SECTION V
Chapter 6 - Entry of Western Europe into the Middle Ages

  The Emperor Constantine had ruled over a united Roman Empire comprised of
both the Eastern and Western regions.  However, following his death, there
were violent succession wars among his sons which eventually led to the 
permanent split of the Empire into East and West. While the Eastern realm
continued on and became known as the Byzantine Empire--in the West political
power collapsed and the area became ruled by a number of fiefdoms under the
control of local barbarian kings.

  The decline and fall of the Western Roman Empire has always been a subject
of fascination for many historians--not only because of Rome's place in history
as a powerful civilization--but also because its collapse signaled the demise
of Greco-Roman culture in the West. The event also marks the entry of Western
Europe into the Middle Ages.

    The collapse of the political infrastructure in the Western Empire is
usually attributed by historians to a combination of factors: First, the Roman
Empire had become internally exhausted and weakened in earlier centuries
through civil wars, social upheavals, plagues, and famines.  And secondly,
the Empire had increasingly faced external threats in the form of barbarian
attacks on its borders.

Barbarian Attacks on a Weakened Western Roman Empire.

   Barbarian attacks were, of course, nothing new.  Roman emperors had engaged
in numerous war campaigns to protect the Roman frontiers against Germanic
"barbarians", before the reign of the emperor Augustus.   Even before
Constantine and the Christianization of the empire, Western Roman population
had been declining, probably from a combination of wars, plagues, and famines.
Still, though historians have estimated that the number of Germanic invaders 
could not have been more than 10 percent of the Roman Empire's population.  That 
is from 376-476 C.E., it has been estimated that the Roman Empire was comprised 
of some 50 to 70 million people.  The largest tribes, such as the Visigoths had 
about a hundred thousand people, including women and children-- with estimates 
of twenty thousand fighting men. (Norman Cantor, CIVILIZATION OF THE 
MIDDLE AGES, p 99).

  True the Roman empire had a very large border to defend.  A large army had to 
be maintained in the eastern half of the empire to hold back the Persians, 
leaving the western (less populated) areas of the empire more susceptible to 
invasions by the Visigoths and Africa by the Vandals.  Roman emperors began 
allowing Germanic peoples to peacefully emigrate inside their borders to fill 
the shortage in manpower. As time went on, large numbers of barbarians became 
used in the Roman army.  Sometimes entire barbarian tribes were hired to defend 
Roman frontiers. Barbarian military leaders could even attain high posts within 
the Roman army.

  Despite the declining population in the West, taxes kept spiraling upward--
due in large part to the administration's increased military spending and a 
swelled bureaucracy.  Terrible periods of inflation followed. As the currency 
became devalued, the central administration in the West began increasingly to 
demand taxes in natural goods--such as grain, beasts of labor, and forced manual 
labor. This led to a grossly inefficient system whereby transportation and 
storage costs were high. This also led to all-high levels of graft and 
corruption

  The worst consequence to the economic system however resulted in the
FRAGMENTATION of power in the West into large feudalistic estate systems--
a trend that had begun long before successful invasions by the "barbarians".
In classical Roman times, there were powerful economic battles between the
landed wealthy and the common people. Lands newly acquired through the Roman
conquests were seized by powerful landowners who employed a large number of
slaves on huge estates.  Many loyal Roman soldiers came home from their war
campaigns, only to find they had little to no land on which to build farms.
Because of the large number of slaves employed, wages were held low.

  Starting around the second century C.E., slaves on these large estates became
transformed, due to changing socio-economic and military reasons, from slaves 
into tenants. Servile tenants became legally bound to the land. (The word "serf" 
comes from the Latin word "servus")--so that in social- political terms, they 
were little better than slaves.

  As higher taxes were placed on the population--now in the form of natural
goods to compensate for frequent inflationary devaluations of coinage--
a disproportionate tax burden was placed on farmers, the main producer of
goods. To keep tenant farmers from leaving the land, the government
increasingly passed legislation to force laborers to stay within their
economic stations--thus effectively barring all tenant farmers from leaving
the land or improving their economic status.

  The emperor Constantine had added to these laws in 332 C.E., when he declared
that peasants and their children were henceforth to be bound to the land of
their masters as coloni (serfs)-- and could not flee nor be released from work
on the land. Similar laws were passed to force the middle class to remain
within the same trade as their father--be they bakers, ship-builders, or
tax-collectors. It was made illegal for serfs and tradesmen to join the army,
or to enter the Christian clergy. (These latter two groups enjoyed a privileged
status within society).  Thus, a hereditary caste system was imposed on the
new Roman society.  (William H. Mc Neill, HISTORY OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION,
University of Chicago Press, 1986, p. 186)

   Under Constantine, the extravagancy of his royal court and bureaucracy called 
for higher revenues, than even Diocletian had initiated.  During Constantine's 
reign, the practice began of granting some large-estate owners special 
exemptions from general taxes--as a special favor. Such tax-exempt estates 
tended to grow and prosper, at the expense of ordinary small landowners, who now 
had to pay a greater burden of the taxes. As the imperial tax collectors became 
more rapacious in collecting taxes, some smaller landowning farmers transferred 
over legal title of their land to large tax-exempt estate owners, and paid rent 
as tenants.

