ABSTRACT
WITH the fifth century there begins a long period of a thousand years known as the Middle Ages, in the course of which were accomplished some of the greatest social and economic changes in the whole history of labour. It begins with a catastrophe: the collapse of the Roman Empire as a result of the invasion and settlement of barbarian peoples. No one could have foreseen this disaster, which was of capital importance in history, because it very nearly brought about the complete destruction of civilization. Happily for the new world which was to spring from the ruins of the old, the good order established by Rome never entirely died out, and it was upon the solid foundation of what remained that the new states of the early Middle Ages were destined to rear themselves.
