Out of this empire are to emerge the France, Germany and Italy of the distant future. Spain is not to be rescued from her infidel conquerors until a new and far distant era dawns, that of Columbus, Cortez and Pizarro. Christendom, as it is known will have no interests beyond these confines except as it is obliged to beat off the daring Northmen or to admit them as unwelcome guests; or as it forces its way eastward throwing out its outposts to check the Slavic tide moving westward; or as its enthusiasm is kindled by mother church to undertake the rescue of Palestine from heathen hands; or as the zeal of its traders, who even at this early date begin to long for new fields to conquer, stimulates them to open communication with the strange and distant East. The two great forces at work are the two ideas of a universal church and a universal empire. The rise of the Christian church, its relations with Rome and the German invaders might profitably be reviewed here, especially its connection with the founding of this new empire, which differs from the old in its dependence on and union with the papal power. These are the ideals which men set before them; this will o’ the wisp of universal dominion was destined to lead many a man to his own ruin and that of the power upon which he relied to attain his end. Charlemagne. The personality of Charlemagne, so naïvely portrayed by Einhard, his desire not only to conquer but to serve the higher ideal of establishing a Christian state, cannot fail to attract the student, especially if the teacher emphasizes the fact that he was the hero par excellence of the middle ages. Ample material for a study of his arrangements can be found in the source books, and his system can easily be compared with the organization of the older empire. Although the people who were working out these new problems were largely of German blood, it must not be forgotten that Rome’s influence had not been for naught, but was still to be seen in the survival of the Latin language and literature and the material aspects of its civilization--its roads, bridges, aqueducts and walled towns,--and above all in this very tradition of universal dominion. This last idea had been inherited on the one hand by the pope at Rome and on the other by the king of the Germans.