7. Attacked in these vast countries by the Huns, as has been mentioned in a preceding chapter, some were subjugated, and others compelled to abandon their habitations. They obtained settlements from the emperors, but being unwisely provoked to revolt, they became the most formidable enemies of the Romans. After having twice ravaged Italy and plundered Rome, they ended their conquests by establishing themselves in Gaul and Spain.
8. The Spanish monarchy of the Visigoths, which in its flourishing state comprised, besides the entire peninsula,[Pg. 387] the province of Septima'nia (Langucaoc) in Gaul, and Mauritania, Tingeta'na, (north-western Africa) on the opposite coasts of the Mediterranean, lasted from the middle of the fifth to the commencement of the eighth century, when it was overthrown by the Moors. 9. The Thuringians, whom we find established in the heart of Germany, in the middle of the fifth century, appear to have been a branch of the Visigoths.
THE FRANKS.
10. A number of petty German tribes having entered into a confederacy to maintain their mutual independence, took the name of Franks, or Freemen. The tribes which thus associated, principally inhabited the districts lying between the Rhine and the Weser, including the greater part of Holland and Westphalia. 11. In the middle of the third century, they invaded Gaul, but were defeated by Aurelian, who afterwards became emperor. In the fourth, and towards the beginning of the fifth century, they permanently established themselves as a nation, and gave the name of Francia, or France, to the provinces lying between the Rhine, the Weser, the Maine, and the Elbe; but about the sixth century that name was transferred to ancient Gaul, when it was conquered by the Franks.
THE ALLEMANNI.
12. The Alleman'ni were another confederation of German tribes, which took its name from including a great variety of nations. It is scarcely necessary to remark, that the name is compounded of the words all and man which still continue unchanged in our language. Their territories extended between the Danube, the Rhine, and the Maine, and they rendered themselves formidable to the Romans by their frequent inroads into Gaul and Italy during the third and fourth centuries.
THE SAXONS AND ANGLES.
13. The Saxons began to be conspicuous about the close of the second century. They were then settled beyond the Elbe, in modern Holstein; having for their neighbours the ANGLI, or ANGLES, inhabiting Sleswick. These nations were early distinguished as pirates, and their plundering expeditions kept the shores of western Europe in constant alarm. Being invited by the Britons to assist in repelling[Pg. 388] the invasions of the Picts, they subdued the southern part of the island, which has ever since retained the name of England, from its conquerors the An'gli. When the Franks penetrated into Gaul, the Saxons passed the Elbe, and seizing on the vacated territory, gave the name of Saxony to ancient France.
THE HUNS.
14. The Huns were the most ferocious and sanguinary of the barbarians. They seem to have been originally Kalmuck or Mongolian Tartars, and, during the period of their supremacy, seem never to have laid aside the savage customs which they brought from their native deserts. 15. After having expelled the Goths from the banks of the Danube, they fell upon the eastern empire, and compelled the court of Constantinople to pay them tribute. They then, under the guidance of Attila, invaded Italy, and after devastating the peninsula, captured and plundered Rome. After the death of Attila, the Huns were broken up into a number of petty states, which maintained their independence until the close of the eighth century, when they were subdued by Charlemagne.