Chapter VIII: Act 1832: There are special rules applicable to each kind of claim (2)

The struggle against the bishops, in which a clamour for a reform of clerical life and a striving for local self-government were strangely interwoven, had raged for a couple of generations when King Henry V., great patron of municipal freedom as he was, legalized by a series of charters the _status quo_ (Cremona, 1114, Mantua, 1116). But under his weak successors the independence of the cities reached such a pitch as to be manifestly intolerable to an energetic monarch like Frederick I. Besides, the more powerful among them would subdue or destroy their weaker neighbours, and two parties were formed, one headed by Milan, the other by Cremona. Como and Lodi complained of the violence used to them by the former city. Therefore in 1158 a commission was appointed embracing four Roman legists as representatives of the emperor, as well as those of fourteen towns, to examine into the imperial and municipal rights. The claims of the imperial government, jurisdictional and other, were acknowledged, only such rights of self-government being admitted as could be shown to be grounded on imperial charters. But when it came to carrying into effect these Roncaglian decrees, a general rising resulted. Milan was besieged by the emperor and destroyed in 1162 in accordance with the verdict of her rivals. Nevertheless, after a defeat at Legnano in 1176, Frederick was forced to renounce all pretensions to interference with the government of the cities, merely retaining an overlordship that was not much more than formal (peace of Constance in 1183). All through this war the towns had been supported by Pope Alexander III. Similarly under Frederick II. the renewal of the struggle between emperor and pope dovetailed with a fresh outbreak of the war with the cities, who feared lest an imperial triumph over the church would likewise threaten their independence. The emperor's death finally decided the issue in their favour.

Constitutionally, municipal freedom was based on the formation of a commune headed by elected consuls, usually to the number of twelve, representing the three orders of _capitani_, _valvassori_ and _popolo_. Frequently, however, the number actually wielding power was much more restricted, and their position altogether may rather be likened to that of their Roman predecessors than to that of their German contemporaries. In all important matters they asked the advice and support of "wise men," _sapientes, discretiores, prudentes_, as a body called the _credenza_, while the popular assembly (_parlamentum, concio, consilium generale_) was the true sovereign. The consuls with the assistance of _judices_ also presided in the law-courts; but besides the consuls of the commune there were _consules de placitis_ specially appointed for jurisdictional purposes.

In spite of these multifarious safeguards, however, family factions early destroyed the fabric of liberty, especially as, just as there was an imperial, or Ghibelline, and a papal, or Guelph party among the cities as a whole, thus also within each town each faction would allege adherence to and claim support by one or other of the great world-powers. To get out of the dilemma of party-government, resort was thereupon had to the appointment as chief magistrate of a _podesta_ from among the nobles or knights of a different part of the country not mixed up with the local feuds. But the end was in most cases the establishment of the despotism of some leading family, such as the Visconti at Milan, the Gonzaga at Mantua, the della Scala in Verona and the Carrara in Padua.

In Tuscany, the historic role of the cities, with the exception of Pisa, begins at a later date, largely owing to the overlordship of the powerful margraves of the house of Canossa and their successors, who here represented the emperor. Pisa, however, together with Genoa, all through the 11th century distinguished itself by war waged in the western Mediterranean and its isles against the Saracens. Both cities, along with Venice, but especially the Genoese, also did excellent service in reducing the Syrian coast towns still in the hands of the Turks in the reigns of Kings Baldwin I. and Baldwin II. of Jerusalem, while more particularly Pisa with great constancy placed her fleet at the disposal of the Hohenstaufen emperors for warfare with Sicily.

Meanwhile communes with consuls at their head were formed in Tuscany much as elsewhere. On the other hand the Tuscan cities managed to prolong the reign of liberty to a much later epoch, no _podesta_ ever quite succeeding here in his attempts to establish the rule of his dynasty. Even when in the second half of the 15th century the Medici in Florence attained to power, the form at least of a republic was still maintained, and not till 1531 did one of them, supported by Charles V., assume the ducal title.

