176 : 15–177 : 27. The series of notes which were collected by the author on the wanderings of these Germanic tribes proved so lengthy, and the relationships of the peoples under discussion so intricate, that they grew beyond all reasonable proportions as notes, and carried the subject far afield. Hence it has seemed best to omit them in this connection and to embody them in another work. Perhaps it will therefore be sufficient to say here that the results of the research have made it clear that all of these tribes were related by blood and by language, and came originally from Scandinavia and the neighborhood of the Baltic Sea. For some unknown reason, such as pressure of population, they began, one after another, a southward movement in the centuries immediately before the Christian Era, which brought them within the knowledge of the Mediterranean world. Their wanderings were very extensive and covered Europe from southern Russia and the Crimea to Spain, and even to Africa. Many of these tribes broke up into smaller groups under distinct names, or united with others to form large confederacies. Not only did some of them clash with each other almost to the point of extermination in their efforts to obtain lands, but in attempting to avoid the Huns came into contact with the Romans, and broke through the frontier of the Empire at various points. From the Romans they gained many of the ideas which were later incorporated by them in the various European nations which they founded. The result of their conquests was to establish a Nordic nobility and upper class in practically every country of Europe,—a condition which has remained to the present day. 177 : 12. Varangians. See the note on the Varangians, to p. 189 : 24. 177 : 18. See Jordanes, _History of the Goths_. 177 : 27. D’Arbois de Jubainville, 2, pp. 92–93; Taylor, _Words and Places_, p. 45; and G. Dottin, _Manuel Celtique_, p. 28. This word came from _Volcæ_, the name of a Celtic tribe of the upper Rhine. Their name, to the neighboring Teutons, came to designate a foreigner. The Volcæ were separated into two branches, the Arecomici, established between the Rhone and the Garonne, and the Tectosages, in the region of the upper Garonne. The term Volcæ has become among the Germans _Walah_, then _Walch_, from which is derived _Welsch_, which designates the people of Romance language, such as the Italians and French. Among the Anglo-Saxons it has become _Wealh_, from which the derivation _Welsh_, which designates the Gauls, and nowadays their former compatriots who migrated to England and settled in Wales. CHAPTER VII. TEUTONIC EUROPE 179 : 10. Mikklegard. “The Great City.” This was the name given to Byzantium by the Goths. 180 : 2–11. Procopius, _Vandalic War_; Gibbon, chaps. XXXI-XXXVIII; Freeman, _Historical Geography of Europe_. 181 : 14. Gibbon, chaps. XXXVII and XXXVIII. 182 : 1. Eginhard, _The Life of Charlemagne_.