In studying these vials the reader should bear in mind constantly the reason _why_ they were sent as judgments upon the nations of Europe--because of their former oppression of God's people. From the days when the Popes received their first temporal authority at the hands of the Carlovingian king, Pepin and Charlemagne, France[11] constituted the real backbone of the Papacy, the very center of her power and authority, as all history will show. In the fourteenth century the Papal seat was removed from Rome to Avignon, in France, where it remained for about seventy years. During this period all the Popes were French, and "all their policies were shaped and controlled by the French kings." To write a history of the Papacy during the Dark Ages is to outline the history of France, so closely are their affairs interwoven. Hence it is only natural that she should be symbolized as the "sea" in this part of the Apocalypse, with the other nations as tributaries. Ver. 4-6. That the French Revolution was in its effects a terrible blow to the thrones of despotism throughout Europe is shown by the following quotation from the Encyclopædia Britannica: "We are coming to the verge of the French Revolution, which _surpasses all other revolutions the world has seen_ in its completeness, the largeness of its theatre, the long preparation for it ... its _influence on the modern history of Europe_." Art. France. [Footnote 11: Pepin and Charlemagne were, properly speaking, simply German princes reigning in Gaul. The kingdom of France is usually dated from the accession of the first of the Capetian kings, late in the tenth century, 987. However, the Frankish nation, of whom the Carlovingian kings were leaders, laid the foundation of the French kingdom and gave a new name to Gaul--France.] This revolution commenced on the fifth of May, 1789, in the Convocation of the States General, for the redress of grievances and the extrication of the government and nation from the difficulties under which they were laboring. A conflict had been going on between despotism and popular rights, the throne and nobility contending for absolute power, and the people, for freedom. But when in this encounter the popular party triumphed, there was no fear of God before the eyes of those who seized the reins of government. The infidelity of Voltaire and his associates had removed the last restraint upon human passion, and the scenes of terror that followed are without a parallel in history. The king was condemned to death and executed. The barbarous execution of the queen, Marie Antoinette, followed in about six months, and this was immediately succeeded by the decree of the National Convention, of the most infamous character, that of the violation of the tombs of St. Dennis and the profanation of the sepulchres of the kings of France. I will quote from Sir A. Alison's noted History of Europe: