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Late Antiquity
The Change in Religion
One of the most obvious and most significant differences between the ancient and the medieval worlds is the difference in religion. The civilizations of Greece and Rome were pagan, whereas the medieval world was Christian. In neither case did this mean that there was religious unity, or complete consistency in ritual or belief, but in almost every significant detail there were profound differences between the two world views.
The process by which the Empire became Christian was rather remarkable. There was the slow spread of Christianity through the Empire over the course of about 250 years, with occasional persecutions culminating in severe persecutions under Diocletian at the end of the 3rd century. This was followed by the conversion of Constantine in 312 that seemed to save the Church as if by a miracle. After that, the Church held a special protected status that brought its own difficulties, but which ensured that the religion would continue to spread throughout the Roman world. Under Emperor Theodosius I (379-395), Christianity was made the official state religion of Rome.
One development I wish to stress here is the conversion of the Germanic barbarians to Christianity as a result of the work of St. Ulfilas in the time of Constantius II (337-361). Ulfilas was himself a Goth who converted, but he converted to Arian Christianity, and it was the Arian heresy that spread throughout the Gothic tribes. It is worth remembering that the vast majority of barbarians who invaded the Empire in the 5th century were in fact Christians and not pagans.
The so-called Successor Kingdoms were therefore Christian kingdoms, but of a particular kind. The kings and their tribesmen were Arian, while the Romano-Gallic natives in Italy, Gaul, Spain and North Africa were all Roman Catholic.
There were, however, some pagan Germans around. The Saxons had invaded Britain, a province that had never had deep Christian roots; it would be another century before that country was converted. And in Gaul, the Franks were busy conquering everyone within reach, and they too were pagan.
Clovis' conversion to Christianity around 496 was thus significant mainly because he converted to Roman Catholicism and not to Arianism. Only then, at the very end of the 5th century, did the Bishop of Rome have a king who might be called upon to defend the faith, for the Arians were all heretics in the eyes of Rome (and of Constantinople, for that matter).
Over the next two centuries, Roman Catholicism spread slowly through western Europe. The British Isles converted and the Franks remained loyal, if weak. Arianism died out completely in the course of the 6th century. Rome was again dominant in the West, but only in matters of religion.
In the seventh century, too, Islam spread across the Near East, North Africa, and Spain. At the same time, the Muslims took over the sea lanes of the Mediterranean. While some trade persisted, most contact with Egypt and the Holy Land was lost, and even contact with Constantinople was sporadic. The coming of Islam drove another deep wedge between West and East.
In the eight century, the Christians engaged in a virulent and violent controversy over the use of icons—religious paintings and statuary. While both the Latins and the Greeks eventually agreed that this type of art was acceptable in churches, the Latins decided this from the beginning while the Greeks for some decades forbade icons. This difference was sort of the last in a long line of differences in practice and belief, and pope and patriarch excommunicated one another. This was in essence a formal recognition that there were two churches in the old Roman world: the Roman Catholic, and the Greek Orthodox.
In religion, therefore, as in nearly every other aspect of life, the Roman Empire had broken in two. In truth, it had broken in thirds, for its wealthiest and most ancient portion was now Islamic. And the ancient paganism was now buried under many layers of Christian practice or else was gone altogether, to be found only in dusty books tucked away in monasteries.