The book by M. S. Korelin was based on his lecture course at the Polytechnic Museum. The author paid much attention at the popularization of historical knowledge and was a member of the Committee for Literacy. Texts of his lectures were published in the magazine ‘Russkaya mysl’ (Russian Thought) in 1890-1892. After the death of K., they were gathered in one book in the series ‘The History of Europe in Epochs and Countries in the Middle Ages and in the Modern Time’, supervised by N. I. Kareev and I. V. Luchitsky; it was designed for the propaganda of serious and popular knowledge. Thus, the book was also general in character, popular, written in a literary style, and full of information.
The work covers the period from the foundation of the Papacy till the start of the Reformation. Just in the beginning, the author stressed the connection of the Papacy and its evolution with the cultural milieu, which it had to adapt to. That is why the author found either negative, or positive influence of the Papacy on the history of Europe in various moments.
First of all, he considered the issue of elevation the popes over other bishops. He supposed, that the popes’ supremacy had been based on the cultural and political significance of Rome, and later was supported with the doctrine, that Apostle Peter had been the first among the apostles and the first bishop of Rome. In the disturbing time of Barbarous invasions, the Papacy was able to unite the remnants of Roman nobility and to establish its authority in religious issues. On his opinion, the next step in strengthening of the popes’ power was their victory over the councils in the ninth-eleventh centuries. The author analyzed a deep crisis of the Papacy, which depended on the crisis of the Empire. It was overcome thanks to the reform of Pope Gregory VII. Since the thirteenth century, the authority of Roman pontific ha been going to the decline – which took place in the early sixteenth century.
Through all his book, K. built the narration on biographies of certain popes, taking the great role of persons in history for granted. That is why, there are bright images of Gregory the Great, Nickolas I, and others in the book – aside the dramatic stories of wild moods, for instance, in the case of the trial of Stephan VI over the dead Pope Formosus.