Long before the last stage, the rule of _signori_, was reached, however, the commune as originally constituted had everywhere undergone radical changes. As early as the 13th century the lower orders among the inhabitants formed an organization under officers of their own, side by side with that of the commune, which was controlled by the great and the rich; e.g. at Florence the people in 1250 rose against the turbulent nobles and chose a _capitano del popolo_ with twelve _anziani_, two from each of the six city-wards (_sestieri_), as his council. The _popolo_ itself was divided into twenty armed companies, each under a _gonfaloniere_. But later the _arti_ (craft-gilds), some of whom, however, can be shown to have existed under consuls of their own as early as 1203, attained supreme importance, and in 1282 the government was placed in the hands of their _priori_, under the name of the _signoria_. The Guelph nobles were at first admitted to a share in the government, on condition of their entering a gild, but in 1293 even this privilege was withdrawn. The _ordinamenti della giustizia_ of that year robbed the nobility of all political power. The lesser or lower _arti_, on the other hand, were conceded a full share in it, and a _gonfaloniere della giustizia_ was placed at the head of the militia. In the 14th century twelve _buoni uomini_ representing the wards (_sestieri_) were superadded, all these dignitaries holding office for two months only. And besides all these, there existed three competing chief justices and commanders of the forces called in from abroad and holding office for six months, viz. the _podesta_, the _capitano del popolo_, and the _esecutore della giustizia_. In spite of all this complicated machinery of checks and balances, revolution followed upon revolution, nor could an occasional reign of terror be prevented like that of the Signore Gauthier de Brienne, duke of Athens (1342-1343). It was not till after a rising of the lowest order of all, the industrial labourers, had been suppressed in 1378 (_tumulto dei Ciompi_, the wool-combers), that quieter times ensued under the wise leadership, first of the Albizzi and finally of the Medici.

The history of the other Tuscan towns was equally tumultuous, all of them save Lucca, after many fitful changes finally passing under the sway of Florence, or the grand-duchy of Tuscany, as the state was now called. Pisa, one time the mightiest, had been crushed between its inland neighbour and its maritime rival Genoa (battle of Meloria, 1282).

Apart in its constitutional development from all other towns in Italy, and it might be added, in Europe, stands Venice. Almost alone among Italian cities its origin does not go back to Roman times. It was not till the invasions of Hun and Langobard that fugitives from the Venetian mainland took refuge among the poor fishermen on the small islands in the lagoons and on the _lido_--the narrow stretch of coast-line which separates the lagoons from the Adriatic--some at Grado, some at Malamocco, others on Rialto. A number of small communities was formed under elected tribunes, acknowledging as their sovereign the emperor at Constantinople. Treaties of commerce were concluded with the Langobard kings, thus assuring a market for the sale of imports from the East and for the purchase of agricultural produce. Just before or after A.D. 700 the young republic seems to have thrown off the rule of the Byzantine _dux Histriae et Venetiae_ and elected a duke (_doge_) of its own, in whom was vested the executive power, the right to convoke the popular assembly (_concio_) and appoint tribunes and justices. Political unity was thus established, but it was not till after another century of civil war that Rialto was definitely chosen the seat of government and thus the foundation of the present city laid. After a number of attempts to establish a hereditary dukedom, Duke Domenico Flabianico in 1032 passed a law providing that no duke was to appoint his successor or procure him to be elected during his own lifetime. Besides this two councils were appointed without whose consent nothing of importance was to be done. After the murder by the people of Duke Vitale Michiel in 1172, who had suffered naval defeat, it was deemed necessary to introduce a stricter constitutional order. According to the orthodox account, some details of which have, however, recently been impugned,[11] the irregular popular meeting was replaced by a great council of from 450 to 480 members elected annually by special appointed electors in equal proportion from each of the six wards. One of the functions of this body was to appoint most of the state officials or their electors. There was also an executive council of six, one from each ward. Besides these, the duke, who was henceforward elected by a body of eleven electors from among the aristocracy, would invite persons of prominence (the _pregadi_) in order to secure their assent and co-operation, whenever a measure of importance was to be placed before the great council. Only under extraordinary circumstances the _concio_ was still to be called. The tenure of the duke's office was for life. The general tendency of constitutional development in Venice henceforward ran in an exactly opposite direction to that of all other Italian cities towards a growing restriction of popular rights, until in 1296 the great council was for all future time closed to all but the descendants of a limited number of noble families, whose names were in that year entered in the Golden Book. It still remained to appoint a board to superintend the executive power. These were the _avvogadori di commune_, and, since Tiepolo's conspiracy in 1310, the _Consiglio dei Dieci_, the Council of Ten, which controlled the whole of the state, and out of which there developed in the 16th century the state inquisition.

