The imperial title of the West remained in the family of Charlemagne until the deposition of Charles the Fat in 884.  His insanity dissolved the empire into factions, and it was not until Otho, King of Germany, laid claim to the title, with fire and sword, that the western empire was restored (962).  His conquest of Italy and delivery of the pope for ever fixed the imperial crown in the name and nation of Germany.  From that memorable era two maxims of public jurisprudence were introduced by force and ratified by time:  (1) That the prince who was elected in the German Diet acquired from that instant the subject kingdoms of Italy and Rome; (2) but that he might not legally assume the titles of Emperor and Augustus till he had received the crown from the hands of the Roman pontiff.

The nominal power of the Western emperors was considerable.  No pontiff could be legally consecrated till the emperor, the advocate of the Church, had graciously signified his approbation and consent.  Gregory VII., in 1073, usurped this power, and fixed for ever in the college of cardinals the freedom and independence of election.  Nominally, also, the emperors held sway in Rome, but this supremacy was annihilated in the thirteenth century.  In the fourteenth century the power derived from his title was still recognised in Europe; the hereditary monarchs confessed the pre-eminence of his rank and dignity.

The persecution of images and their votaries in the East had separated-Rome and Italy from the Byzantine throne, and prepared the way for the conquests of the Franks.  The rise and triumph of the Mahometans still further diminished the empire of the East.  The successful inroads of the Bulgarians, Hungarians, and Russians, who assaulted by sea or by land the provinces and the capital, seemed to advance the approach of its final dissolution.  The Norman adventurers, who founded a powerful kingdom in Apulia and Sicily, shook the throne of Constantinople (1146), and their hostile enterprises did not cease until the year 1185.

II.—­Latin Rulers of Constantinople

Under the name of the Latins, the subjects of the pope, the nations of the West, enlisted under the banner of the Cross for the recovery or the release of the Holy Sepulchre.  The Greek emperors were terrified and preserved by the myriads of pilgrims who marched to Jerusalem with Godfrey of Bouillon (1095-99) and the peers of Christendom.  The second (1147) and the third (1189) crusades trod in the footsteps of the first.  Asia and Europe were mingled in a sacred war of two hundred years; and the Christian powers were bravely resisted and finally expelled (1291) by Saladin (1171-93) and the Mamelukes of Egypt.

In these memorable crusades a fleet and army of French and Venetians were diverted from Syria to the Thracian Bosphorus; they assaulted the capital (1203), they subverted the Greek monarchy; and a dynasty of Latin princes was seated near three-score years on the throne of Constantine.