As already stated in chapter xxxiv, the Western half of the Roman Empire had succumbed to Northern tribes by the year 476. The Ostrogoths, led by Theodoric, became masters of Italy, the Visigoths of Spain, the Franks and Burgundians of Gaul--the Gaul that had been great Caesar's pride to conquer. Here we see the beginning of the formation of the nations of Europe. They all accepted the Roman system of law and government to a modified extent, and also that which now became the Roman religion--Christianity. So the victors became the disciples of the vanquished--a not unusual experience in history. In each of these lands and under each of these peoples, Israel was pretty well represented by the beginning of the sixth century, and in each it had a distinct history. So, in continuing our story we shall have to follow many strands. They were treated better in these new European countries than in Byzantine lands--at least at first. Italy. The Ostrogoths, the new rulers in Italy, were _Arians_. (p. 243.) The other group of Christians--the orthodox--called themselves Roman Catholics. Catholic means universal. Christianity claimed to be a universal Church and Rome had once claimed a universal Empire. This religious monopoly, the theory that this church offered the only saving creed, did sad mischief in the coming centuries. These Arian Ostrogoths were kinder to the Jews than were the catholics. The greater tolerance of the Arians may perhaps have been due to the fact that their idea of God was a little closer to that of the Jewish. But Arian Christians, always a small minority, soon disappeared, just as in the early days of the church, Jewish Christians were absorbed by pagan Christians. But as long as these two divisions of Christendom lasted, they were very bitter against each other. When a Byzantine army threatened the Ostrogoths, the Jews loyally stood by those who, if they had not treated them generously, had treated them justly. Later we find the Jews defending the seacoast of Naples for the Ostrogoths in 536. Only when overwhelmed by superior numbers did they at last surrender. Thus Italy, once the country of which Rome was the capital, was becoming the sport of nations. From the Ostrogoths it passed to the Byzantine Empire. Then in 589 it was seized by a tribe from the Elbe called Lombards. Its later story is told in the sequel to this book (_History of the Mediaeval Jews_). The Popes. But through all these changes, the city of Rome remained the religious centre of the Church as Jerusalem had been the religious centre of Judaism.