Some pages find place here which originally appeared in _The Guardian_ and _The Treasury_, and a few lines which once formed part of an article in _The Church Quarterly Review_. My thanks are due for the courtesy of the Editors. I have reprinted some passages from my _Church of the Sixth Century_, a book which is now out of print and not likely to be reissued. I have to thank the Rev. L. Pullan for help from his wide knowledge, and Mr. L. Strachan, of Heidelberg, of whose accuracy and learning I have had long experience, for reading the proofs and making the index. W. H. H. S. JOHN'S COLLEGE, OXFORD, _Septuagesima_, 1906. CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THE CHURCH AND ITS PROSPECTS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY . . . . 1 CHAPTER II THE EMPIRE AND THE EASTERN CHURCH, 461-628 . . . . . . . . 6 CHAPTER III THE CHURCH IN ITALY, 461-590 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 CHAPTER IV CHRISTIANITY IN GAUL FROM THE SIXTH TO THE EIGHTH CENTURY 41 CHAPTER V THE PONTIFICATE OF GREGORY THE GREAT . . . . . . . . . . . 60 CHAPTER VI CONTROVERSY AND THE CATHOLICISM OF SPAIN . . . . . . . . . 72 CHAPTER VII THE CHURCH AND THE MONOTHELITE CONTROVERSY . . . . . . . . 83 CHAPTER VIII THE CHURCH IN ASIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 CHAPTER IX THE CHURCH IN AFRICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 CHAPTER X THE CHURCH IN THE WESTERN ISLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 CHAPTER XI THE CONVERSION OF SLAVS AND NORTHMEN . . . . . . . . . . . 123 CHAPTER XII PROGRESS OF THE CHURCH IN GERMANY . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 CHAPTER XIII THE POPES AND THE REVIVAL OF THE EMPIRE . . . . . . . . . 143 CHAPTER XIV THE ICONOCLASTIC CONTROVERSY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 CHAPTER XV LEARNING AND MONASTICISM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 CHAPTER XVI SACRAMENTS AND LITURGIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 CHAPTER XVII THE END OF THE DARK AGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 APPENDIX I LIST OF EMPERORS AND POPES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 APPENDIX II A SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 {1} THE CHURCH AND THE BARBARIANS CHAPTER I THE CHURCH AND ITS PROSPECTS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY [Sidenote: The task of the Church]