From the day of the Albigensian cruelties, the heart of the Church had turned to stone, and the spark of life divine within seemed extinguished.

Once the guardian of the helpless, it had deserted the people and made common cause with their oppressors.

One pope at Rome, and another at Avignon, was a heavy burden to carry.

But when _three_ infallible beings were hurling anathemas at each other, the University of Paris led Christendom in rejecting them all.
So the two great classes for which the State existed were overweighting the ship at a time when it was being torn and tossed by a storm of gigantic proportions.
Well was it for France that Charles VII., as king, developed unexpected firmness and ability.

The creation of a standing army, and the disbanding of all military organizations existing without the king's commission, at one sweeping blow completed the wreck of feudalism.