of officers, such as dukes and counts, introduced by the conquerors; yet, in the documents of the middle ages, numerous instances may be found in which there is an evident regard for the official titles which belonged to the days of the empire.*. Convocations of the senate, meetings of the curiæ, or Roman courts, for the administration of justice, and the laws of the imperial code, still obtained in the ancient towns; and the citizens of Metz, Cologne, and Treves, in the time of Charlemagne, proudly retained the remembrance, and carefully preserved the traces, of their Roman origin. The architecture of their churches and public buildings was on the Roman plan, and probably whatever branches of art remained beside, chiefly connected as they were with their religious worship, were cultivated according to the taste which prevailed in the mother city of Christendom.

The history of Roman towns, from the fifth to the tenth century, is, in general, a history of decline. They were wasted by war, and by the oppression of imperious lords. Their commercial spirit subsided, their resources diminished, and by the end of the time just mentioned they had reached their lowest point-the very nadir of civilisation. The Lombardic cities, however, did not suffer so much as the other municipalities in the empire. The barbarian influence there was not so strong, and they retained some wealth, commerce, and activity throughout the dark

ages.

* Muratori gives several instances, Antiquitates, etc., Diss 18.

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SECTION II.

RISE OF MODERN ITALIAN CITIES.

IN the tenth century cities began to revive. Those in Lombardy, even in the ninth century, showed signs of returning prosperity. They rebuilt their walls, purchased or manufactured arms, addicted themselves more to commercial industry, and acquired some wealth; and, as a natural consequence of this, they felt the desirableness of self-government and selfdefence. About the same time, the political institutions of the towns of Lombardy underwent a change. The bishops, in many instances, became counts or temporal governors of their sees. The citizens elected their own magistrates, subject to the approval of the bishops; the emperor-though not always without the consent of the people-appointing them to their sees, in consequence of the introduction of the feudal principle into the church, the prelates having become temporal lords and feudatories of the empire. The em

perors also appointed commissioners or vicars for these towns, who there represented the imperial authority. The episcopal government in cities seems to have been favourable to the growing independence of the towns, the churchman, even if disposed, being by no means able to become so formidable an oppressor as the soldier, while the consent, at least, of the people, on his appointment, kept up a notion

of their municipal importance. During, and after the war of investitures, when the cities of Italy took part in the quarrel between the emperor and the pope, some arraying themselves on one side and some on another, they received an impulse which quickened their desire for independence.

A considerable mist rests over the morning of Italian liberty. The history of the rise of her republican cities is extremely obscure. They seem to have silently grown up, and to have gradually appropriated to themselves the prerogatives of sovereignty. We discern an increasing spirit of activity and independence among the people-the assembling of the citizens, at the sound of the great bell, in the square, or market-place, of the town, for consultation-their election of consuls, who had the charge of justice at home, and of war abroadand the organization of militlas for self-defence. In the eleventh century "the militia of every city was divided into separate bodies, according to local partitions, each led by a gonfaloniere, or standard-bearer. They fought on foot, and assembled round the carroccio, a heavy car drawn by oxen, and covered with the flags and armorial bearings of the city. A high pole rose in the middle of the car, bearing the colours and à Christ, which seemed to bless the army, with both arms extended. A priest said daily mass at an altar placed in front of the car. The trumpeters of the community, seated on the back part, sounded the

F

charge and the retreat. It was Heribert, archbishop of Milan, contemporary of Conrad, the Salic, who invented this car in imitation of the ark of alliance, and caused it to be adopted at Milan. All the free cities of Italy followed the example: this sacred car intrusted to the guardianship of the militia gave them weight and confidence." "It was from A.D. 900 to A.D. 1200, that the most prodigious works were undertaken and accomplished by the towns of Italy. They began by surrounding themselves with thick walls, ditches, towers, and counterguards at the gates-immense works which a patriotism ready for every sacrifice could alone accomplish. The maritime towns, at the same time, constructed their ports, quays, canals, and custom-houses, which served also as vast magazines for commerce. Every city built public palaces for the signora, or municipal magistrates, and prisons, and constructed also temples, which, to this day, fill us with admiration by their grandeur and magnificence. These three regenerating centuries gave an impulse to architecture, which soon awakened the other fine arts."* Yet it must not be

supposed that these renovated cities, in the early stages of their modern history, presented an unmingled scene of social advancement, prosperity, and happiness. Very far from it. In their struggles with the emperor of Germany for the establishment of their liberties, they endured sieges and sufferings the most

* Italian Rep. 22.

heartrending; nor were they free from dissensions among themselves, and from acts of infamous oppression perpetrated by the strong upon the weak. While a city was fighting for

its own liberties, it often invaded the rights of its neighbours; an implacable spirit strongly marked the private habits of the citizens sufficient security for human life was not provided, the moral condition of the mass of the people was degraded; peace was made the prey of faction, and, in too many cases, the blossoms of freedom, which might have set into precious fruit, went up as dust."

66

There were some Italian cities, especially Amalfi and Venice, which, in consequence of their dependence on the eastern emperors, their relations and intercourse with Constantinople, and their commercial activity, differed in their social condition from the cities of Lombardy. They were decidedly in advance of their neighbours-civilisation there made more rapid strides and reflected some tinge of orientalisın. Amalfi shines with conspicuous lustre from the sixth to the twelfth century, when its glory was extinguished by the Norman king of the Sicilies. There can be no doubt that its commercial intercourse with Constantinople, where eastern luxury prevailed, in the middle ages, and the trade which it carried on with the Saracens, who were the chief cultivators of the arts and sciences during that period, tended to raise the city of Amalfi, as it relates to artistic civilisation, to a proud