eleventh and twelfth centuries, even though
they were the guardians of literature as well as of the arts, the monks
were possessed of an energy which took its most active form in
church-building.

Whatever may have been the origin of the later Romanesque
church-building, whether it was indigenous to Lombard Italy or not, it
was much the same in Spain, France, England, and Germany, though it took
its most hardy form in Germany, perhaps with the cathedral of Speyer
(1165-90), which is one of the latest Romanesque structures,
contemporary with the early Gothic of France. In Italy, and elsewhere
along the Mediterranean, the pure Romanesque was somewhat diluted by the
Byzantine influence; but northward, along the course of the Rhine, the
Romanesque influence had come to its own in a purer form than it had in
Italy itself.

Here it may be well to mention one pertinent fact of German history, in
an attempt to show how, at one time at least, Church and state in
Germany were more firmly bound together than at present.

The Germanic Empire, founded by Charlemagne in the year 800, was
dissolved under Francis II., who, in 1806, exchanged the title of
Emperor of Germany for that of Emperor of Austria, confining himself to
his hereditary dominions.

In the olden times the Germanic Empire was in reality a league of
barons, counts, and dukes, who, through seven of their number, elected
the emperor.

These electors were the Archbishops of Mayence (who was also Primate and
Archchancellor of the Empire), Treves, and Cologne; the Palatine of the
Rhine, Arch-Steward of the Empire; the Margrave of Brandenburg,
Arch-Chamberlain; the Duke of Saxony, Arch-Marshal; and the King of
Bohemia, Arch-Cupbearer.

In no part of the Christian world did the clergy possess greater
endowments of power and wealth than did those of the Rhine valley.

The Archbishop of Cologne was the Archchancellor of the Empire, the
second in rank of the electoral princes, and ruler of an immense
territory extending from Cologne to Aix-la-Chapelle; while the
Archbishops of Mayence and Treves played the role of patriarchs, and
were frequently more powerful even than the Popes.

All the bishops, indeed, were invested with rights both spiritual and
temporal, those of the churchman and those of the grand seigneur, which
they exercised to the utmost throughout their dioceses.

St. Boniface was sent on his mission to Germany in 715, having
credentials and instructions