  Over time, the corrupt tax system served to wipe out the small landowning
farmers--because they were required to pay the SAME taxes, regardless of whether 
they had a good or a bad harvest. In bad years, small farmers could thus find 
themselves ruined--and forced to sell land and freedom in exchange for paying 
off their taxes.)  Often, these small landowners remained free, but by law their 
descendants became serfs. As such, they were bound to the soil, and forced to 
remain on a given piece of land so long as the lord wished. The landowners, for 
their part, were anxious to get additional workers in the face of labor 
shortages--and used recently implemented laws to help them bind the workers to 
the land, in a semi-slavery state.

  The old economic system had been characterized by international rich markets, 
whose trade routes were connected via a complex but safe network of 
transportation and communication throughout the Empire. This trade allowed
for the specialization of labor and production. But with the passage of time,
as the Roman populace began increasingly to become organized into a system
whereby tenants worked the land on large feudal estates-- individual communities
became more self-sufficient and trade collapsed in many areas. Increasingly,
people paid for goods and services through the use of barter, as opposed to
money.  Thus important trades and industries within cities collapsed, and
people increasingly could not find work in the cities.  By the mid-fifth
century C.E., people with money began leaving the cities to move into large
estates in the country.

  During this time, first pagan, and then Christian authoritarian emperors
ruled in an authoritarian police state atmosphere which restricted more and
more the rights of their citizenry. Social disruptions followed in the late
fourth century, after Christian Orthodox leaders granted Orthodox fanatics
civil powers to conduct internal purges against "heretics" (ie pagans, Jews,
and non-Orthodox Christians).  This led to numerous rioting especially in the
cities.  Western Christian fathers--such as Augustine, Jerome and Ambrose
had encouraged purges against pagans and Jews in order to "purify" Christian
society. Subsequently, schools and universities that were associated with
secular learning, closed down in the West. Concerned, pious individuals chose to 
withdraw from society to live in ascetic religious communities--where they could 
contemplate their salvation in the NEXT life.

  Feudal estate holders became stronger and wealthier.  They gradually began to 
set up their own armies--and in the end to directly oppose the emperor himself. 
The Christian emperor Constantine had noted even during his reign that some of 
these local estate barons had become so powerful during his reign--that only the 
office of the emperor was powerful enough to control them. In the West, with the 
overall economic decline that followed Constantine, these estate barons began to 
grow even more powerful and influential--at the expense of the centrally-run 
government.

The Sack of Rome by the Visigoths--410 C.E.

  By around 375 C.E., an exhausted Western Empire had found itself under siege
by powerful new waves of foreign invaders.

  In southern Europe and northern Africa, most of the Germanic invaders
were Christian--although they had been converted into the Arian sect in
the fourth century C.E., as opposed to Orthodoxy (and thus believed in Jesus
as a "lesser" semi-god than the Father God.)  This included the Ostrogoths
in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain and France, and the Vandals in Africa.
(The Franks, Angles, and Saxons in northern Europe were not converted
until around the sixth century C.E.)

   These times were characterized by barbarous violence--on both sides!
For example, in 376 C.E. (roughly thirty five years before the sacking
of Rome), the Ostrogoths sought to flee eastern Europe to escape the terror
of the Huns. The Western Roman emperor had given Ostrogoths permission to
cross over the Danube river into Roman territory--on condition that they
surrender their weapons to Roman armies. After agreeing to these terms,
the Ostrogoths were instead preyed upon by Roman soldiers who stole their
goods, raped their women, and sold their children into slavery. Furious by
their wrongs, the Goths rose up in battle and defeated and killed the
Christian Roman emperor Valens in 378 C.E in a battle at Adrianople, Turkey.
(Although the Goths never scaled the walls of the city, still the battle proved 
Christian Roman armies were no longer invincible).

  Later Roman emperors dealt more cautiously with the Ostrogoths. Indeed, the
mark of a good Roman emperor was now based on how well he formed alliances with
"friendly" barbarian tribes, and learned the art of playing one tribe off
against the other.  However, as the title of Western emperor was inherited,
incompetency was just a matter of time. In 408 C.E., the young and inexperienced 
emperor Honorius, ordered his best general murdered in a background of political 
intrigues and jealousies. The Ostrogoths, seeing their most formidable enemy out 
of the way, seized the offensive, by demanding to be paid a bribe for NOT 
attacking Rome. When the Western emperor Honorius did not bother to respond, the 
Visigoths attacked Rome in 410 C.E., pillaging it for six days.

  The news came as a profound shock to the Christian community.  Most Christian 
fathers had believed that the now Christianized Rome represented an eternal 
city.  St. Augustine had written for example, "Rome has spoken, the cause is 
ended."

St. Jerome (c. 331-420 C.E.) had written on his terrible anguish upon hearing 
the news of Rome's sacking:

  "My voice is choked, and my sobs interrupt the words I write.  The city
  which took the whole world is herself taken.  Who could have believed that
  Rome, which was built upon the spoils of the earth, would fall?"

  Years later, as Christian leaders scrambled to understand the meaning of the 
fall of Rome, they relied heavily on St. Augustine's brilliant defense that 
Orthodox Christianity had NOT been the "cause". For in his famous CITY OF GOD, 
Augustine argued that God is NOT interested in man's political battles on earth, 
but instead in the MORAL drama of mankind's SALVATION!  Augustine contrasted for 
his readers the ETERNAL city of Heaven with the TEMPORARY abode of weak mortals 
on earth, writing:

  "The City of God abideth forever, although the greatest city of the world
   has fallen in ruin."

The Collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 C.E.

