Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/264

1 88 General History of Europe east of it. In 486 they went forth under their great king Clovis (a name that later grew into Louis) and defeated the Roman general who opposed them. They extended their control over Gaul as far south as the Loire, which at that time formed the northern boundary of the kingdom of the West Goths. Clovis next enlarged his empire on the east by the conquest of the Ale- manni, a German people living in the region of the Black Forest and north of the Lake of Constance. 296. Conversion of Clovis (496). The battle in which the Alemanni were defeated (496) is in one respect important above all the other battles of Clovis. Although still a pagan himself, his wife had been converted to Christianity. In the midst of the battle, seeing his troops giving way, he called upon Jesus Christ and pledged himself to be baptized in his name if he would help the Franks to victory over their enemies. When he won the battle he kept his word and was baptized, together with three thousand of his warriors. Clovis died in 511 at Paris, which he had made his residence. He and his successors, in spite of constant wars between rival sons, succeeded in extending the power of the Frankish rulers over pretty much all the territory that is included today in France, Belgium, Holland, and western Germany (see map on preceding page). II. RESULTS OF THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS 297. Fusion of the Barbarians and the Romans. As one looks back over the German invasions it is natural to ask upon what terms the newcomers lived among the old inhabitants of the Empire. The civilization in which the barbarians now found themselves gradually softened their Northern wildness. Their leaders, who held offices under the Roman government, came to have friends among highborn Romans and often married Roman women of rank. We must be on our guard against exaggerating the numbers in the various bodies of invaders. The readiness with which the Germans appear to have adopted the language and