While in all prominent Italian cities the leading classes of the community were largely made up of merchants, in Venice the nobility was entirely commercial. The marked steadiness in the evolution of the Venetian constitution is no doubt largely due to this fact. Elsewhere the presence of large numbers of turbulent country nobles furnished the first germ for the unending dissensions which ruined such promising beginnings. In Venice, on the contrary, its businesslike habits of mind led the ruling class to make what concessions might seem needful, while both the masses and the head of the state were kept in due subjection to the laws. Too much stability, however, finally changed into stagnation, and decay followed. The foreign policy of Venice was likewise mainly dictated by commercial motives, the chief objectives being commercial privilege in the Byzantine empire and in the Frankish states in the East, domination of the Adriatic, occupation of a sufficient hinterland on the _terra firma_, non-sufferance of the rivalry of Genoa, and, finally, maintenance of trade-supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean through a series of alternating wars and treaties with Turkey, the lasting monument of which was the destruction of the Parthenon in 1685 by a Venetian bomb. At last the proud republic surrendered to Napoleon without a stroke.

The cities of southern Italy do not here call for special attention. Several of them developed a certain amount of independence and free institutions, and took an important part in trade with the East, notably so Amalfi. But after incorporation in the Norman kingdom all individual history for them came to an end.

Rome, finally, derived its importance from being the capital of the popes and from its proud past. From time to time spasmodic attempts were made to revive the forms of the ancient republic, as under Arnold of Brescia in the 12th and by Niccolo di Rienzo in the 14th century; but there was no body of stalwart, self-reliant citizens to support such measures: nothing but turbulent nobles on the one hand and a rabble on the other.

In no country is there such a clear grouping of the towns on geographical lines as in _France_, these geographical lines, of course, having in the first instance been drawn by historical causes. Another feature is the extent to which, in the unruly times preceding the civic movement, serfdom had spread among the inhabitants even of the towns throughout the greater part of the country, and the application of feudal ideas to town government. In some other respects the constitution of the cities in the south of France, as will be seen, has more in common with that of the Italian communes, and that of the northern French towns with those of Germany, than the constitutions of the various groups of French towns have among each other.

In the group of the _villes consulaires_, comprising all important towns in the south, the executive was, as in Italy, in the hands of a body of _consules_, whose number in most cases rose to twelve. They were elected for the term of one year and re-eligible only after an interval, and they were supported by a municipal council (_commune consilium, consilium magnum_ or _secretum_ or _generale_, or _colloquium_) and a general assembly (_parlamentum, concio, commune consilium, commune, universitas civium_), which, however, as a rule was far from comprising the whole body of citizens. Another feature which these southern towns had in common with their Italian neighbours was the prominent part played by the native nobility. The relations with the clergy were generally of a more friendly character than in the north, and in some cases the bishop or archbishop even retained a considerable influence in the management of the town's affairs. Dissensions among the citizens, or between the nobles and the bourgeois, frequently ended in the adoption of a _podestat_. And in several cities of the Languedoc, each of the two classes composing the population retained its separate laws and customs. It is matter of dispute whether vestiges of Roman institutions had survived in these parts down to the time when the new constitutions sprang into being; but all investigators are pretty well agreed that in no case did such remnants prove of any practical importance. Roman law, however, was never quite superseded by Germanic law, as appears from the _statuts municipaux_. In the improvement and expansion of these statutes a remarkable activity was displayed by means of an annual _correctio statutorum_ carried out by specially appointed _statutores_. In the north, on the other hand, the _carta communiae_, forming as it were the basis of the commune's existence, seems to have been considered almost as something sacred and unchangeable.

