Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/406

 344 Outlines of European History followed by still less desirable intruders, the Lombards. During this tumultuous period the people of Rome, and even of all Italy, came to regard the Pope as their natural leader. The Eastern Emperor was far away, and his officers, who managed to hold a portion of central Italy around Rome and Ravenna, were glad to accept the aid and counsel of the Pope. In Rome the Pope watched over the elections of the city officials and directed the manner the public money should be spent. He had to manage and defend the great tracts of land in different parts of Italy which from time to time had been given to the bishopric of Rome. He negotiated with the Germans and even gave orders to the generals sent against them. The pontificate of Gregory the Great, one of the half dozen most distinguished heads that the Church has ever had, shows how great a part the papacy could play. Gregory, who was the son of a rich Roman senator, had been appointed by the Emperor to the honorable office of prefect. He began to fear, however, that his proud position and fine clothes were making him vain and worldly. His pious mother and his study of the writings of Augustine and the other great Christian writers led him, upon the death of his father, to spend all his hand- some fortune in founding seven monasteries. One of these he established in his own house and subjected himself to such severe discipline that his health never entirely recovered from it. When Gregory was chosen pope (in 590) and most reluctantly left his monastery, ancient Rome, the capital of the Empire, was already transforming itself into medieval Rome, the capi- tal of Christendom. The temples of the gods had furnished materials for the many Christian churches. The tombs of the apostles Peter and Paul were soon to become the center of religious attraction and the goal of pilgrimages from every part of western Europe. Just as Gregory assumed office a great plague was raging in the city. In true medieval fashion he arranged a solemn procession in order to obtain from iieaven u