What was once a flourishing, powerful and unified Roman Empire began to crumble greatly in the late 4th century. Widespread epidemics, foreign invasions, fragmentation, and hyperinflation due to the lack of financial means were some of the main causes of the Roman Empire’s fall and major split. The monarch's power became a shadow while the papacy’s strength rose from the solidification of Catholicism. Papal authority made its installation in Rome. However, the Lombard’s invasion of Italy and political tensions starting in the 6th century shook papal power. In the 8th century, a struggle of powers between the monarchy and papacy conceived with the formation of the Carolingian empire. Such was the jump-start to many centuries of conflicts between