The constitutional history of the communes in northern France in a number of points widely differed from that of these _villes consulaires_. First of all the movement for their establishment in most cases was to a far greater degree of a revolutionary character. These revolutions were in the first place directed against the bishops; but the position both of the higher clergy and of the nobility was here of a nature distinctly more hostile to the aspirations of the citizens than it was in the south. As a result the clergy and the nobles were excluded from all membership of the commune, except inasmuch as that those residing in the town might be required to swear not to conspire against it. The commune (_communia, communa, communio, communitas, conjuratio, confoederatio_) was formed by an oath of mutual help (_sacramentum, juramentum communiae_). The members were described as _jurati_ (also _burgenses, vicini, amici_), although in some communes that term was reserved for the members of the governing body. None but men of free and legitimate birth, and free from debt and contagious or incurable disease were received. The members of the governing body were styled _jures_ (_jurati_), _pairs_ (_pares_) or _echevins_ (_scabini_). The last was, however, as in Germany, more properly the title of the jurors in the court of justice, which in many cases remained in the hands of the lord. In some cases the town council developed out of this body; but in the larger cities, like Rouen, several councils worked and all these names were employed side by side. The number of the members of the governing body proper varies from twelve to a hundred, and its functions were both judicial and administrative. There was also known an arrangement corresponding to the German _alte und sitzende Rat_, viz. of retired members who could be called in to lend assistance on important occasions. The most striking distinction, however, as against the _villes consulaires_ was the elevation of the president of the body to the position of _maire_ or _mayeur_ (sometimes also called _prevot_, _praepositus_). As elsewhere, at first none but the civic aristocracy were admitted to take part in the management of the town's affairs; but from the end of the 13th century a share had to be conceded to representatives of the crafts. Dissatisfaction, however, was not easily allayed; the lower orders applied for the intervention of the king; and that effectively put an end to political freedom. This tendency of calling in state help marks a most striking difference as against the policy followed by the German towns, where all classes appear to have been always far too jealous of local independence. The result for the nation was in the one case despotism, equality and order, in the other individual liberty and an inability to move as a whole. At an earlier stage the king had frequently come to the assistance of the communes in their struggle with their lords. By-and-by the king's confirmation came to be considered necessary for their lawful existence. This proved a powerful lever for the extension of the king's authority. It may seem strange that in France the towns never had recourse to those interurban leagues which played so important a part in Italian and in German history.

