gains; a matter-of-fact prosperity is not altogether preferable to
enlistment in the forlorn hope of idealism. Had medieval society been
more consistently secular and sceptical, it might have been more
prosperous, more stable, the nursery of more balanced natures and the
theatre of more orderly careers. But there would have been the less to
learn from the ethical and political conceptions of the age. What
appeals to us in the medieval outlook upon life is, first, the idea of
mankind as a brotherhood transcending racial and political divisions,
united in a common quest for truth, filled with the spirit of mutual
charity and mutual helpfulness, and endowed with a higher will and
wisdom than that of the individuals who belong to it; secondly, a
profound belief in the superiority of right over might, of spirit over
matter, of the eternal interests of humanity over the ambitions and the
passions of the passing hour. Without Christianity these articles of
faith could scarcely have passed into the common heritage of men; and,
without the Church, it is in the last degree improbable that
Christianity would have survived that age of semi-barbarism in which the
foundations of the modern world were laid.




VII

THE MEDIEVAL STATE


Between the years 1100 and 1500 A.D. the state-system of Europe passed
through changes amounting in their sum-total to a revolution. But the
changes which endured, whether they affected political boundaries or