30 THE ORIGINS OF FREEMASONRY FROM ANCIENT TIMES TO THE MIDDLE AGES
Willibrord, went to continue his conversion of the Hessians, Frisians,
Saxons, and Bavarians, he erected churches with journeymen from
England.^14
Maintaining and Spreading the Collegia in the
Eastern EmpireThe heart of Roman civilization found itself shifted to the East once
Emperor Constantine, in 330, transferred the capital of the empire to
Byzantium, which took the name Constantinople. In 395, at the death
of Theodosius, the empire was divided in half and Constantinople
became the capital of the Eastern Empire. Rome was hence primed for
invasion and ruin. Those parts of the Western Empire that did manage
to escape barbarian invasion fell under the authority of the Eastern
Empire and formed the Exarchat, with Ravenna as its capital.
The Eastern Empire became the keeper of Greco-Roman secular
traditions. It was also—perhaps even more than Rome—the seat of
Christendom, for which, after all, it had been the cradle. Located at the
gates to Asia, it could easily receive the teachings of the old Eastern civ-
ilizations that Sassinaid Persia had harvested and reformatted into
audacious and scholarly inventions cast in gripping phrases. Byzantium
and Alexandria, the other spiritual capital of Christianity (before it fell
into Arab hands in 640), were the natural vessels of these brilliant
civilizations.
Philosophical thought flowered during this time into great syncretic
Neoplatonic and Hermetic theories. It was also the acme of Roman law,
the complete development of which took place in the sixth century
under Emperor Justinian. Roman institutions experienced their fullest
development at this time. The collegia were no exception, becoming
some of the principal cogs of Byzantine life. Religious at their founda-
tions, these collegia had to transform their pious practices under
Christianity's influence, but it is very likely that they preserved their
rites and symbols, principally those connected to their operational
secrets. Symbols remain but their interpretations change: This is a law
of evolution. Nor is it to be doubted that Eastern influences were at
work in this area as they were in others. In fact, they became so imbed-