Excerpt from Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. 7 The reign of Philip-Augustus belongs to two centuries, the twelfth and thirteenth, - centuries of no little importance in the history of European civilization. At a period like this, when events which have their origin in the progress, decay, and reproduction of past institutions are daily being developed, the study of the different steps by which the citizen has become what he is must be an occupation of the most lively interest. It is a remark of the author of the work before us, that we are apt to consider revolutions in a far too confined point of view; we limit the epoch by its visible signs and its finished results; but these results have been in long preparation. Society does not receive a new form in a day; the ideas cast abroad in one century become the leading principles of the next; in short, in the history of mankind everything is gradual; - a revolution is but the explosion of a train that has been long and curiously laid. The period in which Philip-Augustus was a great instrument in modelling and arranging the internal forms of society, is marked as the age in which the beginnings of numerous great changes had their commencement, - in which they arose into obvious existence, without, however, then receiving their accomplishment. It was the dawn of the great intellectual reformation, which has since made such rapid progress, and is every day more and more expanding its propitious light. The two grand elements which operated on society from the establishment of the barbarous invaders in Roman Gaul, and which maintained a continual struggle for predominance over the opinions of men from the seventh to the tenth century, were the material force of the conquerors, and the moral and intelligent force of the clergy. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.