The History of the Papacy

All four books in one volume with a linked Table of Contents.
The Papacy, next to Christianity, is the great FACT of the modern world. Of the two, the former, unhappily, has proved in some respects the more powerful spring in human affairs, and has acted the more public part on the stage of the world. Fully to trace the rise and development of this stupendous system were to write a history of Western Europe. The decay of empires,--the extinction of religious systems,--the dissolution and renewal of society,--the rise of new States,--the change of manners, customs, and laws,--the policy of courts,--the wars of kings,--the decay and revival of letters, of philosophy and of arts,--all connect themselves with the history of the Papacy, to whose growth they ministered, and whose destiny they helped to unfold. On so wide a field of investigation, neither our time, nor our limits permit us to enter. Let it suffice that we indicate, in general terms, the main causes that contributed to the rise of this tremendous power, and the successive stages that marked the course of its portentous development.