Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/72



economic. The Frankish Empire of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire of Otto the Great were the handiworks of such "theological politicians" and "political theologians." And gradually a time came when the Popes were the dictators of European politics, and controlled not only the religious but the political and financial affairs of the Empire and the kingdoms. Such secular presumptions and political aggrandisement of the religious Empire are the root-causes of the interminable international conflicts and civil wars of the Middle Ages, and intensified the disruptive forces of the feudal regime.

Christianity and Islam thus prospered, not solely because of the needs of moral regeneration and spiritual