Welcome back to another episode of five minutes in church history. On this episode, let's return to something we haven't done for a while, our

trending in the centuries. We'll do trending in the seventh century. We begin with two popes. The first is

Gregory the Great. He stretches back into the end of the sixth century starting

his papacy at 590 and it ended with his death in 604. He was

followed briefly by a Pope who wasn't all that strong and then he was followed

by Pope Boniface III.

He was only Pope for nine months in 607.

But he was very influential,

and between Boniface III and Gregory I, we see the rise of the supremacy of the papacy.

And that very much trended in the seventh century.

It was Pope Boniface III, who gave the papacy, gave himself

the title Universal Bishop. So the first thing, trending, is the rise of the supremacy of the papacy.

Well, let's stay in Rome for a little bit.

In 630, the Curia Julia was converted into a church.

The Curia Julia was the Roman Senate House. Senate House was begun

by none other than Julius Caesar. Yes, to Brutee Julius Caesar and 75 years after he began the work it was completed by Octavius.

The Senate met in that building all those years and all those centuries right up until 630

when it was converted into a church. By the way, in the 20th century, Muzalini,

had all the church artifice removed. And in 1938 he restored the structure

to its original Roman Senate glory. Well, leaving Rome, let's go to the north to England.

In 608, we have the earliest tradition of the great English epic poem, Beowulf.

The tale of the hero Beowulf who is slaying dragons and slaying the monster

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