were
placed--a dependence forced upon them by the natural development of
the new state system of their Teutonic conquerors--some common effort
at organization was needful, for purposes at least of self-defense.
That this effort came from the town itself, from the people and not
from the external power of the ruler or overlord, is the fact which
first makes the history of these municipalities interesting.

There are two facts, however, which, even at this early date, begin to
influence the internal history of the communes. These are the
influence which the Church,[7] through its bishops, began to attain in
the civil affairs of the country; and the idea beginning to gain
currency that the locality where a number of individuals, however
wretched in state, were collected together, would afford a safer
refuge than the open country to the oppressed, the homeless and the
outcast. I will briefly consider the latter first, as of less
importance, though not unconnected with the former.

In the period of great confusion in all relations of property which
ensued from the Lombard military system of small independent
landholders and a few great overlords, with a nominal royal ownership
of title, and before the feudal system was established, with its iron
rules in regular working order, constant inequalities of wealth and
consequent changes in the relative positions of individuals were sure
to ensue. In practice if not in theory, might makes right in such a
state of society. The weaker goes to the wall, and the stronger gains
in strength by his downfall. Besides, it was long before the roving
and predatory instinct of the barbarian was moderated; and his weaker
neighbor was the natural prey of the more powerful landholder, an
example not unfrequently set by the king himself. Now, if the weaker
party remained to brave the attack and was conquered, he was reduced
to a state of villeinage or of dependence more or less complete. If on
the other hand he wished to escape this change of condition, where was
he to find refuge? The only safe asylum in those days of rapine and
violence was that offered by the Church and its precincts. The church
of the greatest importance in the district, in this early age when no
walled monasteries existed, would without doubt be that situated
within the limits of the nearest town. To this haven then comes the
outcast, hastily collecting his family and all of his wealth of a
portable character; the country