ABSTRACT
Western civilization in the European middle ages had been universal in things essential. The State in the days of “Gothic barbarity”, as radical reformers called them at a later date, was rather loosely knit; it permitted a good deal of regional and individual diversity to those strong enough to use their liberty. The colourful variety of this stratified, medieval hierarchy, tinged with mellow traditions, contrasts pleasantly with the drab uniformity of modern rational democracy. But the pivotal elements of this society were the same in all countries belonging to the Western world. There was the unity of faith, implying not only the universality of a dominant creed, but also of a dominant Church, which looked upon all Christian realms as her vassals. The same code of morals and the same code of law were in universal use, wherever the allegiance to the Church was recognized. A universal language linked the ruling classes of each principality to one another and preserved for those who mastered it, the intellectual, legal, and cultural legacy of Imperial Rome. There was similarity, not to say identity, of political and social institutions, for church and language had salvaged some part of her social mechanism for her successors. And though the feudal system and the guild organization of the medieval cities may not have descended in unbroken lines from Rome, they were universal in the Christian world, irrespective of the variations (and they were considerable) due to particular regional circumstances.
