274 A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

The principal difficulty is, of course, of partisan views.
It is not easy to deal with the history of Christianity with-
out knocking against some orthodox or heretical sentiments.
However, religious controversy is no part of our scheme, and,
as we did with Islam so also here, we shall concern ourselves
xather with the positive contributions of the Church as a
whole than dabble in doctrinal polemics.

We have already referred to the birth of Christianity and
its fortunes under the Roman Empire. From being an
obscure and bitterly persecuted Jewish sect, it had come to
be a well established, universal, and civilising force in Europe
during the early centuries of the Christian era. The land-
marks in its victorious career were the conversion of Con-
stantine among the Roman Emperors, and Clovis among the
terbarian monarchs. Already, in 311 A.D., the Emperor
Galerius had issued a decree placing Christianity on a/ basis
of legal equality with the Roman faith, but Constantine's
personal conversion gave it a new prestige. In this respect
the baptism of the West Prankish king Clovis in 4% ren-
dered a similar service to Christianity in Western Europe.
As it had happened with many another prince the conver-
sion of Clovfe had been preceded by that of his wife. The
pagan husband had pledged to Jesus Christ that he would
become a faithful Christian if he was victorious over his
•enemies; and the Cross had triumphed.

By the code of Theodosius, which was completed in 438,
the Christian Church had been specially protected. As a
mark of respect for the sacred character of the Christian
-clergy, they were exempted alike from some irksome public
duties and taxes to which all other citizens were liable. They
^ere also allowed to receive bequests^ which made the
Churches rich, and the Emperors themselves provided
magnificent buildings for them. But what gave them pres-