  The sack of Rome by the Visigoths signaled the decline that would lead to the 
total disintegration of the Western Empire.  The Visigoths were given the 
richest lands in Gaul by the weak Western Emperor in return for withdrawing from 
Rome.  During the following decades, other barbaric tribes began attacking the 
Roman Empire for land as well.   Arian Vandals conquered northern Africa-- 
laying siege and capturing St. Augustine's city of Hippo in 430, the very year
of the famous theologian's death.

  During this time, there was a tremendous amount of corruption, intrigue and 
incompetence shown by the Western emperors. In the military and political 
intrigues/murders that followed, the administration of the Western empire lost
more and more power, until finally, it could not collect enough taxes to
maintain an army. During this time, the Western emperors became mere puppets
to the Germanic barbarian tribes leaders.

  In 476 C.E., the last Western emperor was deposed by a local barbarian king. 
Consequently, the entire central government collapsed, and no one even bothered 
with the charade of designating a new western emperor. Many historians therefore 
date the formal "collapse" of the Roman Empire in the West and the beginning of 
the Middle Ages--based on this event in 476 C.E. After this time, the empire in 
the west was replaced by several German kingdoms.

Europe Drifts Even More Strongly Towards a Feudal Society

  As we have seen, there had been a slow transformation towards a feudal
society in the fourth century--even prior to the arrival of the barbarian
invasions. Especially in the third and fourth centuries C.E., large landowners 
had obtained political laws to force agricultural workers to stay bound to 
the land as serfs.

  However after the "barbarian" armies began attacking the Roman cities during 
the early fifth centuries C.E., the feudalization of European society had 
greatly accelerated.  Because there was no strong centralized army, the people 
rushed to local strong feudal landowners for protection. Political intrigue and 
infighting, tax revolts and brigandry also characterized this period of time.  
Towns disappeared, and the majority of the people lived a rural life.  These 
changes did not take over equally in all places-parts of Italy for example, did 
not become feudalized until the invasion by the Lombards centuries later.  But 
this trend was very strong in other areas, such as in France.

  Barbarian tribes, for their part, were often more interested in acquiring
land and settling down, as opposed to plundering towns and villages. Indeed,
with patriotism by Romans at an all time low, sometimes Germanic invaders
showed more respect for Roman institutions, than did the Romans themselves.
(Joseph R. Strayer and Dana C. Munro, THE MIDDLE AGES, p 42). Especially in
Italy, barbarian kings sometimes intermarried with the Roman nobility, and
would assume the role of the official Roman ruler over their territory. The new 
Romanticized barbarians often helped Roman armies fight off "other" barbarian 
tribes before the collapse in 476 C.E.

  As for the "Roman" tenants who worked the large land estates, for them
life went on much as the same--except that their NEW feudal masters were now
"barbarian" instead of Roman.

Low Morale During the Final Decline of the Roman Empire

  Famous theologians such as Augustine and Jerome were largely silent on the 
growth of feudalism.  However, Salvian, a priest of Marseilles (c 440 C.E.) 
wrote passionately regarding how many in the Roman populace were forced into 
a state of slave-tenants on large feudal estates. He wrote on the injustices 
imposed on the poor by the Roman government in the West. The poor were 
"assassinated" by not only having to pay their share of the taxes, but those 
of the wealthy as well (DE GUBERNATIONE DEI, iv, 30).  He described the 
process of how small landowners had been forced to sell themselves into 
bondage to large estate holders.  (V, 38-41) These wretched men not only 
eventually lost their homes and all their possessions through the corrupt 
tax system, but became in effect slaves to the new system. (V,44)

  According to Salvian, in such a system, ordinary men would no longer have
any loyalty to Roman rule, but would actually prefer to live under the 
barbarians who treated them better than their Roman leaders (V, 36-7).  Thus,
instead of standing up to defeat the barbarians, frequently there was no
effective resistance given against the invading barbarians. (VI, 80)

  The new barbarian kingdoms faced the same social-economic conditions
as the large Roman estate barons, and decentralization further continued.
A class system evolved whereby the peasants who worked under their feudal lords 
had few rights. In fact they were harshly exploited and lived in a condition 
very similar to slavery. (William Bark, ORIGINS OF THE MEDIEVAL WORLD, p 86).  
There is some scattered evidence that rural peasant populations in Gaul and 
Spain rebelled against the new social order-- rising up to resist both the Roman 
government and the foreign invaders. However, these were all eventually harshly 
put down.

  According to the historian Boisaade (LIFE AND WORK, p 18),

    "Humanity has rarely experienced misery as great as that of this period
  [during the invasions of the fourth to sixth centuries C.E.]. The times were
  characterized by savage violence and destruction.  Roman institutions had
  broken down and the general populace fell into terrible poverty."

In the West, the Church Emerges as the Only Surviving Roman Institution
  and Actively Converts the Pagan Population into Catholicism

  Old established Orthodox Christians families had basically retained their
control over the local churches during these turbulent times. (Many bishops
were from old wealthy aristocratic families within Rome, who had increasingly
taken over the church hierarchy since the fourth century.) Of course there
was some in-fighting, but most bishops survived to become the unquestioned
heads of their community. The churches were thus largely respected for
representing a continuation of the old Roman administration and for
maintaining law and order.

  In the political-social-economic turmoil that followed, the invasions of
the barbarians in the West, the Western Orthodox Churches found themselves
in an even more powerful role than before. For the Church now represented
the ONLY surviving institution of what had once been the Western Roman Empire!

