330 Outlines of European History Romans about them. This was much simpler than the elaborate and complicated language used in books, which we find so much difficulty in learning nowadays. The speech of the common peo- ple was gradually diverging more and more, in the various coun- tries of southern Europe, from the written Latin, and finally grew into French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. But the barba- rians did not produce this change, for it had begun before they came and would have gone on without them. They did no more than contribute a few convenient words to the new languages. The northern Franks, who did not penetrate far into the Empire, and the Germans who remained in what is now Ger- many and in Scandinavia, had of course no reason for giving up their native tongues ; the Angles and Saxons in Britain also kept theirs. These Germanic languages in time became Dutch, English, German, Danish, Swedish, etc. Of this matter some- thing will be said later (see below, section 92). The Germans and the older inhabitants of the Roman Empire appear to have had no dislike for one another, except when there was a difference in religion.'^ Where there was no religious barrier the two races intermarried freely from the first. The Frankish kings did not hesitate to appoint Romans to im.por- tant positions in the government and in the army, just as the Romans had long been in the habit of employing the barbarians as generals and officials. In only one respect were the two races distinguished for a time — each had its particular law. The West Goths were probably the first to write down their ancient laws, using the Latin language for the purpose. Their example was followed by the Franks, the Burgundians, and later by the Lombards and other peoples. These codes make up the " Laws of the Barbarians," which form our most important source of knowledge of the habits and ideas of the Germans at the time of the invasions. For several centuries following the 1 The West and East Goths and the Burgundians were heretics in the eyes of the Catholic Church, for they had been taught their Christianity by mission- aries who disagreed with the Catholic Church on certain points.
