ABSTRACT
During the four centuries from Gregory the Great to Sylvester II, the papacy underwent astonishing vicissitudes. The popes achieved independence of the Greek emperors, not so much by their own efforts, as by the arms of the Lombards, to whom, however, they felt no gratitude whatever. After the defeat of the Byzantines by the Lombards, the popes had reason to fear that they also would be conquered by these vigorous barbarians. Certain documents of great importance, the Donation of Constantine and the False Decretals, belong to the period from a.d. 600 to 1000. The foundation of the Holy Roman Empire marks an epoch in medieval theory, though much less in medieval practice. The decay of Carolingian power after the death of Charlemagne and the division of his empire redounded, at first, to the advantage of the papacy. Our superiority since the Renaissance is due partly to science and scientific technique, partly to political institutions slowly built up during the Middle Ages.