  The Catholic Church, in its new role as spiritual leader of Western Europe,
came to hold itself out as the intellectual and moral inheritor of the entire 
sweep of ancient Greco-Roman civilization.  In this new role, the Church 
interpreted all history, whereby Christianization was seen to be the only moral 
force around which could bring evil, barbarous pagans into the fold of true 
Roman Christian (ie Orthodoxy) civilization.

The "Barbarian" Cultures

  In the eyes of the ancient classical Romans, Germanic tribes were a backwards
and uncultured peoples. Unlike many other civilizations (such as the ancient 
Greeks, Romans, Chinese, etc), Germanic tribes were illiterate and 
unappreciative towards the arts. In addition, they had developed no strong 
philosophical culture which would inspire high ideals and values.

  Much of our knowledge of ancient Germanic society comes from the ancient
Roman historian, Tacitus in his GERMANIA (98 C.E.)  Their own laws and 
literature were not written down until after Roman Christianization had taken
hold  of the area.  According to Tacitus, they were a warrior peoples--with
most of the domestic work being performed by everyone else--women, old men,
and children who had not yet become warriors themselves.  Although the men
engaged in gambling and drunkenness, if the testimony of Tactitus is correct,
the Germanic tribes believed strongly in monogamous marriages. Adultery was
rare, and severely punished when engaged in. (There were a few exceptions,
such as when a chieftain took more than one wife for political reasons.)

  Germanic tribes formed allegiances to local clans, and frequently engaged
in wars to avenge "blood" deaths among members of their tribes.  The tradition
of oaths and ordeals, both of which were considered as appeals to the
judgment of the gods, was carried over into the court system of the Middle
Ages--although this evolved into an appeal to the Christian God, savior, and
saints. In general, early Christianized Germanic tribes did not pay much
attention  to the more HUMANISTIC strains of Christian culture (ie care for
the poor, do not kill, etc), preferring instead to view Jesus as a powerful
war-like hero who could grant salvation to believers, and damnation to his
enemies.

   Still, Germanic law made one very important contribution to Western thought - 
the belief that the king did not have absolutist powers, but that the laws 
resided in the "volk" or people. This legal tradition held that Germanic leaders 
could only make the laws with the assent of the community.   In contrast, Roman 
law was based on a system of absolutist monarchal powers, divinely upheld by the 
will of heaven. From the 1100's onwards, the Roman principle of absolute 
monarchal power slowly won out over the European continent.  However in England, 
with its Anglo-Saxon heritage, there remained remnants of the old Germanic legal 
heritage of the supremacy of the community (as exemplified by the signing of the 
Magna Carta by King John in 1215.) (Norman F. Cantor, THE CIVILIZATION OF THE 
MIDDLE AGES, Harper Perennial, 1992, p 98-9)

  At first the majority of the barbarians belonged to the ARIAN sect of 
Christianity.  However, Catholic bishops in Western Europe were eventually
able, through their position as authorities in church matters (which issued the 
sacraments of baptism, weddings, etc) to covert the entire population into
Orthodox Christianity. This process began in the fifth century and the Arian
populace was essentially completed over the next two hundred years.  When
all was complete, everyone in the West could identify themselves (regardless
of nationality) as a Roman Catholic.

The Collapse of Secular Institutions in the West

  In the chaos that followed the fall of the government in the West to a large 
number of feudal "barbarian" kingdoms in the fifth and sixth century, there was 
no central state authority to take over the establishment of universities. 
Secular universities disappeared in the West (but not the Eastern empire) during 
the course of the fifth and sixth centuries.  

   During 535 to 553 CE, the Italians went to war to prevent the Emperor 
Justinian from reuniting the western and eastern Roman empires. (Indeed, it is 
ironic that the greatest devastation of the city of Rome occurred NOT from the 
Germanic barbarian invasions, but from a protracted war with the Byzantine 
Empire.  See next chapter). Pope Gregory I was born, around the year 540, in one 
of the few patrician families left in Rome. As a boy he saw firsthand the 
horrors of a siege when Italian Christians were reduced to eating grass and 
nettles (stinging weeds). According to the Christian historian Procopius, only 
five hundred persons remained alive in the city during this siege. Upon seeing 
the weakness of Rome, the Goths began attacking Italy as well under a strong 
leader, Totila.  During these years, Italian cities were taken and retaken, the 
farmlands were laid waste, and the people suffered from pestilence, famine, and 
looting. 
     
      Within the capital city of Rome itself, there were frequent famines and 
plagues. The edifices of the city went without repair after being exposed to 
ruin and decay following inundations of the Tiber River, tempests, and 
earthquakes.  Western Church leaders looked at the ruins of antiquity and the 
barbarity around them to tell their flock to despise the fallen present world 
and instead focus on heaven. For example, Pope Gregory the Great (6th century 
C.E.), lamented in one of his sermons,

    "What is it that can at this time delight us in this world? Everywhere
     we see tribulation, everywhere we hear lamentation. The cities are 
     destroyed, the castles torn down, the fields laid waste the land made 
     desolate. Villages are empty, few inhabitants remain in the cities, and 
     even these poor remnants of humanity are daily cut down... What is it,  
     brethren, that can make us contented with this life?  If we love such a 
     world, we love not our joys, but our wounds... Let us then heartily despise 
     the present world and imitate the works of the pious as well as we can." 

