Page:A general history for colleges and high schools (Myers, 1890).djvu/430

Rh lasted only twenty-seven years after his death, which occurred A.D. 527. Justinian, emperor of the East, taking advantage of that event, sent his generals, first Belisarius and afterwards Narses, to deliver Italy from the rule of the barbarians. The last of the Ostrogothic kings fell in battle, and Italy, with her fields ravaged and her cities in ruins, was reunited to the empire (A.D. 554).

Kingdom of the Visigoths (A.D. 415–711).—The Visigoths (Western Goths) were already in possession of Spain and Southern Gaul at the time of the fall of Rome. Being driven south of the Pyrenees by Clovis, king of the Franks, they held possession of Spain until the beginning of the eighth century, when the Saracens crossed the Straits of Gibraltar, destroyed the kingdom of Roderick, the last of the Gothic kings, and established throughout the country the authority of the Koran (A.D. 711). The Visigothic empire when thus overturned had lasted nearly three hundred years. During this time the conquerors had mingled with the old Romanized inhabitants of Spain, so that in the veins of the Spaniard of to-day is blended the blood of Iberian, Celt, Roman, and Teuton, together with that of the last comers, the Moors.

Kingdom of the Burgundians (A.D. 443–534).—The Burgundians, who were near kinsmen of the Goths, built up a kingdom in Southeastern Gaul. A portion of this ancient domain still retains, from these German settlers, the name of "Burgundy." The Burgundians soon came in collision with the Franks on the north, and were reduced by the Frankish kings to a state of dependence.

Kingdom of the Vandals (A.D. 429–533).—We have already spoken of the establishment in North Africa of the kingdom of the Vandals, and told how, under the lead of their king Genseric, they bore in triumph down the Tiber the heavy spoils of Rome, (see p. 346).

Being Arian Christians, the Vandals persecuted with furious zeal the orthodox party, the followers of Athanasius. Moved by the entreaties of the African Catholics, the Emperor Justinian sent his general Belisarius to drive the barbarians from Africa, and to