Excerpt from History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages, Vol. 3

The city likewise received a new Significance within the narrower Circle of her history. Her escape from the repeated attacks Of the barbarians, and her final rescue from the hands Of Lombards and Greeks, was a fact of historic importance. After Pipin and Charles had put an end to the final struggle of the Germans for Rome, they drew a line round the emancipated city and made the Pope lord Of all the territory within. The Frankish King, the new Emperor, vowed as overlord to defend this ecclesi astical State dedicated to S. Peter against all foes, within and without, for no prince or people could exclusively possess Rome - the common property Of mankind. In a higher sense than ancient Rome, the Metropolis Of Christendom represented a universal principle. She must, therefore, be free and accessible to all nations alike; the High Priest within her should be subject to no king, but the supreme head Of the Empire and Of the Church - that is to say, to the Emperor. It was this idea Of Rome's neutrality as the ecclesiastical centre of nations, up to which the waves Of humanity, ceaselessly stirred by political and social storms, Should never advance, that succeeded in preserving the little State Of the Church for the Pope until our own day, while Charles's great monarchy and a hundred kingdoms around fell to dust. Who can deny that the idea Of a sacred metropolis, a temple of eternal peace in the midst of struggling humanity, a universal asylum of culture, of law, and of reconciliation is great and admirable?

Had the institution of the Papacy but remained devoid of ambition and worldly desire, had it escaped dogmatic stagnation, and advanced with the develop ment of a widening life, with the social forces of the world and the discoveries of toil and culture, it would have constituted almost the highest cosmic form, in which mankind Should have seen the expression of its unity and harmony. However, after the expiration of its first and most glorious period, the Papacy became the essentially retarding principle in the drama of history. The greatest idea latent in the Church never attained fulfilment but that it had once existed in the Papacy serves to make the Papacy the most venerable of all institutions which history has beheld, and that the city of Rome was the classic receptacle of this idea suf fices to secure for her the everlasting love of mankind.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.