DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES.--If we look at the map at the close of the fifth century, we find that all the western dominions of Rome are subject to Teutonic kings. The _Franks_, still retaining Western and Central Germany, rule in Northern Gaul, and are soon to extend their sway to the Pyrenees, and to conquer Burgundy. The _West Goths_ are the masters in Spain, and still hold Aquitaine, the most of which, however, is soon to be lost to the Franks. Italy and the lands north of the Alps and the Adriatic form the _East Gothic_ kingdom of _Theodoric_. Africa is governed by the Arian Vandals. To the north of the Franks, the tribes of Germany, which were never subject to Rome, have already begun their conquests in Britain. With the exception of Britain, which is falling under the power of the _Saxons_, and Africa, these countries are still nominally parts of the Roman Empire, of which Constantinople is the capital. In the east, the boundaries of the empire, notwithstanding the aggressions and insults which it has suffered, are but little altered. THE MEROVINGIANS.--The dominion of _Clovis_ was partitioned among his four sons (511). _Theodoric_, the eldest, in Rheims, ruled the Eastern Franks, in what soon after this time began to be called _Austrasia_, on both banks of the Rhine. _Neustria_, or the rest of the kingdom north of the Loire, was governed in parts by the other three. Theodoric gained by conquest the land of the Thuringians, whose king, _Hermanfrid_, he treacherously destroyed. A part of this land was given to the Saxons. The history of the Franks for half a century lacks unity. The several rulers rarely acted in concert. They made expeditions against the Burgundians, the Visigoths, and the Ostrogoths. Twice they attacked the _Burgundians_. The last time, in 534, they conquered them, deprived them of their national kings, and forced them to become Catholic. In 531 they made war on the Visigoths to avenge the wrongs inflicted on _Clotilde_, a princess of their family who suffered indignities at the hands of the Arian king _Amalaric_. They crossed the Pyrenees, and brought away Clotilde. A second division of the kingdom was made in 561 among the grandsons of Clovis, and consummated in 567. _Austrasia_, having Rheims for its capital, had a population chiefly German. _Neustria_, where the Gallo-Roman manners were adopted, had Soissons for its capital; and _Burgundy_ had its capital at Orleans. The population in both these last dominions was more predominantly Romano-Celtic, or "Romance." Family contests, and wars full of horrors,--in which the tragic feud of two women, _Brunhilde_ of Austrasia, a daughter of Athanagild, king of the Visigoths, and _Fredegunde_ of Neustria, played a prominent part,--ensued. In 613 _Clotaire II_. of Neustria united the entire kingdom. Brunhilde was captured, and put to death in a barbarous manner. The son of Clotaire, _Dagobert_, was a worthless king. The Frank sovereigns of the royal line are