The Rudolf Steiner Archive

5. What did Europe look like during the spread of Christianity?

[ 1 ] Gentlemen, let us continue so that I can show you a few more examples of how Christianity took root in Europe.

[ 2 ] You see, in the early days after the founding of Christianity, it first spread southward, all the way to Rome, and then later, starting in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries, it began to spread northward. Now let’s take a look at Europe during the period when Christianity was spreading—that is, at the time of Christianity’s founding and shortly thereafter. I’d like to answer this question for you: What did Europe—or rather, our civilization—look like during the period when Christianity was spreading?

[ 3 ] If we have a mental image of Asia over there (a drawing is being sketched), then Europe appears as a small appendage of Asia, like a small peninsula. As you know, Europe looks like this: Here we have Scandinavia, here we have the Baltic Sea; then we cross over to Russia. Here we have present-day Denmark. Here we cross over to the northern coast of Germany; here we enter Dutch territory, and here French territory. Here we reach Spain, and from here we cross over to Italy. Now we come to the regions we already know: we reach the Adriatic Sea, and from here we cross over to Greece; then there is the Black Sea. Here we come to the border with Asia Minor; from there we would then cross over to Africa. On the other side, here, we would then have England and Wales, and then Ireland here, mentioned only in passing.

[ 4 ] So now I will try to explain to you what Europe looked like during the time when Christianity gradually spread and came to Europe. Here, Europe is separated from Asia by the Ural Mountains. We also have the mighty Volga River here, and if we had traveled to those regions back then—which today comprise southern Russia, Ukraine, and so on—we would have found, at the time when Christianity was advancing from the south, a people who later vanished entirely from this land, migrated further west, and eventually assimilated into other peoples in the West: the Ostrogoths. So, during the period when Christianity began to spread, we have the Ostrogoths here. You will see shortly how all these peoples began to migrate at a certain point in time. But at the time when Christianity was advancing from the south, these peoples were settled in this part of Europe.

[ 5 ] You see, if you follow the Danube, as you go further along, you’ll find what is now Romania and what is now Hungary. In those regions—what is now Hungary and what is now Romania—the Visigoths lived at that time. If we continue on, here to what is now western Hungary, north of the Danube, we find the Vandals. That is what these peoples were called back then. And where Moravia, Bohemia, and Bavaria are today, the so-called Suevi lived, from whom the Swabians later emerged. Let’s move further north—this is where the Elbe River has its source, and the Elbe then flows into the North Sea: here, everywhere, are the Goths. But over here is the Rhine, which you know well; so this would be roughly where Cologne is today—here, around the Rhine, live the so-called Ripuarian Franks. Further upstream, where the Rhine flows into the sea, live the Salian Franks. And from here all the way to the Elbe, the Saxons live. The Saxons got their name from the people who lived to the south. They got their name because these southern peoples noticed that they fed themselves primarily, or almost exclusively, on meat, and they called them “meat-eaters.”

[ 6 ] The Romans had indeed expanded further into these regions: even into what is now France, into what is now Spain, and so on; here, too, there were Greco-Roman peoples everywhere. Christianity first spread among them, and then it moved northward. One could say that in these regions, Christianity reached the north earlier than in the more westerly regions. For example, among the Goths there was an early bishop: Wulfila, which means “little wolf.” Wulfila produced a Gothic translation of the Bible very early on, in the 4th century. This Bible translation is very interesting because it differs greatly from later Bible translations. It is contained in an extraordinarily valuable book that is now housed in the library in Uppsala, Sweden; and it is evident from this that Christianity had already spread here in the East at an earlier date.

[ 7 ] If you follow along with what I have outlined, you will find: So there are the Greco-Roman peoples; but in these regions, even in the earliest times, there was still an ancient population everywhere—an ancient population of Europe that is very interesting. This population of Europe, which I have now marked in red on the drawing, had already been pushed back toward the western regions by the time Christianity was spreading from south to north. For all these peoples were not originally in these regions at all, but only at the time when Christianity was spreading; they were all further to the east. One must have in one's mental image all these peoples living on the border between Asia and Europe. And those who are known today as the Slavs are even further into Asia.