   There is a story (largely believed to be fable) that claims Pope Gregory 
I attacked and set fire to the Palatine Apollo Library.  Most historians 
(including Gibbon) find this attack to be doubtful:  It is true that the 
writings of Gregory reveal a relentless aversion towards the monuments of 
pagan classical Rome, and he denounced the secular learning of a bishop who 
taught grammar, studied the Latin poets, and praised both Jupiter and Jesus with 
the same voice.  But all the accounts of a direct attack by Gregory I, are of a 
late, and doubtful source (arising from an early proto-Protestant sect, the 
Waldenses, who were hostile to Catholics). It is more commonly held that the 
operations of the library, if it existed at all during this time following the 
wars, died naturally over the ages. (Gibbon, THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN 
EMPIRE, Part III)

    During this time, people looked up to the Church as the source of all
learning.  As pagan universities closed, Church authorities appeared to be have 
been generally disinterested in replacing these with Christian schools, 
academies, or universities.  Illiteracy increased. (In contrast, in the Eastern 
Roman Empire, secular learning remained intact, and was placed largely under the 
secular control of the Byzantine State.)

Preservation of Religious Classical Texts

    Beginning in the sixth century C.E., a few educated Christians, alarmed that 
classical knowledge was quickly becoming lost, began the process of preserving 
ancient classical works by translating these into Latin onto  durable 
manuscripts made of parchment.  Boethius (d. 524 C.E.) translated works of 
Aristotle, although none of these survived.  His Neo-Platonic philosophical 
book, THE CONSOLATION OF PHILOSOPHY, was popular throughout the Middle Ages. 
Boethius fell out of favor with the Arian barbarian king Theodoric and was 
executed, after speaking in support of the Byzantine Orthodox emperor, Justin. 
(Note: Some historians have questioned whether Boethius was really a Christian--
although his biography states he was--since his philosophical treatises refer to 
Platonic thought, without any reference to Christian terminology.) 

  The man who did the most to establish monasteries as institutions of learning
was Cassiodorus, who was then the chief secretary to Theodoric.  Cassiodorus
had proposed the creation of the Christian university in Rome, although this
never became a reality. (This was largely due to the war resulting from the '
Byzantine emperor Justin's attempt to retake the West, discussed in the next
chapter.)  Instead, he set up a Christian monastery in Calabria, whereby great
classical works were transcribed into encyclopedic works. The vast majority
of these transcriptions were religious writings from the early Church Fathers
(such as Augustine, Ambrose, Jerome, and Gregory the Great)-- as opposed to
Greek and Latin pagan classic. 

   This system by Cassiadorus, was later taken up by Bishop Isidore of Seville. 
Born from an old Roman family that moved from  North Africa to Spain during the 
sixth century, Bishop Isidore directed the  compilation of a vast array of 
classical knowledge, including that which Boethius and Cassiadorus had already 
preserved.

  Bishop Isadore's works were publicized in 636 C.E., after which time they
became institutionalized by the Catholic church.   These then became
the basis for all teaching in the West for the next 800 years.

  Although Isadore's work is riddled with fantasies and superstitions, he is 
remembered for not confining his writings to the liberal arts - but instead 
attempting to survey all of Greco-Roman knowledge, including medicine, botany, 
astronomy, and architecture. Isadore's body of knowledge was essentially broken 
down into three areas: The first dealt with the seven liberal arts--grammar, 
rhetoric, dialectic, arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy.  The second 
section dealt with medicine, law, and history.  The last section dealt with the 
Bible and its interpretations, along with Church doctrine and institutions.  The 
most central areas dealt with God, God's relationship to man, and finally, man's
relationship with State authorities. 

   During the seventh and eighth centuries, the Isadorean body of writings
were faithfully copied by some of the religious monks.  By this time, monks
had become the only group which had both the time and resources to transcribe
these works. (As each book had to be copied by hand, a first class Bible could
take a group of monks an entire year to copy.)

  These monks acted primarily as transmitters of the Graeco-Roman classical
knowledge.  Their purpose was to preserve, as much as possible, the Christian
works from an earlier civilization, which had already receded into obscurity.
Most monks focused their attention on the quality of their translations and
in compiling their histories and commentaries within a strict Judaic-Christian
framework. The vast majority (possibly as high as 99% of the total output by
some estimates) of manuscripts during the early medieval period was devoted
to purely Christian Orthodox writings--such as the Bible itself, the writings
of early Christian fathers, histories on the saints, liturgical and bishopric
writings, and hymnals.  The remaining estimated 1% was then dedicated towards
secular classical topics. (Paul Johnson, HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY, p 157)

How the Bible was Looked Upon as the Source for All Learning

  Although secular centers of learning perished in the West, the churches formed 
their own Latin-Christian centers for establishing laws, history, and of course 
matters of theology. Still, these monastic and episcopal schools were not 
universities, and the curriculum stressed religious introspection and obedience-
- as opposed to intellectual speculation and growth.  Consequently, all history 
and all learning became interpreted in terms of unquestioned Christian 
"orthodox" doctrine, as set down by church fathers such as St. Augustine and St. 
Jerome.

  Sermons and miraculous stories on the lives of saints became standard 
textbooks for the students. For example, Pope Gregory the Great's book on the 
lives of the saints (DIALOGUES, 6th century C.E.) was very popular. One story 
told how a religious youth named Honoratus invoked the name of Jesus and made 
the sign of the cross--which miraculously halted a large boulder that was 
rolling down a mountain towards his monastery.  In another story, a monk named 
Placidus fell into a lake, but was saved when another monk named Maurus walked 
on water and pulled him out by his hair. And in other story, a nun ate lettuce 
without crossing herself, and subsequently swallowed a demon who possessed her. 
She was saved after an abbot exorcised the demon from her.

