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siness of every archbishop, during a considerable time, to abridge the rights and jurisdiction of the community; and the great object of the citizens, especially when the see was vacant, to maintain, to recover, and to extend their own jurisdiction. Histoire civile & politique de la Ville de Reims, par M. Anquetil, tom. i. p. 287, &c.

THE observations which I have made concerning the low state of cities, and the condition of their inhabitants, are confirmed by innumerable passages in the historians and laws of the middle ages. It is not improbable, however, that some cities of the first order were in a better state, and enjoyed a superior degree of liberty. Under the Roman government, the municipal government established in cities was extremely favourable to liberty. The jurisdiction of the senate in each corporation, and the privileges of the citizens, were both extensive. There is reason to believe, that some of the greater cities which escaped the destructive rage of the barbarous nations, still retained their ancient form of government, at least in a great measure. They were governed by a council of citizens, and by magistrates whom they themselves elected. Very strong presumptions in favour of this opinion are produced by M. l'Abbé De Bos, Hist. Crit. de la Mon. Franc. tom. i. p. 18, &c. tom. ii. p. 524. edit. 1742. It appears. from some of the charters of community to cities, granted in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, that these only confirm the privileges possessed by the inhabitants previous to the establishment of

the community. D'Acher. Spiceleg. vol. xi. p. 345. Other cities claimed their privileges, as having possessed them without interruption from the times of the Romans. Hist. Crit. de la Mon. Franc. tom. ii. p. 333. But the number of cities which enjoyed such immunities was so small, as hardly in any degree to diminish the force of my conclusions in the text.

NOTE XVII. SECT. I. p. 39. [R]

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HAVING given a full account of the establishment as well as effects of communities in Italy and France, it will be necessary to inquire with some attention into the progress of cities and of municipal government in Germany. The ancient Germans had no cities. Even in their hamlets or villages they did not build their houses contigu ous to each other. Tacit. de Mor. Germ. Tacit. de Mor. Germ. cap. 16. They considered it as a badge of servitude to be obliged to dwell in a city surrounded with walls. When one of their tribes had shaken off the Roman yoke, their countrymen required of them, as an evidence of their having recovered liberty, to demolish the walls of a town which the Romans had built in their country. Even the fiercest animals, said they, lose their spirit and courage when they are confined, Tacit. Histor. lib. iv. c. 64. The Romans built several cities of note on the banks of the Rhine. But in all the vast countries from that river to the coasts of the Baltic, there was hardly one city previous to the ninth century of the Christian æra. Conringius Exercitatio de

Urbibus Germaniæ, Oper. vol. i. § 25. 27. 31, &c. Heineccius differs from Conringius with respect to this. But even, after allowing to his arguments and authorities their utmost force, they prove only, that there were a few places in those extensive regions on which some historians have bestowed the name of towns. Elem. Jur. German. lib. i. § 102. Under Charlemagne, and the Emperors of his family, as the political state of Germany began to improve, several cities were founded, and men became accustomed to associate and to live together in one place. Charlemagne founded two archbishoprics and nine bishoprics in the most considerable towns of Germany. Aub. Miræi Opera Diplomatica, vol. i. p. 16. His successors increas ed the number of these; and as bishops fixed their residence in the chief town of their diocese, and performed religious functions there, that induced many people to settle in them. Conring. ibid. § 48. But Henry, surnamed the Fowler, who began his reign A. D. 920, must be considered as the great founder of cities in Germany. The empire was at that time infested by the incursions of the Hungarians, and other barbarous people. In order to oppose them, Henry encouraged his subjects to settle in cities, which he surrounded with walls strengthened by towers. He enjoined or persuaded a certain proportion of the nobility to fix their -residence in the towns, and thus rendered the con dition of citizens more honourable than it had been formerly. Wittikindus Annal. lib. i. ap. Conring. $82. From this period the number of cities con

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tinued to increase, and they became more popu lous and more wealthy. But cities in Germany were still destitute of municipal liberty or jurisdiction. Such of them as were situated in the Imperial demesnes, were subject to the Emperors. Their Comites, Missi, and other judges, presided in them, and dispensed justice. Towns situated on the estate of a baron, were part of his fief, and he or his officers exercised a similar jurisdiction in them. Conring. ibid. § 73, 74. Heinec. Elem. Jur. Germ. lib. i. § 104. The Germans borrowed the institution of communities from the Italians. Knipschildius Tractatus Politico-Histor. Jurid. de Civitatum Imperialium Juribus, vol. i. lib. i. cap. 5. N° 23. Frederick Barbarossa was the first emperor who, from the same political consideration that influenced Louis le Gros, multiplied communities in order to abridge the power of the nobles. Pfeffel Abregé de l'Histoire et du Droit Publique d'Allemange, 4to. p. 297. From the reign of Henry the Fowler, to the time when the German cities acquired full possession of their immunities, various circumstances contributed to their increase. The establishment of bishoprics (already mentioned) and the building of cathedrals, naturally induced many people to settle near the chief place of worship. It became the custom to hold councils and courts of judicature of every kind, ecclesiastical as well as civil, in cities. In the eleventh century, many slaves were enfranchised, the greater part of whom settled in cities. Several mines were discovered and wrought in different provinces, which drew together such a concourse of people,

as gave rise to several cities, and increased the number of inhabitants in others. Conring. § 105. The cities began in the thirteenth century to form leagues for their mutual defence, and for repressing the disorders occasioned by the private wars among the barons, as well as by their exactions. This rendered the condition of the inhabitants of cities more secure than that of any other order of men, and allured many to become members of their communities. Conring. § 94. There were inhabitants of three different ranks in the towns of Germany: the nobles, or familiæ ; the citizens, or liberi; and the artisans, who were slaves, or homines proprii. Knipschild. lib. ii. cap. 29, N° 13. Henry V. who began his reign A. D. 1106, enfranchised the slaves who were artisans or inhabitants in several towns, and gave them the rank of citizens or liberi. Pfeffel, p. 254. Knipsch. lib. ii, c. 29. N° 113. 119. Though the cities in Ger many did not acquire liberty so early as those in France, they extended their privileges much farther. All the Imperial and free cities, the number of which is considerable, acquired the full right of being immediate; by which term, in the Ger man jurisprudence, we are to understand, that they are subject to the empire alone, and possess within their own precincts all the rights of complete and independent sovereignty. The various privileges of the Imperial cities, the great guardians of the Germanic liberties, are enumerated by Knipschild, lib. ii. The most important articles are generally known, and it would be improper to enter into any disquisition concerning minute particulars.

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