<P> The Carolingian Renaissance was a period of intellectual and cultural revival during the late 8th century and 9th century, mostly during the reigns of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious . There was an increase of literature, the arts, architecture, jurisprudence, liturgical and scriptural studies . The period also saw the development of Carolingian minuscule, the ancestor of modern lower - case script, and the standardisation of Latin which had hitherto become varied and irregular (see Medieval Latin). To address the problems of illiteracy among clergy and court scribes, Charlemagne founded schools and attracted the most learned men from all of Europe to his court, such as Theodulf, Paul the Deacon, Angilbert, Paulinus of Aquileia . </P> <P> The cracks and fissures in Christian unity which led to the East - West Schism started to become evident as early as the fourth century . Cultural, political, and linguistic differences were often mixed with the theological, leading to schism . </P> <P> The transfer of the Roman capital to Constantinople inevitably brought mistrust, rivalry, and even jealousy to the relations of the two great sees, Rome and Constantinople . It was easy for Rome to be jealous of Constantinople at a time when it was rapidly losing its political prominence . Estrangement was also helped along by the German invasions in the West, which effectively weakened contacts . The rise of Islam with its conquest of most of the Mediterranean coastline (not to mention the arrival of the pagan Slavs in the Balkans at the same time) further intensified this separation by driving a physical wedge between the two worlds . The once homogenous unified world of the Mediterranean was fast vanishing . Communication between the Greek East and Latin West by the 600s had become dangerous and practically ceased . </P> <P> Two basic problems--the nature of the primacy of the bishop of Rome and the theological implications of adding a clause to the Nicene Creed, known as the filioque clause--were involved . These doctrinal issues were first openly discussed in Photius's patriarchate . </P>

7. in the middle ages what powerful expressions of faith were built in europe