The ecclesiastical geography of Western Europe was by this time formed. The great ecclesiastical divisions were now almost everywhere mapped out, and from hence they are more permanent than the political divisions. ♦Permanence of the ecclesiastical divisions.♦ The ecclesiastical geography in truth constantly preserves an earlier political geography. ♦They represent older civil divisions.♦ The ecclesiastical divisions were always mapped out according to the political divisions of the time when they were established, and they often remained unaltered while the political divisions went through many revolutions. ♦Illustrations from England and France.♦ Thus in France the dioceses represented the jurisdictions of the Roman cities; in England they represented the ancient English kingdoms and principalities. In both cases they outlived by many ages the political divisions which they represented. While the political map was altered over and over again, the ecclesiastical map remained down to quite modern times, with hardly any change beyond the occasional division of a large diocese or the occasional union of two smaller dioceses. Thus the greater permanence of the ecclesiastical map often makes it useful as a standard for reference in describing political changes. ♦Lyons and Rheims.♦ To take an instance, the city of Lyons has been at different times under Burgundian and under Frankish kings; it has been a free city of the Empire and a city of the modern kingdom of France. But, among all these changes, the Archbishop of Lyons has always remained Primate of all the Gauls, while the Archbishop of Rheims has held a wholly different position alongside of him as first prelate and first peer of the modern kingdom of France. Paris meanwhile, the political capital of the modern kingdom, remained till the seventeenth century the seat of a simple bishoprick.