Surveys main currents in Western thought through eight centuries.

    First Edition, June 1926. Code number (?) on back of title page says 821601.Maps included.

    Order had been to some extent restored; the desire for order and for peace was at any rate widespread. The opportunity for fruitful development, both in the sphere of ecclesiastical and of secular government, and also in those pursuits which especially needed peace for their prosecution, such as culture and commerce, had now arrived. We have to deal, then, with a period, on the one hand, of new movements and new ideas—the appearance of new monastic orders, a renaissance of thought and learning, the rise of towns and the expansion of commerce; on the other, of consolidation and centralization—the organization of the monarchical government of the Church, the development of monarchical institutions in the various countries of Europe, and, to give direction and solidity to the whole, the revived study of Civil and Canon Law. Finally, and most novel of all, we see Europe at once divided by the great conflict of Empire and Papacy and united by the Crusades in the holy war against the infidel. The former as well as the latter implies a conception of the unity of Western Christendom, a unity which found expression in the universal Church. For the Church alone was universal, European, international; and, as its institutions begin to take more definite form, the more deeply is this character impressed upon them.The volume opens with a chapter on the Reform of the Church, which was not merely a prelude to, but also a principal cause of, the striking events that followed; for in the pursuit of the work of reform the Papacy both developed its own organization and was brought into conflict with the secular power. In the first half of the eleventh century, it had been entirely dominated by the secular interests of the local nobles. It had been rescued by the Emperor Henry III, and Pope Leo IX had immediately taken his natural place as leader of the reform movement. When he undertook personally, in France, Germany, and Italy, the promulgation and enforcement of the principles of reform, he made the universality of papal power a reality; the bishops might mutter, but the people adored. The Papacy was content to take a subordinate place while Henry III was alive; Henry IV's minority worked a complete change. The first great step was the Papal Election Decree of Nicholas II, and, though the attempt of the Roman nobles to recover their influence was perhaps the immediate cause, the Papacy took the opportunity to shake off imperial control as well. An opening for interference still remained in the case of a disputed election, as was clearly shown in the contest of Innocent II and Anastasius II, and especially in that of Alexander III and Victor IV. This gap was closed by the Third Lateran Council in 1179, which decreed that whoever obtained the votes of two-thirds of the cardinals should be declared Pope.Chapters:I. THE REFORM OF THE CHURCHII. GREGORY VII AND THE FIRST CONTEST BETWEEN EMPIRE AND PAPACY.III. GERMANY UNDER HENRY IV AND HENRY VIV THE CONQUEST OF SOUTH ITALY AND SICILY BY THE NORMANS.V. THE ITALIAN CITIES TILL c. 1200.VI ISLAM IN SYRIA AND EGYPT, 750-1100.VII THE FIRST CRUSADE.VIII THE KINGDOM OF JERUSALEM, 1099-1291.IX. THE EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES UPON WESTERN EUROPE.X GERMANY, 1125-1152.XI ITALY, 1125-1152.XII FREDERICK BARBAROSSA AND GERMANY.XIII. FREDERICK BARBAROSSA AND THE LOMBARD LEAGUE.XIV THE EMPEROR HENRY VIXV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DUCHY OF NORMANDY AND THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND.XVI. ENGLAND, 1087-1154.XVII. ENGLAND: HENRY II.XVIII. FRANCE: LOUIS VI AND LOUIS VII (1108-1180).XIX. THE COMMUNAL MOVEMENT, ESPECIALLY IN FRANCE.XX. THE MONASTIC ORDERS.XXI. ROMAN AND CANON LAW IN THE MIDDLE AGES.XXII. MEDIEVAL SCHOOLS TO c. 1300.XXIII. PHILOSOPHY IN THE MIDDLE AGES.