municipal
republic, the example propagated itself throughout the rest of Picardy,
the Isle of France, Normandy, Brittany, and Burgundy, and by degrees,
without any revolutionary shocks, reached the region of Lyons, where the
consulate, a characteristic institution of southern Communes, ended.

From Flanders, also, the movement spread in the direction of the German
Empire; and there, too, the struggle was animated, and victorious against
the aristocracy, until at last the great system of enfranchisement
prevailed; and the cities of the west and south formed a confederation
against the nobles, whilst those in the north formed the famous Teutonic
Hanse, so celebrated for its maritime commerce.

The centre of France slowly followed the movement; but its progress was
considerably delayed by the close influence of royalty, which sometimes
conceded large franchises, and sometimes suppressed the least claims to
independence. The kings, who willingly favoured Communes on the properties
of their neighbours, did not so much care to see them forming on their own
estates; unless the exceptional position and importance of any town
required a wise exercise of tolerance. Thus Orleans, situated in the heart
of the royal domains, was roughly repulsed in its first movement; whilst
Mantes, which was on the frontier of the Duchy of Normandy, and still
under the King of England, had but to ask in order to receive its
franchise from the King of France.

It was particularly in the royal domains that cities were to be found,
which, although they did not possess the complete independence of
communes, had a certain amount of liberty and civil guarantees. They had
neither the right of war, the watch-tower, nor the exclusive jurisdiction
over their elected magistrates, for the bailiffs and the royal provosts
represented the sovereign amongst them (Fig. 39).

[Illustration: Fig. 39.--Bailliage, or Tribunal of the King's
Bailiff.--Fac-simile of an Engraving on Wood in the Work of Josse
Damhoudere, "Praxis Rerum Civilium." (Antwerp, 1557, in 4to.).]

In Paris, less than anywhere, could the kings consent to the organization
of an independent political System, although that city succeeded in
creating for itself a municipal existence. The middle-class influence
originated in a Gallo-Roman corporation. The Company of _Nautes_ or "the
Corporation of the Water Trade," formed a centre round which were
successively attached various bodies of different tra