X.




INTRODUCTION


"The Truce of God" by our American novelist and dramatist, George Henry
Miles, is not only a romantic and interesting story, it recalls one of
the most striking achievements of the Middle Ages.

After the tide of barbarian invasion, Goths and Vandals, Heruli,
Burgundians and Franks had swept away the edifice of Roman civilization,
had it not been for the regenerating influence of Christianity, another
empire as cruel would have risen on the ruins of Rome. No other power
would then have ruled but the sword. The sword was king, and received
the worship of thousands. Now and then a ruler appeared like Theodoric,
Charlemagne, the Lombard Luitprand, who used the sword on the whole for
just and beneficent ends. And because these warrior kings, even in the
midst of their conquests, brought some of the blessings of peace to
their subject peoples, these peoples welcomed their sway. Peace was,
then as now, one of the world's needs.

Although the eighth, ninth and succeeding century were not without their
brighter sides and were not those totally Dark Ages they have been
represented by the enemies of the Church, nevertheless, seeds of evil
passions, which in spite of her endeavors the Church had been unable
completely to stifle, lingered in the hearts of those strong-limbed,
strong-passioned Teutonic races which had succeeded to the tasks and