This book aims to trace the development of Europe and its civilization, from the decline of the Roman Empire to the opening of the sixteenth century. The general plan of the volume is to treat medieval Europe as a whole and to hang the story upon a single thread, rather than to recount as distinct narratives the respective histories of France, England, Germany, Italy, and other countries of modern Europe. French or English history may be studied as such in courses and books so labeled. Moreover, the modern interest in the national state has usually been carried too far in the study of the Middle Ages. Local division, not national unity and central government, is surely the striking feature through most of the medieval centuries.Contents: The Roman Empire. The Barbarian World Outside the Empire. The Decline of the Roman Empire. The Barbarian Invasions: 378-511 A.D. "The City of God". German Kingdoms in the West. Justinian and the Byzantine Empire. Gregory the Great and Western Christendom. The Rise and Spread of Mohammedanism. The Frankish State and Charlemagne. The Northmen and Other New Invaders. The Feudal Land System and Feudal Society. Feudal States of Europe. The Growth of the Medieval Church. The Expansion of Christendom and the Crusades. The Rise of Towns and Gilds. The Italian Cities. French, Flemish, English, and German Towns. The Medieval Revival of Learning. Medieval Literature. The Medieval Cathedrals. The Church under Innocent III. Innocent III and the States of Europe. The Growth of National Institutions in England. The Growth of Royal Power in France. The Hundred Years War. Germany in the Later Middle Ages. Eastern Europe in the Later Middle Ages. The Papacy and Its Opponents in the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries. The Italian Renaissance: Politics and Humanism. The Italian Renaissance: Fine Arts and Voyages of Discovery. The Rise of Absolutism and of the Middle Class.