At the same time the idea of the Universal Empire, which the Ancient World had embraced, continued to flourish.
In the East the Byzantine Empire lasted until A.D.1453.

In the West, however, the last Roman Emperor had been deposed by Odoacer in 476.
Italy had fallen into the hands of the East Goths and Lombards successively.

The Visigoths had established their dominion in Spain, and the Franks and Burgundians in Gaul.
A new empire rose from the latter quarter.

Charles the Great, with his powerful hand, extended the Frankish Empire far beyond the boundaries of Gaul.

By the subjugation of the Saxons he became lord of the country between the Rhine and the Elbe; he obtained the sovereignty in Italy by the conquest of the Lombards, and finally sought to restore the Western Roman Empire.