er to make
certain reparations. Before his Lordship got the first installment of
the stipulated sum, the townspeople were once more in possession of all
their old charters and a brand new one which permitted them to build
a "city-hall" and a strong tower where all the charters might be kept
protected against fire and theft, which really meant protected against
future violence on the part of the Lord and his armed followers.

This, in a very general way, is what happened during the centuries which
followed the Crusades. It was a slow process, this gradual shifting
of power from the castle to the city. There was some fighting. A few
tailors and jewellers were killed and a few castles went up in smoke.
But such occurrences were not common. Almost imperceptibly the towns
grew richer and the feudal lords grew poorer. To maintain themselves
they were for ever forced to exchange charters of civic liberty in
return for ready cash. The cities grew. They offered an asylum to
run-away serfs who gained their liberty after they had lived a number
of years behind the city walls. They came to be the home of the more
energetic elements of the surrounding country districts. They were proud
of their new importance and expressed their power in the churches and
public buildings which they erected around the old market place, where
centuries before the barter of eggs and sheep and honey and salt had
taken place. They wanted their children to have a better chance in life
than they had enjoyed themselves. They hired monks to come to their
city and be school teachers. When they heard of a man who could paint
pictures upon boards of wood, they offered him a pension if he would
come and cover the walls of their chapels and their town hall with
scenes from the Holy Scriptures.

Meanwhile his Lordship, in the dreary and drafty halls of his castle,
saw all this up-start splendour and regretted the day when first he had
signed away a single one of his sovereign rights and prerogatives. But
he was helpless. The townspeople with their well-filled strong-boxes
snapped their fingers at him. They were free men, fully prepared to hold
what they had gained by the sweat of their brow and after a struggle
which had lasted for more than ten generations.

MEDIAEVAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

HOW THE PEOPLE OF THE CITIES ASSERTED THEIR RIGHT TO BE HEARD IN THE
ROYAL COUNCILS OF THEIR COUNTRY

As long as people were "nomads," wandering tribes of shepherds, al