and thus laid in the heart of Europe the foundation 

 of a new and splendid political power, which attained the summit of its 

 strength in the reign of Charlemagne (768-814). 



Yarious fortunate circumstances combined to enable Constantinople to 

 turn aside the streams of the barbarian migrations. Under Justinian the 

 Great, appeared for a while to be regained, through Belisarius and Narses, 

 some of the former Boman glory at arms. But the old causes of decline : 

 the despotism, profligacy, and mental imbecility of the emperors, and the 

 226 



