nd_.)]

*14. The Town Government.*--In the middle of the thirteenth century
there were some two hundred towns in England distinguishable by their
size, form of government, and the occupations of their inhabitants,
from the rural agricultural villages which have just been described.
London probably had more than 25,000 inhabitants; York and Bristol may
each have had as many as 10,000. The population of the others varied
from as many as 6000 to less than 1000. Perhaps the most usual
population of an English mediaeval town lay between 1500 and 4000. They
were mostly walled, though such protection was hardly necessary, and
the military element in English towns was therefore but slightly
developed. Those towns which contained cathedrals, and were therefore
the seats of bishoprics, were called cities. All other organized towns
were known as boroughs, though this distinction in the use of the
terms city and borough was by no means always preserved. The towns
differed widely in their form of government; but all had charters from
the king or from some nobleman, abbey, or bishopric on whose lands
they had grown up. Such a charter usually declared the right of the
town to preserve the ancient customs which had come to be recognized
among its inhabitants, and granted to it certain privileges,
exemptions, and rights of self-government. The most universal and
important of these privileges were the following: the town paid the
tolls and dues owed to the king or other lord by its inhabitants in a
lump sum, collecting the amount from its own citizens as the latter or
their own authorities saw fit; the town courts had jurisdiction over
most suits and offences, relieving the townsmen from answering at
hundred and county court suits which concerned matters within their
own limits; the townsmen, where the king granted the charter, were
exempt from the payment of tolls of various kinds throughout his
dominions; they could pass ordinances and regulations controlling the
trade of the town, the administration of its property, and its
internal affairs generally, and could elect officials to carry out
such regulations. These officials also corresponded and negotiated in
the name of the town with the authorities of other towns and with the
government. From the close of the thirteenth century all towns of
any importance were represented in Parliament. These elements of
independence were not all possessed by every town, and some had
special privi