[ 8 ] The question now is this: If we go back to the time before the emergence of Christianity, I would have to mark up this entire map of Europe with red lines; at that time, all of Europe was populated by an ancient Celtic people. And everything that later appeared in Europe—what I have outlined and written down for you—actually came over from Asia only later—the few centuries before and the few centuries after the establishment of Christianity. And this raises the question: Why did these peoples suddenly migrate over here? These peoples began to move during a certain period of world history; they pressed their way over into Europe. This was for the following reason: If you look at present-day Siberia, it is actually a vast, barren expanse that is very sparsely populated. Not too long ago—namely, not long before the emergence of Christianity, a few centuries earlier—Siberia was still much lower-lying land, and this lower-lying land was relatively warm. And then it rose. A land doesn’t have to rise very much; yet, whereas it was warm before, it becomes cold in those regions, the lakes dry up, and the land becomes barren. So nature itself brought about this situation here, causing people to migrate from east to west.

[ 9 ] The Celtic people of Europe were a very interesting group. The peoples migrating westward encountered the Celtic people. They were a relatively peaceful people. The Celtic people of Europe still possessed what one might call a primal form of clairvoyance—a truly primal form of clairvoyance. When these people set about practicing a craft, they believed that the spirits would assist them in that craft. And if someone felt he was skilled at making boots—though boots hadn’t been invented yet, but rather things used to cover the feet—he saw the help of the spirits in his own dexterity. And he could indeed perceive what was helping him from the spiritual world. These ancient Celtic people, then, still viewed their lives in such a way that, in a certain sense, they were “on familiar terms” with the spiritual world. And that is why these peoples also produced very beautiful things. The Celtic people also penetrated Italy in ancient times, bringing with them much beauty, which served to refine the crude Roman way of life that had been introduced by the raiding tribes. It was precisely through the influx of the Celtic people that the original Roman coarseness was somewhat tempered.

[ 10 ] So, in ancient times, there were Celtic populations all over Europe. In the south, there were Roman-Greek, Romance-Greek, and Latin-Greek populations. And, as I said, due to the uplift of Siberia—which turned Siberia into a wasteland—these peoples migrated over here. And at the time when Christianity was spreading from south to north, the map of Europe looked just like this (pointing to the drawing).

[ 11 ] It is very curious, gentlemen: certain characteristics of peoples are well preserved, while other peculiarities are less so. For example, one must note the following: Among the peoples who migrated from Asia to Europe were the Huns, whose most powerful king was Attila. But Attila is a Gothic name! For Attila means “little father” in Gothic. Because many of the peoples I have listed here also recognized the Hun king Attila as their king, he was given a Gothic name. But these Huns differed greatly from the other peoples. And this was because all these wilder peoples who came over had originally been mountain peoples in Asia. The somewhat more docile peoples who came over, such as the Goths, were primarily peoples of the plains. And the savage deeds of the Huns—and later, those of the Magyars—stemmed from the fact that they had originally been mountain peoples in Asia.

[ 12 ] What actually happened was that the Romans—increasingly independent of Christianity—expanded their rule northward, where they clashed with these peoples who had come over from Asia. This led to many wars between the Romans and the peoples who were here in the north. I already mentioned to you last time the name of a very important Roman writer, Tacitus. He wrote a great deal about Roman history, but he also wrote a truly magnificent, monumental little book called *Germania*. In it, about a hundred years after Christianity had already been founded, he described—and described magnificently—the peoples who lived up there, so that in Tacitus’s account, these people seem to come alive before one’s eyes. But I’ve also told you this before: Tacitus, as one of the most educated Romans, had nothing more to say about Christianity than that it had been founded as a sect over in Asia by a certain Christ, who was executed by the court! So Tacitus wrote in Rome at a time when Christians were still oppressed, when they were still living in their underground catacombs—actually, not even that is entirely accurate. And so there was still nothing of Christianity among these northern peoples.

