arlemagne, were the only
important countries in Europe. The history of France from Clovis to
Charlemagne is a long record of disorder and iniquity, in which, if the
Church plays no worse part than the state, it at least plays no better.
In Italy religion and politics are involved in an inextricable tangle of
convulsions and dissensions. During this time there is no better proof
of the practical neglect into which the canon of celibacy had fallen,
than the continual iteration to which it is subjected by councils and
synods. Gregory the Great, in his conscientious efforts in the seventh
century to enforce sacerdotal chastity at least,--or rather to check the
flagrant violation of it,--in default of celibacy, had to contend, where
France was concerned, with the powerless imbecility of the Merovingian
monarchs.

His successors found more effectual assistance in the first
strong-handed Carlovingians. Pope Zachary, in concert with Carloman, and
St. Boniface, the great apostle of the Saxons, for the first time
attached the penalties of deposition, degradation, and penance to proved
impurity of life. This was the beginning of a series of reforms, of
which Boniface was the leading spirit, and Pepin and Charlemagne the
rigid guardians. But, although sacerdotal marriage became really the
exception rather than the rule, in consequence of these enactments, it
is doubtful whether morality was improved. It was a licentious age, and
the clergy as well as the laity belonged to their age. In the tenth
century clerical marriage began again to prevail, and again the strong
hands of Gregory VII., and of the Popes who reigned under his direction,
were needed to restore some degree of discipline. But vigorous as were
their measures, and persevering their efforts, it was restored chiefly
in name. Gregory's dissensions with the Empire offer Mr. Lea an occasion
to exhibit the condition of morality in the German Church. We are unable
to see that at this moment, as for some time to come, it differed
materially in any of the countries of Europe. In many outlying
provinces--in Wales, in Bohemia, in Sweden--lawful marriage took the
place of simple cohabitation; but in the great central states the vices
of the laity were still those of the clergy. If there was one spot
indeed where these vices were more flourishing than elsewhere, all
through the Middle Ages and into recent times, that spot was the very
head-quarters of sanctity,--Rome itself. But thi