These two varieties, the _communes_ and the _villes consulaires_ together form the group of _villes libres_. As opposed to these stand the _villes franches_, also called _villes prevotales_ after the chief officer, _villes de bourgeoisie_ or _villes soumises_. They make up by far the majority of French towns, comprising all those situated in the centre of the kingdom, and also a large number in the north and the south. They are called _villes franches_ on account of their possessing a franchise, a charter limiting the services due by the citizens to their lord, but political status they had little or none. According to the varying extent of the liberties conceded them, there may be distinguished towns governed by an elective body and more or less fully authorized to exercise jurisdiction; towns possessing some sort of municipal organization, but no rights of jurisdiction, except that of simple police; and, thirdly, those governed entirely by seignorial officers. To this last class belong some of the most important cities in France, wherever the king had power enough to withhold liberties deemed dangerous and unnecessary. On the other hand, towns of the first category often come close to the _villes libres_. A strict line of demarcation, however, remains in the mutual oath which forms the basis of the civic community in both varieties of the latter, and in the fact that the _ville libre_ stands to its lord in the relation of vassal and not in that of an immediate possession. But however _completement assujettie_ Paris might be, its organization, naturally, was immensely more complex than that of hundreds of smaller places which, formally, might stand in an identical relationship to their lords. Like other _villes franches_ under the king, Paris was governed by a _prevot_ (provost), but certain functions of self-government for the city were delegated to the company of the _marchands de l'eau, mercatores aquae_, also called _mercatores ansati_, that is, the gild of merchants whose business lay down the river Seine, in other words, a body naturally exclusive, not, however, to the citizens as such. At their head stood a _prevot des marchands_ and four _eschevins de la marchandise_. Other _prud'hommes_ were occasionally called in, and from 1296 _prevot_ and _echevins_, appointed twenty-four councillors to form with themselves a _parloir aux bourgeois_. The crafts of Paris were organized in _metiers_, whose masters were appointed, some by the _prevot de Paris_, and some by certain great officers of the court. In the tax rolls of A.D. 1292 to 1300 no fewer than 448 names of crafts occur, while the _Livre des metiers_ written in 1268 by Etienne de Boileau, then _prevot de Paris_, enumerates 101 organized bodies of tradesmen or women and artisans. Among the duties of these bodies, as elsewhere, was the _guet_ or night-watch, which necessitated a military organization under _quartiniers, cinquantainiers_ and _dixainiers_. This gave them a certain power. But both their revolutions, under the _prevot des marchands_, Etienne Marcel, after the battle of Maupertuis, and again in 1382, were extremely short-lived, and the only tangible result was a stricter subjection to the king and his officers.

An exceptional position among the cities of France is taken up by those of _Flanders_, more particularly the three "Great Towns," Bruges, Ghent and Ypres, whose population was Flemish, i.e. German. They sprang up at the foot of the count's castles and rose in close conjunction with his power. On the accession of a new house they made their power felt as early as 1128. Afterwards the counts of the house of Dampierre fell into financial dependence on the burghers, and therefore allied themselves with the rising artisans, led by the weavers. These, however, proved far more unruly, bloody conflicts ensued, and for a considerable period the three great cities ruled the whole of Flanders with a high hand. Their influence in the foreign relations of the country was likewise great, it being in their interest to keep up friendly relations with England, on whose wool the flourishing state of the staple industry of Flanders depended. It is a remarkable fact that the historical position taken up by these cities, which politically belonged to France, is much more akin to the part played by the German towns, whereas Cambrai, whose population was French, is the only city politically situated in Germany, where a commune came to be established.

In the _Spanish peninsula_, the chief importance of the numerous small towns lay in the part they played as fortresses during the unceasing wars with the Moors. The kings therefore extended special privileges (_fueros_) to the inhabitants, and they were even at an early date admitted to representation in the Cortes (parliament). Of greater individual importance than all the rest was Barcelona. Already in 1068 Count Berengarius gave the city a special law (_usatici_) based on its ancient usages, and from the 14th century its commercial code (_libro del consolat del mar_) became influential all over southern Europe.