[ 13 ] But these northern peoples also had a religion back then. And it is very interesting to consider what kind of religion these northern peoples had. Let me remind you once again, gentlemen, how religious mental images developed among the southern and eastern peoples. We spoke of the Indians; they focused primarily on the physical body—that is, on something of the human being. The Egyptians focused on the etheric body—again, something of the human being. The Babylonians and Assyrians focused on the astral body—again, something of the human being. The Jews focused on the “I” in their Yahweh—again, something pertaining to the human being. Only of the Greeks—and this was later passed on to the Romans—did I have to tell you: they focused less on the human being; they turned their gaze more toward nature. And the Greeks were, after all, truly the greatest observers of nature.

[ 14 ] But these people here in the North—they have seen nothing at all of the human being as such, of the inner human being, even less than the Greeks. That is interesting: these people here in the North have completely forgotten the inner human being, and they did not even have any memories of what could have been thought about the inner human being. The Greeks and Romans at least still had memories; they were neighbors to the peoples throughout the Near East—the Egyptians, Babylonians, and so on—and they had memories of what these ancient peoples had thought. These Nordic peoples, however, looked only at their surroundings, only outward from the human being. And they did not see nature itself, but rather the nature spirits outside of the human being. The ancient Greeks saw nature; these people here in the north saw the spirits of nature. That is why the most beautiful stories, fairy tales, legends, and myths arose precisely among these people, because they saw spirits everywhere. The Greeks saw the lofty mountain, Mount Olympus; but the gods dwelt on Olympus. These people up north did not say, “The gods dwell on a mountain”—rather, they saw, as it were, the god himself in the summit of the mountain, because the summit of the mountain did not appear to them as mere rock. When the dawn glowed on the mountain’s summit, gilding the mountain, and the morning sun rose over the mountains in this way, these peoples did not see the mountain, but rather this weaving of the morning sun across the mountain—that was the divine to them. It seemed ghostly to them. It was entirely natural for them to see the spiritual realm spread out over the mountains in this way.

[ 15 ] And the Greeks built temples for the gods. All across Asia, people have built temples for the gods. But these people in the north have said: “We don’t build temples. What does it mean to build a temple? It’s dark inside; but up on the mountains, it’s bright and full of light. And the gods—that is, the spirits—must be worshipped by climbing up the mountain.”

[ 16 ] Now they have reflected on this: Yes, when the light shines over the mountains—it comes from the sun; but the sun is at its most benevolent in the middle of summer, when the time of St. John—as we call it today—approaches. So they climbed up into the mountains, built fires, and celebrated their gods not in the temple, but on the high mountains. Or they said: Yes, the sunlight and the sun’s warmth penetrate the earth, and in spring what the sun brings about emerges from the earth once more. And that is why one must worship the sun, even though it draws its power from the earth. They felt this to be especially beneficial in the forests, where many trees grow as the sun’s power works its way back up from the earth. That is why they worshiped their gods in forests—not in temples, but on mountains and in forests.

[ 17 ] And, you see, these peoples conceived of everything in spiritual terms. The ancient Celts, who were driven out by these peoples, could still see the spirits themselves. These peoples no longer saw the spirits, but they regarded everything in nature—what shone as light, what was present as warmth, what acted as air in the clouds—as divine. And that was the ancient Germanic religion, the ancient religion that was later supplanted by Christianity.

[ 18 ] Christianity, after all, arrived in these regions in two different ways. First, it made its way into southern Russia, including the areas that are now Romania and Hungary. It was there that Wulfila translated the Bible. A form of Christianity emerged there that was much more authentic than the Christianity that later spread everywhere via the second route, from Rome. From Rome, Christianity spread more as a form of domination. And one can certainly say: If Christianity, as it emerged here in the East through Russia—at a time when there was still no Slavic population there—had spread there, it would have turned out quite differently; it would have become more inward-looking, because it had a much more Asian character. The Asian character is an inward one. And the form of Christianity that spread from Rome took on more of an outward form, which then became lifeless in worship because people no longer recognized the significance of the worship. I have spoken to you about the monstrance and the Most Holy Sacrament, which actually represent the sun and the moon—but this was obscured; it was no longer acknowledged. And so a formless form of worship spread there. This formless form of worship was then carried over to Constantinople by a formless Caesar; the city of Constantinople was founded. And in later times, this altered form of Christianity then spread to other countries as well.

