264 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

all this was only a temporary relapse. The effective resis-
tance offered to the Arabs at Tours (732) in the West and
at Constantinople (717) in the East indicated the reviving
strength of Europe. The two active agents in the recovery
of Europe were the barbarians and Christianity. We shall
see in the course of this chapter how Europe was moving
towards a better order in all .phases of her life.

The most successful of the barbarians in the West were
the Franks. They dominated the whole of Western and
Central Europe from the fifth to the ninth centuries, and
were instrumental in bequeathing to Europe traditions of
unity and orderly government originally derived from Rome.
They occupied the territories now differentiated as Germany,
Austria, and France, which at that time formed parts of
the common Frankish Empire. Then there was neither
French nor German, but only West Frank and East Frank,
The greatest of their rulers was the celebrated Charlemagne
or Charles the Great (768-814). He deserved the title, as
we shall see, more than most others in history. His ideal
was not mere conquest, but organisation and enlightenment
as well. He was a worthy friend of the great Caliph Haroun-
al~Raschid about whom we have read already.

We need go no farther back into the history of the Franks
than Charles Martd, who drove away the Arabs at the battle
of Tours (732), in order to realise the value of the services
rendered by them to European civilisation. Some have
regretted that the Arabs did not win in that famous engage-
ment. For instance, Professor Robinson says, "had they
been permitted to settle in Southern France they might have
developed science and art far more rapidly than did the
Pranks."1 But the verdict of subsequent history has been

1. J. H. Robinson, The Ordeal of Civilization, p. 81.