This north-eastern extremity of ancient Gaul, originally inhabited by the Aduatici, Eburones, Tungri, and other Belgic nations, was reduced by Caesar (51 b.c.), and early brought within the sphere of Roman culture. Hence the Latin language was already too firmly established to be supplanted by the Teutonic when the country was occupied in the 5th century by the Franks previous to their conquest of the more central provinces. But about the same time Roman institutions and speech were entirely supplanted in the more open low-lying districts of western Belgium by the same Franks penetrating from the east, and by the roving Saxon and Frisian tribes arriving by sea on the Litus Saxonicum. Since that time the two elements have remained, without much further change, in close proximity, or separated only by intervening strips of “marches” or border-lands formed by the uncleared forest formerly known as the Silva Carbonaria.

The Wallons, allowing for inevitable intermingling, especially towards the German frontier, are thus Romanized Gauls, lineal representatives of the ancient Belgae, in a much truer sense than their Flemish neighbours, although accepting from them this name of “Wallon,” that is, Welsh or Foreign, just as the Saxon intruders in Britain imposed the same designation on its primitive inhabitants. Their Gallic descent is shown specially in their much darker complexion, as clearly established by the anthropological statistics collected by Dr Beddoe. In other respects the Wallons contrast favourably with the Teutonic-speaking populations of Belgium. They are physically a stronger race, more bony, angular, and taller, and also more long-lived and exempt from disease, as shown by the much lower death-rate in the province of Namur (18 per 1000) than in West Flanders (25 per 1000). The cause of this superiority has been attributed by some writers to a greater inherent vitality of the Wallons, but by others with more probability to their greater general comfort, and particularly to the more salubrious climate of their elevated and more hilly territory. In mediaeval times the Flemings were certainly far superior in wealth, culture, and public spirit. But the great centres of industry have since been shifted from Bruges and Ghent (Flanders) to Liége and Namur, and the Wallons now take the lead in all these respects,—in fact, in everything except music, painting, and the fine arts generally.

The Wallon language is a very marked dialect of the Langue d’Oïl (Northern French), betraying strong affinities to the neighbouring idioms of Picardy and Lorraine, but still distinct from both. Being little cultivated, and possessing no literary standard, it has developed several varieties, the chief of which are—(1) the Liégeois, current throughout the districts bordering on Rhenish Prussia, and largely affected by German influences; (2) the Namurois of the central districts and the Ardennes, with several local patois; (3) the Hennuyer of Hainault and the western districts, so named from the town of Hennuyères, where it is spoken with the greatest purity. But since French has been accepted as the written standard and the official language of the whole kingdom Wallon is gradually receding from the large towns and assuming more and more the character of a purely rural patois. It possesses no literary remains of any consequence, and its earliest extant monument appears to be the “Declaration des Provost, Juret, Eskievin de Valenchienes” of the year 1256.