[ 19 ] Christianity, as found, for example, in Wulfila’s translation of the Bible, has completely disappeared from Europe. For it is ritualistic Christianity—the outward forms—that is spreading from here. And in the East, this form—which was more of a ritualistic practice and had very little inner depth—spread even more widely when the Slavs arrived.

[ 20 ] Well, what I have told you about the religious mental images of these peoples underwent a certain change later on. It is always the case among human beings that they originally know what something is all about; then they cease to know what it is all about, and only a memory remains. Something external remains. And so, from the gods that people saw—from the spirits found everywhere in nature—three main deities emerged: Wotan, who was actually still portrayed in much the same way as light and air, floating above everything. People worshipped Wotan, for example, when there was a fierce storm; then they would say: “Wotan is in the wind,” “Wotan blows in the wind.”

[ 21 ] It was a peculiarity of these peoples that they expressed in their language what they perceived in nature. After all, they worshiped Wotan as the one who points the way in the wind. Do you sense it when I say: “Wotan blows in the wind”—the three “w”s? It was somewhat terrifying for these people when a storm came, and they would then imitate the storm’s fury by saying, “Wotan blows in the wind!”—That’s how we would say it today, but it was quite similar in the ancient language as well.

[ 22 ] And when summer came and people saw the lightning and heard the thunder during a storm, they also perceived something spiritual in it. They reflected this in their language, and the spirit that rolls in the thunder they called Donar: Donar roars in the thunder. The fact that this was embedded in the language shows precisely that these people were connected to the outside world. The Greeks were not nearly as strongly connected to the outside world. The Greeks sought this more in rhythm than in the structure of language. Among these Nordic peoples, it was already inherent in the language itself.

[ 23 ] And when, for example, these peoples crossed over into Europe and first encountered the Celts, there were constant battles and wars. After all, in those days, as Christianity was spreading, warfare was something that was always present. Just as spiritual forces were perceived in the blowing wind and the rumbling thunder, so too were they perceived in the storm of battle. It was the case that the people had shields and, using these shields, charged forward in large numbers in tight ranks. And so they continued to charge even as they entered battle with the Romans. And when the Romans threw themselves against them and these peoples stormed down from the north, the Romans heard above all a terrible clamour: from a thousand throats, the warriors shouted into their shields as they charged forward. And far more than they feared the Germanic swords, they feared what was rushing toward them with that terrible clamour. And if one were to imitate something similar today—the way these tribes screamed into their shields as they charged—one would have to say it sounded like: “Ziu compels strife! Ziu compels strife!”—Ziu was the spirit of war; they believed he was charging forward with them. When such a Germanic tribe charged forward, they sensed: There is a spiritual being among them that compels strife. “Strife” is war. Ziu compels strife!—and that now thundered into the shields. And the Romans heard this muffled cry: Ziu compels strife! Ziu compels strife!—and this surged over the heads of the Romans. As I said, they had a desperate fear of this, more so than of all the bows and arrows and so on. It was truly something in which the spiritual lived within the courage and the fighting spirit of these people.

[ 24 ] You see, if these people were to rise again just as they were back then—they do rise again, of course, since people reincarnate, but by then they’ve forgotten their history—but if they were to rise again just as they were back then and see the current population, well, they’d immediately put sleep caps on everyone in the present population! Because they’d say: “It’s not right for a person to go around like that, acting like a sleepyhead! He should put on a nightcap and go to bed.”—They had a completely different outlook on life; they were energetic.

