42
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Changes
→The Italian Peninsula
===The Italian Peninsula===
===The Italian Peninsula===
In 410, the Visigoths had sacked Rome, though they did not harm a single piece of property owned by the Church. Forty-two years Pope Leo I convinced Attila to leave, perhaps by his holiness, perhaps by an angel threatening to kill him unless the Hun obeyed him, perhaps by some gold. When the empire fell in 476, mercenaries ruled, but in 493, Theodoric of the Ostrogoths took over. He built roads, churches, aqueducts, theaters, and ampitheaters. Even though he was an Arian (someone who believed Jesus was not equal to God), he tolerated Catholics and Jews. But when he died, Justinian tried to conquer Italy. Even though they at first succeeded, the Ostrogoths fought back and both sides viciously destroyed the peninsula. Although eventally all Italy was ruled by Constantinople, in 568 the Lombards took over northern Italy. Pope Gregory I converted them to Catholicism, fed the people of Rome by grain from papal estates, and paid the Eastern Roman troops in Italy.
==The Rise of Islam (622-751)==
==The Rise of Islam (622-751)==