Church was the faithful guardian.

[Sidenote: Relations with the Eastern Empire.]

Thus the real aim of Chlodowech and his successors was not to conquer
the Roman Empire, not to substitute a Teutonic power for a Roman one;
but to take the place of the empire in Gaul, to succeed to its
heritage, to re-establish its authority, under Frankish kings. Thus
when the Empire of the West had ceased to be, the Frankish kings sought
titles and alliances from the emperors who still ruled at
Constantinople. It is a significant characteristic, indeed, of the
Merwing monarchy that it kept up close relations with the distant Roman
Empire in the East, that the Frankish kings professed to be the loyal
allies, as they were often the formally adopted sons, of the Roman
emperors and the consuls of the republic.

The Frankish kings, by their Christianity, imperfect though it was,
were admitted to fellowship with the central power of the Christian
world, with emperor at Byzantium and pope at Rome.

"Gaul was really independent of the empire in all {47} respects," [1]
and it is not there that we should seek for ecclesiastical relations
with Constantinople. But there can be no question that the Catholicism
of the Franks owed something to Eastern influences. There are points
in the Gallican ritual which are distinctly Byzantine, and must belong
to this period. Chlodowech, as an ally rather than a subject, and not
least, perhaps, because he was a Catholic, received the dignity of the
consulate from Anastasius.[2] And in the reign of the great Justinian
the Merwings looked to the emperor for recognition and support.
Theodebert, his "son," accepted a commission to propagate the Catholic
faith in the imperial name.[3] Bishops, too, who might be in need of
advice and consolation, applied naturally to Constantinople. Nicetius,
Bishop of Trier, that "man of highest sanctity, admirable in preaching,
and renowned for good works," [4] persecuted by Chlothochar and his
men, wrote naturally to the holy and orthodox emperor, "dominus semper
suus." In the midst of barbarities scarce conceivable,[5] the finest
characters were trained by the simple verities of the Catholic faith,
to which they clung with an extraordinary tenacity. Nor is this
anywhere more strongly shown than in the history of the Franks. Of the
meaning of the great struggle of Catholicism against Arianism, and of
its immense personal value, the histories afford many instances. T