Introduction

The decline and fall of the western half of the Roman Empire in the fifth century created a vacuum in Europe which was filled largely by the Roman Catholic Church and Germanic kingdoms. Rome's centralized administration, standing professional army, and uniform imperial legal system were replaced by primitive Germanic tribal institutions or by locally adapted remnants of the Roman past. From these roots, in response to external challenges and internal needs, emerged a new economic, political-military system-feudalism-which distributed authority through a hierarchy of personal relationships between lords and vassals.

As a cultural force, the Church centered at Rome became the major religious and intellectual influence shaping Western Europe. Among the many barbaric German tribes that invaded the empire, the Franks proved to be most politically astute and most powerful. Both qualities were exemplified in Clovis and Charlemagne who linked their extraordinary political ambitions to the dominant religious force in western Europe, Catholic Christianity. From this union, a semblance of imperial unity among European peoples evolved-the Holy Roman Empire-only to develop into feudalism with the decline, albeit temporary, of both church and state.

Beginning in the eleventh century and extending through the thirteenth century, Europe underwent a period of renewal and reform. The previous era characterized by feudalism, with its decentralization of power in the economy and the state, gave way to a resurgence of secular interest. As the ideal of a united Christian Europe declined, a new ideal gradually took its place. Europe was increasingly viewed as a network of independent, sovereign states competing more than cooperating with one another. By 1500 it was apparent that distinct nations had developed. In England and France nation and state had become virtually inseparable under native ruling families or dynasties. Elsewhere, as on the Iberian peninsula, the nation-state was also coming to be the basic form of political organization. Throughout Europe rulers had gained a large measure of control over the Church within their borders.

In addition, the culture changed dramatically, particularly the Church, which sought to reform itself in a variety of ways and to rid the Holy Lands of the Muslims in the Crusades. Contact with other parts of the world, particularly connecting along the Mediterranean, resulted in stimulated trade, the rise of towns and development of guilds, great monuments of architecture, and the foundation of universities. With the fourteenth century came an extended period of war, disease, and unprecedented crises in the Church, and Europe stood on the threshold of still greater change.