Excerpt from Christian History in Its Three Great Periods, Vol. 2: Second Period, the Middle Age Even centuries, dating from the time of Charle magne, include the Catholic system of the Middle Age. Strictly Speaking, the great era of ecclesiastical power covers only two centuries and a half, beginning (about 1050) with the work of Hilde brand, and ending with the Jubilee of the year 1300. In a broader sense, however, the Middle Age extends from the founding of the Empire of the West in 800 to the dawn of the Protestant Reformation. Again, it will be convenient to take the exact middle point of the period thus defined as the moment when the spiritual power, properly so called, culminates. The Papacy reached its greatest political splendor and strength a little later; but reasons will appear for taking the above date as marking the time of highest vigor in the system as a whole. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.