The constitutions of the _Scandinavian_ towns were largely modelled on those of Germany, but the towns never attained anything like the same independence. Their dependence on the royal government most strongly comes out in the fact of their being uniformly regulated by royal law in each of the three kingdoms. In Sweden particularly, German merchants by law took an equal share in the government of the towns. In Denmark their influence was also great, and only in Norway did they remain in the position of foreigners in spite of their famous settlement at Bergen. The details, as well as those of the German settlement at Wisby and on the east coast of the Baltic, belong rather to the history of the Hanseatic League (q.v.). Denmark appears to be the only one of the three kingdoms where gilds at an early date played a part of importance.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The only book dealing with the subject in general, viz.
K. D. Hullmann, _Stadtewesen des Mittelalters_ (4 vols., Bonn,
1826-1828), is quite antiquated. For Germany it is best to consult
Richard Schroder, _Lehrbruch der deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (5th ed.,
Leipzig, 1907), SS 51 and 56, where a bibliography as complete as need
be is given, both of monographs dealing with various aspects of the
question, and of works on the history of individual towns. The latter
alone covers two large octavo pages of small print. As a sort of
complement to Schroder's chapters may be considered, F. Keutgen,
_Urkunden zur stadtischen Verfassungsgeschichte_ (Berlin, 1901 =
_Ausgewahlte Urkunden zur deutschen Verfassungsgeschichte_, by G. von
Below and F. Keutgen, vol. i.), a collection of 437 select charters
and other documents, with a very full index. The great work of G. L.
von Maurer, _Geschichte der Stadteverfassung von Deutschland_ (4 thick
vols., Erlangen, 1869-1871), contains an enormous mass of information
not always treated quite so critically as the present age requires.
There is an excellent succinct account for general readers by Georg
von Below, "Das altere deutsche Stadtewesen und Burgertum,"
_Monographien zur Weltgeschichte_, vol. vi. (Bielefeld and Leipzig,
1898, illustrated). A number of the most important recent monographs
have been mentioned above. As fpr Italy, the most valuable general
work for the early times is still Carl Hegel, _Geschichte der
Stadteverfassung von Italien seit der Zeit der romischen Herrschaft
bis zum Ausgang des zwolften Jahrhunderts_ (2 small vols., Leipzig,
1847, price second-hand, M. 40), in which it was for the first time
fully proved that there is no connexion between Roman and modern
municipal constitutions. For the period from the 13th century it will
perhaps be best to consult W. Assmann, _Geschichte des Mittelalters_,
3rd ed., by L. Viereck, dritte Abteilung, _Die letzten beiden
Jahrhunderts des Mittelalters: Deutschland, die Schweiz, und Italien_,
by R. Fischer, R. Scheppig and L. Viereck (Brunswick, 1906). In this
volume, pp. 679-943 contain an excellent account of the various
Italian states and cities during that period, with a full bibliography
for each. Among recent critical contributions to the history of
individual towns, the following works deserve to be specially
mentioned: Robert Davidsohn, _Geschichte von Florenz_ (Berlin,
1896-1908); down to the beginning of the 14th century; the same,
_Forschungen zur Geschichte von Florenz_ (vols. i.-iv., Berlin,
1896-1908); Heinrich Kretschmayr, _Geschichte von Venedig_ (vol. i.,
Gotha, 1905, to 1205). For France, there are the works by Achille
Luchaire, _Les Communes francaises a l'epoque des Capetiens directs_
(Paris, 1890), and Paul Viollet, "Les Communes francaises au moyen
age," _Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions et Belles-lettres_,
tome xxxvi. (Paris, 1900). There are, of course, also accounts in the
great works on French institutions by Flach, Glasson, Viollet,
Luchaire, but perhaps the one in Luchaire's _Manuel des institutions
francaises, periode des Capetiens directs_ (Paris, 1892) deserves
special recommendation. Another valuable account for France north of
the Loire is that contained in the great work by Karl Hegel, _Stadte
und Gilden der germanischen Volker im Mittelaller_ (2 vols., Leipzig,
1891; see _English Historical Review_, viii. 120-127). Of course,
there are also numerous monographs, among which the following may be
mentioned: Edouard Bonvalot, _Le Tiers Etat d'apres la charte de
Beaumont et ses filiales_ (Paris, 1884); and A. Giry, _Les
Etablissements de Rouen_ (2 vols., Paris, 1883-1885); also a
collection of documents by Gustave Fagniez, _Documents relatifs a
l'histoire de l'industrie et du commerce en France_ (2 vols., Paris,
1898, 1900). Some valuable works on the commercial history of southern
Europe should still be mentioned, such as W. Heyd, _Geschichte des
Levantehandels im Mittelalter_ (2 vols., Stuttgart, 1879; French
edition by Furcy Raynaud, 2 vols., Paris, 1885 seq., improved by the
author), recognized as a standard work; Adolf Schaube,
_Handelsgeschichte der romanischen Volker des Mittelmeergebietes bis
zum Ende der Kreuzzuge_ (Munich and Berlin, 1906); Aloys Schulte,
_Geschichte des mittelalterlichen Handels und Verkehrs zwischen
Westdeutschland und Italien mit Ausschluss Venedigs_ (2 vols.,
Leipzig, 1900); L. Goldschmidt, _Universalgesdiichte des
Handelsrechts_ (vol. i., Stuttgart, 1891). As for the Scandinavian
towns, the best guide is perhaps the book by K. Hegel, _Stadte und
Gilden der germanischen Volker_, already mentioned; but see also
Dietrich Schafer, "Der Stand der Geschichtswissenschaft im
skandinavischen Norden," _Internationale Wochenschrift_, November 16,
1907. (F. K.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] As to the former, see S. Rietschel, _Die Civitas auf deutschem
Boden bis zum Ausgange der Karolingerzeit_ (Leipzig, 1894); and, for
the newly founded towns, the same author, _Markt und Stadt in ihrem
rechtlichen Verhaltnis_ (Leipzig, 1897).

