The Western Roman Empire collapsed in the fifth century, causing Latin-speaking communities across Europe to fragment into isolated pockets. Soldiers, slaves, and displaced peoples who spoke Vulgar Latin found their dialects drifting apart as communication networks broke down.
The Council of Tours issued an edict in 813 requiring priests to translate speeches into the vernacular. This decision acknowledged that Romance languages had become distinct entities after Charlemagne failed to impose Classical Latin as a written standard in the late eighth century.
Spanish is today the most widely spoken Romance language with approximately 489 million native speakers across Spain, Equatorial Guinea, and Hispanic America. It remains an official language in nine South American countries where it serves as the vernacular for roughly half the continent's population.
Dalmatian disappeared completely in 1898 leaving no living speakers behind while African Romance varieties vanished during the Late Middle Ages. Moselle Romance in Germany and British Romance also ceased existing before modern times.
Documentation of these vernaculars was scarce between the fifth and tenth centuries because Medieval Latin remained the normal writing language until the eleventh or twelfth century. The earliest surviving texts include the Indovinello Veronese from the eighth century and the Oaths of Strasbourg from the second half of the ninth century.