   During this time, theology completely replaced science as the method for
explaining the natural world!  People looked to the Bible not only for guidance
in moral and religious affairs, but also for direction in the sciences--
medicine, geography, and astronomy.

   As one example, there was a work by an anonymous Christian author entitled
the PHYSIOLOGUS. Purporting to be a treatise on natural history, it instead
was a mystical excursion demonstrating Christian "truths".  In it was the
fable of the unicorn, whose great strength saved it from capture, but who
would calmly sit down next to the "true" virgin. It was said that all cub
lions were actually born dead to their mother.  Three days later, the father
lion roars in their face--resurrecting it to life just as Christ was resurrected
on the third day.

  As another example, a popular sixth century work the TOPOGRAPHICA CHRISTIANA 
used biblical passages as its basis for studying and understanding the earth, 
sky and weather.  Following are some of the "truths" discovered in this work:

  * The verse in Job 37:18: "Were you with him when he spread out the great
sky, helping him hold it up?"--was taken to mean that the earth was a flat
rectangular box.  (The author appeared to have envisioned the continents
fitting inside a gigantic box whose walls contained the waters from the
large seas and oceans.)

  * It was generally held that there was an upper level above the earth that
held an enormous tank of water.  (Support for this was seen in Genesis 1:7:
"God made the firmament and divided the waters that were under the firmament
from the waters that were above the firmament" and Psalms 148:4: "Praise
him, heaven of heavens and waters that are above the heavens" )

  As angels were believed to move the stars and planets, the author (quoting
from Psalm 104:13 "He waters the hills from his chambers") also saw evidence
from this verse that the angels created rain by opening the plugs in these
heavenly tanks of water from time to time.

  St. Augustine had of course also used the Bible to discover "truths"
regarding the nature of the world.  For example, when referring to Ptolemy's 
reference to a possible fourth continent on the opposite side of the earth 
(ie, the antipodes), Augustine declared that 

  "It would be ridiculous to suggest that some men might have sailed 
  from our side of the Earth to the other, arriving there after crossing 
  the vast expanse of ocean." 
  
  Augustine was relying on the Old Testament for his analysis--which told how 
after Noah's Ark had survived the great Flood, that God had divided the world 
among three races--corresponding to each of Noah's sons-- Shem, Ham, and 
Japtheth.  Clearly, (Augustine reasoned), it followed that there could ONLY 
be three inhabited continents of the world (ie Europe, Asia and Africa), 
based on this passage--as opposed to a new continent on the opposite end of 
Europe.

Legacy of St. Augustine's Model of "Original" Sin

    There was the general feeling during the Middle Ages that mankind had
acquired the maximum limit of all possible human knowledge during Roman
classical times--but had lost much of this. All important Christian
doctrines were believed to have already been set down by the great,
classical Christian geniuses, such as Augustine and Jerome. Most medieval
scholars therefore spent their efforts in RE-INTERPRETING past Christian
doctrine and issues, as opposed to reaching out into new, creative areas.
Indeed, this attitude for learning NEW knowledge was held out as futile--
as most medieval scholars believed that God had set limits as to how much
man "COULD" know. In addition, it was believed that even the DESIRE to
transcend these limits could lead one to sin--as demonstrated by the MODEL
of Adam sinning by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil!

   We thus see the legacy of St. Augustine's theology on the mindsets of
medieval men during these centuries!  According to the new paradigm, ALL
suffering and injustice in life was interpreted as "just" punishment from God
for Adam's "Original Sin." The human race was perceived as helpless children.
(Augustine had used the analogy of a "suckling baby"). Mankind was thus
hopelessly dependant on the grace of God, and could never hope to achieve
anything of importance on his own.  It followed, that a strong, all-powerful
authority was needed to police the children to protect them from themselves.
Mankind was hopelessly wretched in sin.  In this state, there could be no
individual freedom or inquiry. Mankind did not really deserve to be able to
improve his own miserable lot in life. It was by God's grace that He allowed
"some" men to achieve salvation.

   All-powerful authorities (as later embodied by Church officials), were
deemed to be divinely designated by Heaven to perform their duties.
Augustine summed up his doctrine with the following lines:

 "The ancient world and the Fathers have spoken: the debate is over!"

 The message for mankind was clear: Obey and don't ask questions!

  St. Augustine's writings were not venerated in the Eastern Roman
or Byzantine Empire, which maintained more of a Greek outlook. (For
example, differing on doctrinal matters relating to the exact nature
of the Trinity and Original Sin.) As we shall see in the next chapter,
Greek Orthodox Christianity developed separately from Latin Western
Christianity--and was considered the more powerful and wealthy of the
two regions, throughout the EARLY period of the Middle Ages.

Monasteries

  The institution of monasticism PREDATES Christianity--with its tradition
going at least as far back, as the ancient Jewish sect, the Essenes.
(Indeed, the Jewish monastic community of the Essenes, seemed so similar
in style to the early Christian monastic communities, that the fourth century
Christian chronicler Eusebius mistakenly described the Essenes as a
Christian sect.) (Eusebius, ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 2.17, JESUS THROUGH
THE CENTURIES P 110.) The word "hermit" is derived from a Greek word
meaning desert. The word "monk" is derived from a Greek word meaning alone.

