allowed up by what remained of Roman civilization. Little by little
these Lombard monarchies, without roots in the soil, and surrounded by
hostile influences, died out, and there remained of the invaders only a
certain number of nobles, those whose descendants were to bear the
originally German names of Gherardesca, Rolandinghi, Soffredinghi,
Lambertazzi, Guidi, and whose suzerains were the Bavarian and Swabian
dukes and marquises of Tuscan. Meanwhile the Latin element revived;
towns were rebuilt; a new Latin language was formed; and the burghers of
these young communities gradually wrested franchises and privileges from
the weak Teutonic rulers, who required Italian agriculture, industry,
and commerce, without which they and their feudal retainers would have
starved. Feudalism became speedily limited to the hilly country; the
plain became the property of the cities which it surrounded; the nobles
turned into mere robber chieftains, then into mercenary soldiers, and
finally, as the towns gained importance, they gradually descended into
the cities and begged admission into the guilds of artizans and
tradesfolk. Thus they grew into citizens and Italians; but for a long
time they kept hankering after feudalism, and looking towards the German
emperors who claimed the inheritance of the Lombard kings. The struggle
between Guelphs and Ghibellines, between the German feudal element and
the Latin civic one, ended in the complete annihilation of the former in
all the north and centre of Italy. The nobles sank definitely into
merchants, and those who persisted in keeping their castles were
speedily ousted by the commissaries of the free towns. Such is the
history of feudalism in Italy--the history of Barbarian minority
engulphed in Latin civilization; of Teutonic counts and dukes turned
into robber nobles, hunted into the hills by the townsfolk, and finally
seeking admission into the guilds of wool-spinners or money-changers;
and in it is the main explanation of the fact that the Italian
republics, instead of remaining restricted within their city walls like
those of the North, spread over whole provinces, and became real
politically organized States. And in such States having a free
political, military, and commercial life, uncramped by ecclesiastic or
feudal influence, in them alone could the great revival of human
intelligence and character thoroughly succeed. The commune was the only
species of free government possible during t