man nationality succumb to the Teutonic. In the other
countries it not only maintained itself, but was able to assimilate the
ruling German race; the Lombards, West Goths, Swabians, and even the
Franks in the greater part of Gaul became Romanized. Consequently the
position of the Christian Church was never seriously affected. This is
the great fact which stands out at the beginning of the history of the
Church in the middle ages. The continuity of the political history of
Europe was violently interrupted by the Germanic invasion, but not that
of the history of the Church. For, in view of the facts above stated, it
was of small significance that in Britain Christianity was driven back
into the western portion of the island still held by the Britons, and
that in the countries of the Rhine and Danube a few bishoprics
disappeared.

This was of the less importance, as the Church immediately made
preparations to win back the lost territory. On the frontier line of
ancient and medieval times stands the figure of Gregory I., the
incarnation as it were of the change that was taking place: half Father
of the Church, half medieval pope. He it was who sent the monk Augustine
to England, in order to win over the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian
faith. Augustine was not the first preacher of the Gospel at Canterbury.
A Frankish bishop, Liudhard, had laboured there before his time; but the
mission of Augustine and his ordination as a bishop were decisive in the
conversion of the country and the establishment of the Anglo-Saxon
church. On the continent an extension of the Frankish supremacy towards
the east had already led to the advance of Christendom. Not only were
the bishoprics in the towns of the Rhine country re-established, but as
the Franks colonized the country on both sides of the Main, they carried
the Christian faith into the very heart of Germany. Finally, the
dependence of the Swabian and Bavarian peoples on the Frankish empire
paved the way for Christianity in those provinces also. Celtic monks
worked as missionaries in this part of the country side by side with
Franks. In England it had not been possible to bring the old British and
the young Anglo-Saxon churches into friendly union; but in spite of this
the Celts did not abstain from working at the common tasks of
Christendom, and the continent has much to thank them for. When the
first century of the middle ages came to an end the Church had not only
reoccupied the forme