ABSTRACT
The development of Europe from the fall of the Roman Empire to the fall of theCarolingian Empire is a subject which should be of interest to all who would seek the origins of the Europe we know today. For it is in this period that not only do we see the formation of Christendom in the broader cultural sense, but also we meet the not too distant ancestors of the languages we speak today, and first discern the territories that the major states of modern Europe would later come to occupy. The Emperor Charlemagne (d. 814) was referred to as ‘the father of Europe’ and it has often been remarked that in terms of territory, ‘his’ Europe bears a strong resemblance to the area included in the pre-1972 ‘common market’ of Europe (EEC).
