The Germanic people used their own culture to organize society and the government. The Germanic people were heavily influenced by the Romans from living for a long time close to Rome and adopting their traditions. The Germanic and Roman traditions blend to eventually form medieval Europe.

The prominent survivor of the Roman Empire was Christianity. Christianity was established as the official religion of Rome in 380 C.E. The Christian people held important political and military positions and with imperial sponsorship, the Christian faith spread rapidly.

Early Christians came from the uneducated, working class so their beliefs struck intellectual elites as unsophisticated and unbelievable. This religion grew as the style of salvation grew. After 400 years, intellectual elites took interest in Christianity, especially Augustine. Augustine explained Christianity to the educated class by using Platonic thought.

Early Christians didn't recognize a specific leader so there were many conflicts on who Jesus exactly was (was he divine or just a human being) and whether or not women should be allowed to be priests.

To centralize their religion, Christian leaders established a hierarchy of church officials which included: five religious authorities (bishop of Rome and patriarchs of Jerusalem, Antioch, Alexandria, and Constantinople) and bishops. The bishop of Rome had a greater sway over the Christian people than the patriarchs because he claimed to be the spiritual descendant of Jesus' main disciple and his seat was in Rome which was the imperial capital. Bishops ruled over religious affairs in their dioceses (districts). When disputes over religious interpretations happened, the bishops and patriarchs gathered in church councils.

The bishop (pope) of Rome became a spiritual leader when the Roman imperial authority was destroyed. The pope and bishops organized local government, defensive measures, and missionary campaigns.