e Caspian to the Indian Ocean; and
Jerusalem, the metropolis of Christianity--Jerusalem, the Mecca of the
Christian--was lost! The Crescent floated over the birthplace of our
Lord, and, notwithstanding the temporary successes of the Crusades, it
does to this day.

If the Pyrenees were passed the very existence of Christendom was
threatened. Charles Martel, the grandfather of Charlemagne, averted
this danger when he stayed the infidel flood at the battle of Tours,
A.D. 732.

The Merovingian kings, if not devout, were faithful sons of the Church,
and when the pope appealed to the last Merovingian king to protect him
from the Lombards, near the end of the eighth century, Pepin, then
Maire du Palais, but holding supreme power, twice crossed the Alps with
an army, wrested five cities and a large extent of territory from the
enemies of the pope, which, upon parting, he tossed as a gift into the
lap of the Church. And this, known as the _Donation of Pepin_, was the
beginning of the temporal power of the popes in Italy. So when Pepin
resolved to assume the crown, Pope Zacharias in gratitude sanctioned
the audacious act, by sending his representative to place the symbol of
power upon the head of this faithful son and usurper! (A.D. 751.)

But this was only the stepping-stone for a greater elevation. When
Pope Adrian I. again needed protection from the Lombard, a greater than
Pepin was wearing the crown his father had audaciously snatched.

CHAPTER V.

Against the dark background of European history, and with the broad
level of obscurity stretching over the ages at its feet, there rises
one shining pinnacle. Considered as man or sovereign, Charlemagne is
one of the most impressive figures in history. His seven feet of
stature clad in shining steel, his masterful grasp of the forces of his
time, his splendid intelligence, instinct even then with the modern
spirit, all combine to elevate him in solitary grandeur.

Charlemagne found France in disorder measureless, and apparently
insurmountable. Barbarian invasion without, and anarchy within; Saxon
paganism pressing in upon the north, and Asiatic Islamism upon the
south and west; a host of forces struggling for dominion in a nation
brutish, ignorant, and without cohesion.

It is the attribute of genius to discern opportunity where others see
nothing. Charlemagne saw rising out of this chaos a great resuscitated
Roman Empire, which should be at the same time a