ABSTRACT
One of the chief blessings which Rome had given to the world was the pax Romana, which made possible a widespread development of civilisation. In the same way, the restoration of peace to the West had as its first result the renewing of civilised life. According to kings, the internal danger was equally important. They were unable not only to repel the invaders, but even to maintain order within their kingdoms. It is customary to speak of feudalism as a pyramidal structure with the king at the head and the peasant at the foot. The rapidity of the change in France was due to the early process of disintegration. When Charles the Fat was deposed owing to his incompetence in 887, the Empire broke up into a number of kingdoms. In Germany, even after the Carolingian line came to an end with the death of Arnulf’s son, Lewis the Child, in 119, the disintegration was nothing like so complete.
