George Reiff

The Romans and Europe: the Common High Civilization George Reiff

Nowadays European Romance countries are France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Romania-Moldova and various dwarfs like Luxembourg, Monaco, San Marino, Andorra and the Vatican City. Latin based languages cover various regions from other countries, such as the French-, Italian and Romanic-speaking cantons of Switzerland and communities from other non-Latin European countries. The total population of all the directly Romance speaking areas in Europe is approximately 210,000,000, which constitutes 42% of the European Union's population. When we acknowledge that all Germanic countries of Europe are heavily influenced in their scientific vocabulary by Latin, and when it becomes also evident that the whole continental legal structure is based on Roman customs, laws and traditions, we may well understand that it is worth looking at the first Romanization that took place in Europe at the tip of the Legionaries' gladius and the second Romanization that went hand in hand with the expansion of the Catholic Church and the elevation of the Frankish kings to be new Holy Roman Emperors of Europe.