[ 25 ] Of course, there were also times when these peoples could not wage war. But, gentlemen, when they were not at war, they had bearskins on which they would lie down, and then they would drink—they would drink terribly. That was their second pastime. Well, back then it was considered a virtue; after all, it wasn’t quite as dangerous a drink as today’s—it was a relatively harmless beverage brewed from all sorts of herbs. It later evolved into beer, though it changed considerably, of course. But these peoples drank it in large quantities. They only felt truly human when this mead—this beer-like, sweetish drink—flowed sweetly through their entire bodies. Sometimes you still come across people in whom you can see that they feel a bit like descendants of these ancient Germanic peoples, as if something of that spirit still lives on within them. For instance, I once met a German poet in Weimar who drank almost as much as the ancient Germanic peoples! Of course, he drank beer. The ancient Germanic peoples drank that mead-like beverage. We struck up a conversation, and I said to him: “Well, it’s actually impossible to be that thirsty!”—To which he replied: “Yes, thirst—when I’m thirsty, I drink water; but it’s precisely when I’m not thirsty that I drink beer.” “When I drink beer, I don’t drink it to quench my thirst—I drink it for the fun of it!”—And that’s how it was with those Germanic tribes, too: They became cheerful, they became energetic when that mead-like, sweet liquid flowed through their limbs as they lay on their bearskins.

[ 26 ] The third main occupation was hunting. And agriculture was actually practiced only on a fairly minor scale by the subjugated peoples at that time. When such a people expanded, it was simply the case that others were subjugated; they were then forced to work the fields. These were enslaved people. And when war came, they had to join in; they had to bear arms and so on. Of course, there was a great difference in those days between the free population and the unfree. The free population—who waged war, hunted, and lay drinking on bearskins—would come together to settle matters. And when they gathered, they discussed matters of a judicial or administrative nature and so on—everything that was necessary. Nothing was written down, because people couldn’t write back then. Everything was handled orally. And there were no cities; people lived scattered throughout villages. They always formed a kind of community consisting of hundreds of villages—roughly a hundred villages together. These villages belonged together; this was called a “hundred.” And in turn, large groups of “hundreds” formed a “gau.” The “hundreds” held their assemblies, and the “gaue” held theirs. For those people who were permitted to gather there—the free men—democracy actually prevailed in this regard. And what took place there was not called a “Reichsrat” or a “Reichstag”—those are terms that emerged later. It was called that because a specific day had been set for the gathering, and anything that wasn’t specifically named was called a “Ding”—you can still hear this today when you hear English speakers, when they’re talking about something and can’t think of the name right away, always say “thing”—it was called a “Tageding.” The word “thing” has already fallen into disrepute today. I once got into trouble because of it. I was once tasked with drafting a resolution that had been written, and I included “Ding” in that resolution; and the chairman at the time—who was a very famous astronomer—took terrible offense at that, because in our day it’s such a terrible word; you’re not supposed to use it where serious people gather! But in the old days, that’s what they called it: “Ding.” People didn’t say, “We’re going to the Reichstag,” but rather, “We’re going to the Tageding.”—And when someone spoke, they said he was “vertagedingt” the matter. And you see, the word “verteidigen” (to defend) arose through a transformation of the word “vertagedingen.” That’s how words were formed later on: “verteidigen” (to defend) came from “vertagedingen.” Today, the word “der Verteidiger” (the defense attorney) is only commonly used in court. Here in Switzerland, we don’t say “Verteidiger,” but rather “Fürsprecher,” though everywhere else they say “Verteidiger.” So that’s how these people lived among themselves with their gods and spirits. And it was to these people that the southern peoples then brought Christianity.

[ 27 ] But then again, Christianity emerged in the West in two different ways. It was brought directly from Rome in part; but there was another route through which Christianity spread, and it was this: from Asia, more specifically through the very southern regions here—where the Latin-Roman element had not gained much influence—across Spain to Ireland. And in Ireland, during the early Christian centuries, there was a very pure way of spreading Christianity. And this way of spreading Christianity in Ireland also extended over here, to Wales. And from there, Christian missionaries then made their way into Europe. They brought Christianity in part; in part, it came from Rome.