  Monasticism PEAKED in importance AFTER the reign of Constantine. Various
explanations WHY the popularity of monasticism increase AFTER the
Christianization of the Roman Empire, have been put forth by historians:

  First of all, when the Christian church was in its infancy, it drew
devout converts who were encouraged--even trained-- to uphold their faith
in the face of terrible persecutions.  During this time, the greatest test
of faith for a believer was to die a martyr's death for the glory of God
and Jesus! However, with the Christianization of the Roman Empire, the days
of Christian persecutions were officially over. Religious adherents could
no longer "prove" their dedication by being martyred. Therefore many chose
to "prove" themselves as champions for God and Christ by living a spartan,
ascetic, sexless lifestyle.

  Another possible reason was this. After the mass conversions of large
numbers of "nominal" pagans into Christianity, some devout Christians would
see this as "lowering" the standards of Christianity.  Thus many reacted, by
withdrawing from the secular Church into the PURE, ascetic world of the
monastery.

  Although there were various monastic communities that were organized
in the middle of the third to fourth century, probably the most influential
work written on monastic life was entitled the RULE OF SAINT BENEDICT OF
NURSIA (fifth century C.E.).  In it, is an eloquent testament for entering
into monastic life as a way for understanding the meaning of the life and
person of Jesus Christ.   A central tenant in the Benediction code was to
teach monks how to "renounce themselves in order to follow Christ". Monastic
life was seen as preparation for "shar[ing] by patience in the passion of
Christ and hereafter to deserve to be united with him in his kingdom".
(Benedict, RULE 4; Prologue).

New Attitude in the West Towards Cleanliness

   In classical pagan times, Roman citizens had spent a great deal of emphasis
on cleanliness.  In fact, in many ancient Roman ruins can be seen large public
bath houses--attesting to the popularity of bathing in ancient Roman times.
The Romans also constructed great sewer and sanitation systems. Impressive
aqueduct systems were engineered to carried fresh water to large Roman cities
for both drinking and bathing.

  Early Christians had characterized the Roman customs of bathing and
cleanliness (which were often done in public) as material luxuries.  In
the West, early Christians pronounced these decadent and immoral--and
looked down on cleanliness in general--as unspiritual.

  For example, Saint Benedict's rule states: "Sick persons will be
allowed to take baths as often as they need to; but in the case of those who
are in good health, particularly the young, baths will be tolerated only
rarely".  Generally speaking, most Western monks took a bath only twice a
year--at Christmas and Easter.

  Many Christian ascetics purposely chose to live in dirt and filth in order
to show their ultimate concern with spiritual matters, over worldly ones.
For example, St. Hilarion was praised by St. Jerome and others for his
state of uncleanness. St. Anthony was praised by St. Athanasius because he
had never washed his feet. St. Sylvia never washed any part of her body except
her fingers. It was said that St Simon Stylites lived in such filth, that
his stench was intolerable to some visitors. In the LIVES OF THE SAINTS,
the Almighty reportedly was so displeased upon seeing some Byzantine monks
taking regular baths, that He miraculously dried up a neighboring stream, so
that there was no more water for their baths.

Missionary Activity Throughout Europe

  Christian missionaries were very active in northern Europe during this time.
The last of the barbarian tribes. The Franks, were converted in the early
decades of the sixth century C.E. The English were reconverted in the latter
part of the sixth century C.E.(Note: After the Roman garrison had been
withdrawn from the island in 400 C.E. to fight off barbarians in the south,
Germanic invaders such as the Angles and Saxons gradually took control over
England. After this time, Roman civilization and the Christian religion
practically disappeared in England, and had to be re-introduced through
missionaries centuries later.)

    The belief in the power of Christian relics and their power on the
battlefield played a strong role in helping convert northern barbarians in
Europe, such as the powerful Franks. For as with Constantine, armies
inspired by symbols of Christianity, appeared to WIN on the battlefield!
Another important factor explaining the spread of Christianity was the
failure of German and English pagan societies to explain what happened after
death, vis-à-vis the certainty of salvation which Christianity promised.
(see Bede's HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND NATION).

  A visitor to some of the older churches (such as in Canterbury, England)
can see how the transition from paganism to Christianity was gradual-taking 
place over several generations: Early converts were often buried with BOTH pagan 
good luck charms AND a Christian cross. Apparently it was hoped that at least 
ONE of these would "work" for the deceased after death, in gaining him entry 
into an afterlife!

The Importance of Relics

  Almost from the beginning, the Orthodox Church had distinguished itself
from other early "heretical" Christian sects by denouncing charismatic
"miracle" workers and those that purported to "speak in tongues".  However,
the Church DID promote one area of miracles--that of relics.  Relics,
or the personal possessions or bones of great saints before they died--
were held to be able to work miracles.

  Churches and kings spent fortunes in purchasing large collections of
relics.  Relics were also good income producers--for famous relics would
attract pilgrims and their donations.  In fact, during medieval times
most trips were undertaken for religious pilgrimages to see relics.

  Relics were used for a number of purposes. They were believed to ward of
lightening.  People swore by them in judicial hearings. Kings carried them
off into battle with them-- where their promise of divine interaction served
to excite the soldiers into fighting battles to "win".  A Christian
barbarian king with a relic was a formidable foe on the battlefield. Thus,
for example, when William of Normandy successfully invaded England at the
battle of Hastings in 1066 C.E., he was wearing around his neck a string of
relics that he had obtained from the Pope. The First Crusade's initial strong
successes were also probably partially inspired by the discovery of
the "Holy Lance" in Jerusalem.

