Map 2.3: Western Europe, c.750
IMPOVERISHMENT AND ITS VARIATIONS
Taking in the whole of Western Europe around this time means dwelling long on its
variety. Dominating the scene was Gaul, now taken over by the Franks; we may call
it Francia. To its south were Spain (ruled first by the Visigoths, and then, after c.715,
by the Muslims) and Italy (divided between the pope, the Byzantines, and the
Lombards). To the north, joined to rather than separated from the Continent by the
