The Old Empire and the New.
The discussion for the first few weeks of the course must of necessity center largely about the new field upon which history is in the process of making, the empire of Charlemagne, its disruption as the result of its own inherent weaknesses and the renewed attacks of the barbarians and the growth of feudalism as a partial result of these and other forces which have been at work in the Europe of the early middle ages.
Three points will call for special emphasis: the field, the essential forces at work in this field, and the people who are responsible for their development. The student can best realize conditions in 800 A.D. by contrasting this new empire with the old Roman empire with which he is already familiar. Two maps might be made, one of the Roman empire at its greatest extent, the other of Charlemagne’s possessions, showing its Slavic neighbors on the east and its Saracenic on the south. The student should then grasp the fact that for the next five hundred years, with the exception of tiny England, the history of European progress is circumscribed by the narrow limits of this new empire, which although including portions of the old, has transferred the center of interest to the plains of central Europe. To the east and southeast are the Slavs and the remains of the eastern half of the Roman empire, which having played its part in history, remains merely as the storehouse of the intellectual, literary and artistic treasures of the remote past; to the south are the Saracens who one hundred years before had threatened to place the crescent above the cross, but were beaten back upon the sunny plains of France.
Out of this empire are to emerge the France, Germany and Italy of the distant future. Spain is not to be rescued from her infidel conquerors until a new and far distant era dawns, that of Columbus, Cortez and Pizarro. Christendom, as it is known will have no interests beyond these confines except as it is obliged to beat off the daring Northmen or to admit them as unwelcome guests; or as it forces its way eastward throwing out its outposts to check the Slavic tide moving westward; or as its enthusiasm is kindled by mother church to undertake the rescue of Palestine from heathen hands; or as the zeal of its traders, who even at this early date begin to long for new fields to conquer, stimulates them to open communication with the strange and distant East.
The two great forces at work are the two ideas of a universal church and a universal empire. The rise of the Christian church, its relations with Rome and the German invaders might profitably be reviewed here, especially its connection with the founding of this new empire, which differs from the old in its dependence on and union with the papal power. These are the ideals which men set before them; this will o’ the wisp of universal dominion was destined to lead many a man to his own ruin and that of the power upon which he relied to attain his end.