5.  From thence the barbarians passed into Spain and settled in the province, from them named Vandalu’sia, since corrupted to Andalusia.  On the invitation of Count Boniface, the Vandals proceeded from Spain to Africa, where they founded a formidable empire.  After remaining masters of the western Mediterranean for nearly a century, the eastern emperor Justinian sent a formidable force against them under the command of the celebrated Belisa’rius.  This great leader not only destroyed the power of these pirates, but erased the very name of Vandals from the list of nations.

THE GOTHS.

6.  The Goths, the most powerful of these destructive nations, are said to have come originally from Scandina’via; but when they first began to attract the notice of historians, we find them settled on the banks of the Danube.  Those who inhabited the districts towards the east, and the Euxine sea, between the Ty’ras (Dniester) the Borys’thenes (Dnieper) and the Tan’ais (Don) were called Ostrogoths; the Visigoths extended westwards over ancient Dacia, and the regions between the Ty’ras, the Danube, and the Vistula.

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, 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.