An Introduction to the History of Western Europe Quotes

“Woe to our time, for the study of letters has perished from among us.”
― James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe

“The truth that no abrupt change has ever taken place in all the customs of a people, and that it cannot, in the nature of things, take place, is perhaps the most fundamental lesson that history teaches.”
― James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe

“During the tenth and eleventh centuries the rule of the Church prohibiting the clergy from marrying appears to have been widely and publicly neglected in Italy, Germany, France, and England. To the stricter critics of the time this appeared a terrible degradation of the clergy, who, they felt, should be unencumbered by family cares and wholly devoted to the service of God. The question, too, had another side. It was obvious that the property of the Church would soon be dispersed if the clergy were allowed to marry, since they would wish to provide for their children. Just as the feudal tenures had become hereditary, so the church lands would become hereditary unless the clergy were forced to remain unmarried.”
― James Harvey Robinson, An Introduction to the History of Western Europe