   There were an incredible array of relics purported to have come from the
Holy Land or from later saints.  One collection of relics (dating
from the 1120's-1190's) had some 242 items--including "Our Lord's shoes",
the baby Jesus' swaddling clothes, blood and water from Jesus' punctured
side, bread from BOTH the Feeding of the Five Thousand and The Last Supper,
some of Mary's hair, bed and belt, and the rods of Moses and Aaron.  There
were also relics from various saints--small remains of Thomas Becket for
example among others. (History of Christianity, p 164). (See Section VII,
Chapter 2 for a longer list).

  Rome, of course, was believed to possess the most holy relics within all
of Christendom, for it possessed the remains of two of Christendom's
greatest saints--St. Peter and St. Paul. During the mid fifth century C.E.,
this fact was greatly played up by the current pope, and used to boast of
the new Christian authority and power emanating out of Rome.

  Pope Gregory popularized the purported divine powers that still resided in
the remains of the apostles' Peter and Paul when he wrote to the Byzantine
empress: "The bodies of the apostles Peter and Paul glitter with such great
miracles and awe that no one can go to pray there without considerable fear."
He then related how workmen had died on two separate occasions after
accidentally getting too close to the bodies. (Paul Johnson, A HISTORY OF
CHRISTIANITY, P 168) The belief in St. Peter's ever present spirit in Rome,
further developed beyond that of the supernatural power of his relics laying
in his tomb-- to the added belief that St. Peter's spirit was operating
through the current pope--and guiding his hand in all matters.

   Because of its famous relics, Rome increasingly became the favorite
pilgrimage site for Christian believers--eventually surpassing even pilgrimages 
to the Holy Land. This was to have an effect on spreading, and thus unifying the 
liturgy and ritual practices from Rome to churches throughout Europe. Rome, also 
used the belief in relics to justify assuming spiritual authority over 
Christendom.

Rome--Spiritual Leader of Western Christianity

  By the early fifth century, there were five church bishoprics (or patriarchs)
who were recognized as the heads of Christendom--Rome, Constantinople, Antioch, 
Jerusalem, and Alexandria.  Four of these bishoprics lay in the Eastern realm of 
the Roman Empire, and competed with each other for authority on spiritual 
matters there. However, Rome was the only bishopric in the West.  With no other 
rivals, it easily became the unchallenged spiritual head of Western 
Christianity.

  During the next century, the Catholic Church took steps to build structure
and authority out of the chaos from the previous century, and to establish
itself as the pre-eminent head of all Christendom.  As with Pope Damasus
before him, Pope Leo I (reigned 440-61 C.E.), emphasized that the Church in
the Rome was "the Rock" on which Peter's Church was built--and that the
popes in Rome were therefore successors to Peter's leadership of the church.

  The Eastern patriarchs protested what they considered to be interference
by Rome in their jurisdictions.  The Council of Chalcean was called in 451
C.E., largely in an attempt to establish the patriarch of Constantinople as the
spiritual head of Eastern Christendom. However, the decision was deferred--
essentially reaching an impasse over the next centuries.  Instead, the Council
of Chalcean declared complete equality between the bishops of Rome and
Constantinople.

  Following this time, however, Rome never let up on its demand that it should
be the spiritual head of ALL Christianity.  It was perhaps no coincidence that
during this century, Rome's official history and papal succession leadership
was laid down. The Bishop (Pope) Gelasius in Rome (492-6 C.E.), and his 
secretary Dionysius Exiguus, calculated the date when Jesus was born.  It was 
then that Christian historians began separating history into the two eras-- ie 
BEFORE CHRIST (B.C.) and AFTER his DEATH (A.D.) The earlier Roman designation 
which had divided history before and after the mythical founding of the city of
Rome--was replaced by the new Christian history.

(Note:   The Roman historian Livy cataloged all historical events within a 
chronological framework that dated back to the legendary founding of the city 
of Rome by Romulus and Remus.  Early Christian writers retained this historical
system when they in turn dated events according to the reigns of the Roman
emperors.  In the fourth century, some EASTERN Christian writers began dating 
their calendars, starting with the Age of the Martyrs, ie the age when Christian 
martyrdom reached its heights under the Emperor Diocletian (284-305 A.D.) This 
calendar system is still in used by the Christian Copts in Egypt and Ethiopia.)

  An official calendar was set up, along with an official date for Easter.
The Church's official list was also carefully reviewed during this time for
saints and martyrs.  (Competing Roman Christian families were carefully
eliminated from these lists, in vying for power). This documentation and
structure was to further give Rome the status and authority necessary to
claim that it should be the spiritual head of all Christendom!

  Rome had remained a powerful city during this time. It had not been seriously
damaged during its "sacking" in 410 C.E. at the hands of the Visigoths--as the
Arian Visigoths had targeted pagan sites over Christian ones. The African monk
Fulgentius wrote on the city of Rome, upon visiting it around 500 C.E., "How
wonderful must be the heavenly Jerusalem if this earthly city [Rome] can
survive so greatly."

  Indeed, most of the damage to the structure of Rome occurred not from the
barbarians--but instead in the wars with the Byzantines over a century later--
when the Byzantine emperor Justinian sought to reunite both halves of the
empire again under his leadership.