[2] About the _Burggraf_, see S. Rietschel, _Das Burggrafenamt und die
hohe Gerichtsbarkeit in den deutschen Bischofsstadten wahrend des
fruheren Mittelalters_ (Leipzig, 1905).

[3] As to the towns as fortresses, see also F. Keutgen,
_Untersuchungen uber den Ursprung der deutschen Stadtverfassung_
(Leipzig, 1895); and "Der Ursprung der deutschen Stadtverfassung"
(_Neue Jahrbucher fur das klassische Altertum_, &c, N.F. vol. v.).

[4] See S. Rietschel, _Markt und Stadt_, and J. Fritz, _Deutsche
Stadtanlagen_ (Strassburg, 1894).

[5] G. von Below, _Die Entstehung der deutschen Stadtgemeinde_
(Dusseldorf, 1889); and _Der Ursprung der deutschen Stadtverfassung_
(Dusseldorf, 1892).

[6] F. Keutgen, _Urkunden zur stadtischen Verfassungsgeschichte_, No.
74 and No. 75 (Berlin, 1901).

[7] F. Keutgen, _Amter und Zunfte_ (Jena, 1903).

[8] J. Weizsacker, _Der rheinische Bund_ (Tubingen, 1879).

[9] G. v. Below, _Der Untergang der mittelalterlichen Stadtwirtschaft;
Uber Theorien der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung der Volker_; F.
Keutgen, "Hansische Handelsgesellschaften, vornehmlich des 14ten
Jahrhunderts," in _Vierteljahrsschrift fur Sozial- und
Wirtschaftsgeschichte_, vol. iv. (1906).

[10] On this whole subject see Richard Schroder, _Lehrbuch der
deutschen Rechtsgeschichte_ (5th ed., Leipzig, 1907), S 56, "Die
Stadtrechte." Also Charles Gross, _The Gild Merchant_ (Oxford, 1890),
vol. i. Appendix E, "Affiliation of Medieval Boroughs."

[11] H. Kretschmayr, _Geschichte von Venedig_, vol. i. (Gotha, 1905).

