Although our purpose is to trace the history of Christianity in its vital rather than its external aspect, it is necessary to have some idea of the background of events in the world against which the light, now so sorely dimmed, was to shine though dimly during the dark centuries upon which we now enter.
The Roman Empire of the West came to an end in 476 A.D. when Odoacer, King of the Heruli, assumed the title of King of all Italy. Some fragments, however, remained under the sway of the Emperor at Constantinople. This eastern part of the empire survived for centuries, being gradually dismembered by the Muhammadan conquests till the Turks finally destroyed its last vestiges in the fifteenth century.
A large part of Europe reverted to a state of barbarism. The barbarians had sacked and burned the towns and laid waste the country. The roads fell into disrepair, schools had largely disappeared, and even the clergy became illiterate. The barbarian tribes who had settled in the Roman domains could neither read nor write. In the parts of Italy which now remained attached to the eastern emperor and in Ireland among the monks, the lamp of learning was in some degree kept burning.
In Britain, the Saxon invaders had driven the Britons into Wales or Cornwall or across the Channel into Brittany. Europe became parceled out among the barbarian chiefs, and the citizens of fallen Rome and the barbarian tribes lived alongside one another for several centuries without entirely mingling.
Clovis, King of the Franks, adopted the Christian religion in 497 under the influence of his wife. His conversion resembled that of Constantine. The sixth century saw the rise of Justinian (527-567), a powerful monarch of the eastern empire, who conquered the Goths in Italy and the Vandals in Africa. He attempted to extinguish Arianism and built many magnificent churches. In 544 he closed the schools of philosophy in Athens and decreed that no public office was to be held by a pagan.
The early years of the seventh century witnessed the advent of Muhammad. The Muhammadan conquests spread over Syria, Persia, Egypt and North Africa, and within a hundred years they had even invaded Europe and occupied Spain and parts of France. In France they were met by Charles Martel and defeated at Poitiers in 732. The eastern emperor’s Italian provinces were overrun by the Lombards. Pepin, the younger son of Charles Martel, with the aid of the Pope, deposed Childeric and became King of the Franks. At the Pope’s request he attacked the Lombards, who were threatening Rome. In 754, having defeated them, he handed to the Church the town of Ravenna and a number of other cities. This is called the “Donation of Pepin,” and it was the foundation of the temporal power of the popes.
Charlemagne, Pepin’s son, was a successful warrior and talented monarch. He championed the cause of Christianity, which he enforced, where necessary, by the power of the sword. He confirmed and extended the “donation of Pepin.” Pope Leo III invited him to Italy in the year 800, and on Christmas Day that year he received from the Pope’s hands the diadem of the empire. Thus began the so-called Holy Roman Empire. Thus was laid the foundation of that alliance by which the Papacy eventually acquired power and prestige above the kings of Europe, and Rome became once again the Mistress of the West.
Having thus very briefly traced the political history of the Dark Ages, let us take a glimpse at the public aspect of the Church before seeking for evidences of true Christianity shining amid the gloom which filled both the Church and the world.