rivilege to collect feudal
dues and aids from the cities, and beyond this he cared nothing for
their welfare. It became his duty and privilege to hold the baronial
court in the towns at intervals and to regulate their internal affairs,
but he did this through a subordinate, and troubled himself little
about any regulation or administration except to further his own ends.

{330}

_The Rise of Free Cities_.--Many of the towns were practically run by
the surviving machinery of the old Roman municipal system, while many
were practically without government except the overlordship of the
feudal chief by his representative officer. The Romans had established
a complete system of municipal government in all their provinces. Each
town or city of any importance had a complete municipal machinery
copied after the government of the imperial city. When the Roman
system began to decay, the central government failed first, and the
towns found themselves severed from any central imperial government,
yet in possession of machinery for local self-government. When the
barbarians invaded the Roman territory, and, avoiding the towns,
settled in the country, the towns fell into the habit of managing their
own affairs as far as feudal regime would permit.

It appears, therefore, that the first attempts at local self-government
were made in the cities and towns. In fact, liberty of government was
preserved in the towns, through the old Roman municipal life, which
lived on, and, being shorn of the imperial idea, took on the spirit of
Roman republicanism. It was thus that the principles of Roman
municipal government were kept through the Middle Ages and became
useful in the modern period, not only in developing independent
nationality but in perpetuating the rights of a people to govern
themselves.

The people of the towns organized themselves into municipal guilds to
withstand the encroachments of the barons on their rights and
privileges. This gave a continued coherence to the city population,
which it would not otherwise have had or perpetuated. In thus
perpetuating the idea of self-government, this cohesive organization,
infused with a common sentiment of defense, made it possible to wrest
liberty from the feudal baron. When he desired to obtain money or
supplies in order to carry on a war, or to meet other expenditures, he
found it convenient to levy on the cities for this purpose. His
exactions, coming frequently and irregu