[ 28 ] You see, gentlemen, I have told you that, for example, in the monasteries and even at the first universities, much of the ancient science was still preserved, so that the ancient science was combined with Christianity. What was preserved there of the ancient wisdom of the stars—which later disappeared entirely from Europe—actually came entirely from Ireland. From Rome, essentially only the cult spread. And only later, when Central Europe turned to the Gospel, did the Gospel join the cult. But much of what came over from Ireland remained alive among the people. You see, in Europe, Christianity has indeed gradually become entirely subsumed into secular rule. And the positive elements of Christianity that were present here—where Wulfila’s Gothic Bible translation was produced—and those that came over from Ireland actually more or less disappeared entirely later on. They were still widely present in the Middle Ages, but then more or less disappeared entirely. You see, Rome actually proceeded very shrewdly. Among these peoples—whom I have listed for you here and who were originally driven by nature itself to migrate from Asia to Europe—they could not remain there because the land had become barren—a certain wanderlust took hold. And it is remarkable what is happening there.

[ 29 ] Take the Elbe River, for example. Up there along the Elbe, a people lived in the period immediately following the emergence of Christianity: they were the Lombards. They lived there to the northeast of the Saxons, along the Elbe. Soon after, two centuries later, we find these same Lombards down by the Po River in Italy! So the Lombards must have migrated over here. During the time when Christianity had not yet arrived but had already emerged, we find the Goths—the Ostrogoths—here on the Black Sea. Soon after—several centuries later—we find them here, where the Vandals and Visigoths had previously settled. The Visigoths migrated further west again. After some time, we find the Visigoths here in Spain. We find the Vandals here along the Danube. A few centuries later, the Vandals were no longer in Europe at all, but over there in Africa, across from Italy. These peoples were now migrating. And just as Christianity was spreading, these peoples were migrating; they were pushing further and further west. The Slavs did not arrive there until much later.

[ 30 ] And what emerged in the West? The Romans had already achieved world domination by the time Christianity emerged. The Romans actually behaved with extraordinary shrewdness. By the time these tribes crossed over to the West and advanced against the Roman Empire, the Romans were actually already quite emaciated, weakened, and rather dreadful fellows, and they really couldn’t do much else but tremble and shake in their legs when that cry from above—“Ziu zwingt Zwist!”—rolled across their shields. They trembled like aspen leaves. But in their minds they were shrewd, proud, cocky, and haughty.

[ 31 ] Well, these peoples were necessarily of a different nature. There was, of course, a big difference: the people down there had their lands, their fields; they were settled and had a history behind them. The peoples up there didn’t care much about a particular place; they were nomads. And so it came to pass that the Romans often took in these peoples who were rushing southward. They gave them land, for the Romans had land in abundance everywhere. They gave them land. And so it came to pass that these peoples transitioned from hunting and warfare to agriculture, to farming. But when the Romans gave them land—how did that actually work? Yes, these Germanic peoples now had the land; they could till the fields. They could do that, but the Romans handled the administration! Through this, the Romans gradually established themselves as rulers. And this rule was strongest here in the West. In the region that was later populated by Germans, the people resisted for a long time. But peoples like the Goths, who migrated into Italy, mingled with the local people there and became dependent on them. Yes, the Roman-Latin population was shrewd. What did they do? Well, they said: If we take up the sword, things won’t go well anymore. They had simply become emaciated men. What did they do? They turned the people who had come in there into warriors! Whenever the Romans wanted to wage war, they waged it with the Germanic tribes—they were the fighting force! They were given fields, but in return they had to fight. Those who had remained in the north as Germanic tribes were fought against by their own former warriors! The Romans waged war against them under the leadership of the Germanic tribes! And so, in the early days when Christianity was spreading, we see wars that were actually waged by the southern population—the Roman population—with the help of the Germanic people themselves, who had assimilated among them. The Roman armies consisted of Romans at most in their leadership. The bulk of the soldiers were actually Germanic people who had become Romanized. And now the task was to introduce the religious element from Rome in an appropriate manner, so that these people would respond to it. In those earliest times, people were far more attached to their religion than they were later on. And so, for example, the following came about. You see, these people viewed light and air everywhere in nature as the spiritual. They found it difficult when the snow came in October, November, when snow covered the earth and everything spiritual seemed to vanish. In contrast, they held the time corresponding to our modern Christmas in special reverence. They felt: Now the sun is returning. It was the winter solstice festival. The sun was turning toward humanity once more. And so, for these peoples, a spiritualized nature was still very much what they accepted.

