8. Christian Monasticism.-- The Aggrandisement of Monasteries. (original) (raw)

During the period of confusion and turbulence in Europe, which followed the crash of Rome under the onset of the barbarians, and before the disintegrated empire had been reconstructed by the strong grasp of Charles the Great, the monks were everywhere the champions of order against lawless violence, of the weak and the defenceless against the brute force of the oppressor. Again and again they confronted kings and nobles without fear and without favour, as Columbanus for instance, among the Franks, rebuked the profligacy of the Merovingian princes. The proudest monarch, the most reckless of his barons, abased himself before the mysterious attributes of the pale emaciated recluse, coming forth like a phantom from his cell, or at least affected the friendship of so powerful an ally.

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