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This is another one of my 'macro' discussions. Therefore, I will ask that we avoid worrying too much about the particular 'hows' in regard to the initial phases of this scenario.

The scenario presented is that, through some fashion, the conquests of Justinian do far better and are more enduring. Africa, all of Italy and Hispania are restored to Roman rule and stay that way for centuries. The borders of the Roman Empire are, in the west, the Alps and the Pyrenees. However the Empire manages its challenges in the east, it does, without losing any major territory (so, Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, all safe).

What is the ultimate effect of this political continuity in the rest of Europe?

- The Mediterranean is, for all intents and purposes, a Roman lake, thus greatly changing the economics of the Middle Ages.
- The Church is firmly under Roman administration, with all five of the Patriarchal Sees within Roman borders, and is united.
- The Roman Emperor is most definitively ruling over a unified Roman Empire that stretches from East to West, even if it is shorn of Gaul and Britain. There is thus, no opportunity for an ambitious Frankish king to be crowned as Emperor.
- Regardless of whether Islam rises, it will have little direct influence on Europe.

Does non-Roman Europe become more inclined to greater political unity in the face of such a powerful threat? Or does such a powerful state and the influence it can wield help stymy such unification? What other results might we see?
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