[ 32 ] The Romans, who had already incorporated Christianity into their system of government, certainly allowed the Germanic peoples to continue celebrating this solstice festival. But they said: “We do not celebrate the solstice here, but the birth of Christ.” - And so the Germanic peoples were able to continue celebrating their festival at the same time they had been accustomed to doing so in the past, albeit with a different meaning.

[ 33 ] Well, the Germanic peoples saw some kind of spirit everywhere—one might say, under every significant tree. The Romans turned that spirit into a saint! And so, essentially, they rebranded everything that was part of the old pagan religion. As a result, these people were less aware of it, and it was in this form that Christianity actually spread among the Germanic peoples. Festivities such as those marking the return of the sun and so on were celebrated precisely because the ancient Germans loved to honor the gods outdoors, in the mountains and forests.

[ 34 ] So one can say that, in modern times—that is, since the founding of Christianity—it has been primarily cunning that has exerted its influence from Rome. And, essentially, Europe has been governed by cunning for many centuries—by Roman cunning. This went so far that the Romans always preserved the ancient Latin language in schools, and the vernacular was actually spoken only among the common people. When the Romans then introduced scholarship along with Christianity, they did not speak in the vernacular—that did not happen until the 18th century—but rather, scholarship was presented everywhere in Latin. For that long, Roman culture remained evident even in its original form.

[ 35 ] But now, what happened in the West—through Spain, France, and all the way to England? You see, Roman culture truly remained alive there. That is why the language in which Roman culture lives on came into being. Here, in Central Europe, the Germanic element prevailed. That is where the Germanic languages originated. Over there, the Romance element prevailed; that is why the Romance languages emerged. But in terms of their ethnic origins, all these people who were there—both those who migrated to Spain and those who migrated to Italy—were actually Germanic peoples. I have listed for you the Ripuarian Franks and the Salian Franks, who later migrated over here—they were all Germanic peoples who settled in France. And through these Franks who settled in France, the Romance language spread like a cloud, from which French and Spanish developed. There, ancient Latin lives on in a transformed form.

[ 36 ] Only further east, starting from the Rhine, did the people as a whole say to themselves: Well, the scholars in the schools, with their wigs, can speak Latin, and those who want to become pastors can listen to them; but the people—they are the ones who have preserved and maintained the language. - And that is how the contrast arose that still gnaws at Europe today—this contrast between Central Europe and Western Europe.

[ 37 ] The Slavs gradually arrived from the east. Isn’t that right? I had to tell you: These peoples migrated westward, where some of them disappeared, while others adopted a different language and so on; then the Slavs followed, settled in Eastern Europe, and advanced quite far in some places. Here, for example, the old Germanic element mixed with the Slavic element; for certain reasons, which I will explain to you next time, the Slavs over in the East came to be called “Russians”; in contrast, those who had previously moved into these regions disappeared among the Germanic peoples. A mixture of blood remained. And that is how the Borussen arose—those who are the vanguard of the Russians. “Borussen” then became “Prussia”! That is simply the transformed word. There is a great deal of Slavic blood in it. While the Slavs themselves, when they remain behind, are more passive—more of a peaceful people—they become combative when they absorb other blood! This combativeness, which was present in the ancient Germanic peoples, then passes on to them. And so what was in Prussia has become a rather combative population; likewise, what migrated westward—including the Czech population—has actually become a rather combative people as well.

[ 38 ] And so, I would say, Europe has stirred itself up. And Christianity has found its way into this mess. Well, let’s continue with that next time.