During the Middle Ages, sick people

made pilgrimages to the shrines of

saints, hoping to be cured by praying
at the tomb or consuming dust from
it. A superstructure with niches pro-
tected the tomb from being entirely
scraped away by the pious; it allowed
them to get only part of their bodies
close to the tomb.

managed to preserve Rome and the land resent becoming wives to husbands who In it one is conscious of the fear of God and
around it, but the Lombards took over most wore hides rather than tunics or had blond of a great brightness."
of the northern part of the peninsula around hair and blue eyes rather than dark hair and The cathedrals often contained the bones
Milan, which became known as Lom- dark eyes? (Some women preferred a life in of early Christian saints. Pious Christians
bardy. The Lombards represented yet a nunnery to marriage, but not necessarily traveled to the shrines to cure their illnesses,
another challenge for conversion and as- because they objected to the physical and for the religious experience of being near
similation into something resembling the cultural characteristics of a prospective hus- the body of a martyr, for the adventure of
Roman way of life. band.) In any case, the invaders settled, travel, or for the opportunity to buy and sell
The brutality of the times is depicted in married into the local population, adopted goods at their destination. They also left
a story about a Lombard king and his wife. hybrid languages of Latin and Germanic gifts, including extensive land holdings, to
The queen's father had been a rival chief- words, and produced children of mixed the cathedrals and churches that housed the
tain, whom her husband had killed. Proud ancestry. Indeed, the entire Ostrogothic bones of notable saints. Gregory had par-
of his deed, he carried the father-in-law's population was assimilated into the popula- ticular success as a bishop by making the
skull about as a trophy. During a banquet, tion of Italy. The western Mediterranean shrine of St. Martin of Tours one of the
he filled the skull with wine and forced his culture as well as the appearance of its most venerated stops for pilgrims. Another
wife to drink his health. She complied but people changed through genetic mixing famous shrine was that of St. Denis the
vowed to murder her husband—a promise that introduced fairer skin and blond and martyred, first bishop of Paris. His remains
she kept. Despite the gruesome infighting red hair into their population. rested in a large and wealthy monastery.
of the Lombard royal family, eventually the For some time the Romans managed to That monastery became even wealthier
Lombards, too, were Christianized. keep for themselves the distinction of serv- when it established an annual fair that
Although the original written legal codes ing as bishops in the old Roman towns. attracted merchants from all over Europe as
of the Germanic tribes were intended to Gregory of Tours, for example, boasted well as the eastern Mediterranean.
keep the Roman and Germanic popula- that all but five of the bishops of Tours had Despite the popularity of St. Denis and
tions separate, the distinctions between the been connected with his family. But his St. Martin among pilgrims, the status of
two could not be maintained. Intermar- power and that of the other bishops de- these saints was far lower than that of St.
riage frequently occurred, and the languages pended on the tribal rulers. The bishops Peter, one of Jesus' original apostles. The
blended to create the Romance (or Latin- governed the towns and their surrounding bishop of Rome held a special place in the
root) languages: Italian, French, Spanish, countryside in a unit of land and govern- hierarchy of bishops because Rome had
and Romanian. The two groups slowly ment called the diocese. The church in been the center of the empire and because
assimilated into a common culture, but it is which the bishop officiated was called a Christian tradition was woven around Jesus'
not known how people felt about this cathedral. Gregory of Tours described one words to Peter: "Thou art Peter and on this
transition as it was taking place. Did Roman built in Clermont-Ferrand: "It is one hun- rock I shall build my church." According to
fathers think that their Germanic sons-in-law dred and fifty feet long, sixty feet wide Christian tradition, Peter had founded the
had crude table manners? Did Germanic inside the nave and fifty feet high as far as the first church in Rome and was martyred
boys think that their dark-haired Roman vaulting. It has a rounded apse at the end, there. The bishop of Rome, as the succes-
brides, whatever land and wealth that they and two wings of elegant design on either sor of Peter, was considered the head of the
brought to the marriage, were less beautiful side. The whole building is constructed in Church and came to be called pope or papa
(or more beautiful) than the blonde girls the shape of a cross. It has fifty-two win- (Latin for father). But the superior position
they were used to? Did Roman women dows, seventy columns and eight doorways. of the bishop of Rome also owed much to

S E T T L I N G DOWN IN THE OLD EMPIRE • 29