Barbarian conquerors transferred their awe of the Caesars to the papacy

Evidence

After him, for many ages, the city of Rome ceased to produce great men. But in its downfall it succeeded in fettering the souls of its conquerors: the reverence which they felt for the Chair of Peter was an outcome of the awe which they felt for the throne of the Caesars. — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1512

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1512
• XREF: connects to: Even the papacy endorsed the African-barbarism racial worldview