RESULTS OF THEIR WORK. The work of the Schoolmen was to organize and present in systematic and dogmatic form the teachings of the Church (R. 92). This they did exceedingly well, and the result was a thorough organization of Theology as a teaching subject. They did little to extend knowledge, and nothing at all to apply it to the problems of nature and man. Their work was abstract and philosophical instead, dealing wholly with theological questions. The purpose was to lay down principles, and to offer a training in analysis, comparison, classification, and deduction which would prepare learned and subtle defenders of the faith of the Church. So successful were the Schoolmen in their efforts that instruction in Theology was raised by their work to a new position of importance, and a new interest in theological scholarship and general learning was awakened which helped not a little to deflect many strong spirits from a life of warfare to a life of study. They made the problems of learning seem much more worth while, and their work helped to create a more tolerant attitude toward the supporters of either side of debatable questions by revealing so clearly that there are two sides to every question. This new learning, new interest in learning, and new spirit of tolerance the rising universities inherited. III. LAW AND MEDICINE AS NEW STUDIES THE OLD ROMAN CITIES. The old Roman Empire, it will be remembered, came to be largely a collection of provincial cities. These were the centers of Roman civilization and culture. After the downfall of the governing power of Rome, the great highways were no longer repaired, brigandage became common, trade and intercourse largely ceased, and the provincial cities which were not destroyed in the barbarian invasions declined in population and number, passing under the control of their bishops who long ruled them as feudal lords. During the long period of disorder many of the old Roman cities entirely disappeared (R. 49). Only in Italy, and particularly in northern Italy, did these old cities retain anything of their earlier municipal life, or anything worth mentioning of their former industry and commerce. But even here they lost most of their earlier importance as centers of culture and trade, becoming merely ecclesiastical towns. After the death of Charlemagne, the break-up of his empire, and the institution of feudal conditions, the cities and towns declined still more in importance, and few of any size remained. In Italy feudalism never attained the strength it did in northern Europe. Throughout all the early Middle Ages the cities there retained something of their old privileges, though ruled by prince-bishops residing in them. They also retained something of the old Roman civilization, and Roman legal usages and some knowledge of Roman law never quite died out. In other respects they much resembled mediaeval cities elsewhere.