COMMUNISM, the name loosely given to schemes of social organizations depending on the abolition of private property and its absorption into the property of a community as such. It is a form of what is now generally called socialism (q.v.), the terminology of which has varied a good deal according to time and place; but the expression "communism" may be conveniently used, as opposed to "socialism" in its wider political sense, or to the political and municipal varieties known as "collectivism," "state socialism," &c., in order to indicate more particularly the historical schemes propounded or put into practice for establishing certain ideally arranged communities composed of individuals living and working on the basis of holding their property in common. It has nothing, of course, to do with the Paris Commune, overthrown in May 1871, which was a political and not an economic movement. Communistic schemes have been advocated in almost every age and country, and have to be distinguished from mere anarchism or from the selfish desire to transfer other people's property into one's own pockets. The opinion that a communist is merely a man who has no property to lose, and therefore advocates a redistribution of wealth, is contrary to the established facts as to those who have historically supported the theory of communism. The Corn-law Rhymer's lines on this subject are amusing, but only apply to the baser sort:--

"What is a Communist! One that hath yearnings
For equal division of unequal earnings.
Idler or bungler, or both, he is willing
To fork out his penny and pocket your shilling."

This is the communist of hostile criticism--a criticism, no doubt, ultimately based on certain fundamental facts in human nature, which have usually wrecked communistic schemes of a purely altruistic type in conception. But the great communists, like Plato, More, Saint-Simon, Robert Owen, were the very reverse of selfish or idle in their aims; and communism as a force in the historical evolution of economic and social opinion must be regarded on its ideal side, and not merely in its lapses, however natural the latter may be in operation, owing to the defects of human character. As a theory it has inspired not only some of the finest characters in history, but also much of the gradual evolution of economic organization--especially in the case of co-operation (q.v.); and its opportunities have naturally varied according to the state of social organization in particular countries. The communism of the early Christians, for instance, was rather a voluntary sharing of private property than any abnegation of property as such. The Essenes and the Therapeutae, however, in Palestine, had a stricter form of communism, and the former required the surrender of individual property; and in the middle ages various religious sects, followed by the monastic orders, were based on the communistic principle.

Communistic schemes have found advocates in almost every age and in many different countries. The one thing that is shared by all communists, whether speculative or practical, is deep dissatisfaction with the economic conditions by which they are surrounded. In Plato's _Republic_ the dissatisfaction is not limited to merely economic conditions. In his examination of the body politic there is hardly any part which he can pronounce to be healthy. He would alter the life of the citizens of his state from the very moment of birth. Children are to be taken away from their parents and nurtured under the supervision of the state. The old nursery tales, "the blasphemous nonsense with which mothers fool the manhood out of their children," are to be suppressed. Dramatic and imitative poetry are not to be allowed. Education, marriage, the number of births, the occupations of the citizens are to be controlled by the guardians or heads of the state. The most perfect equality of conditions and careers is to be preserved; the women are to have similar training with the men, no careers and no ambition are to be forbidden to them; the inequalities and rivalries between rich and poor are to cease, because all will be provided for by the state. Other cities are divided against themselves. "Any ordinary city, however small, is in fact two cities, one the city of the poor, the other of the rich, at war with one another" (_Republic_, bk. iv. p. 249, Jowett's translation). But this ideal state is to be a perfect unit; although the citizens are divided into classes according to their capacity and ability, there is none of the exclusiveness of birth, and no inequality is to break the accord which binds all the citizens, both male and female, together into one harmonious whole. The marvellous comprehensiveness of the scheme for the government of this ideal state makes it belong as much to the modern as to the ancient world. Many of the social problems to which Plato draws attention are yet unsolved, and some are in process of solution in the direction indicated by him. He is not appalled by the immensity of the task which he has sketched out for himself and his followers. He admits that there are difficulties to be overcome, but he says in a sort of parenthesis, "Nothing great is easy." He refuses to be satisfied with half measures and patchwork reforms. "Enough, my friend! but what is enough while anything remains wanting?" These sentences indicate the spirit in which philosophical as distinguished from practical communists from the time of Plato till to-day have undertaken to reconstruct human society.

Sir Thomas More's _Utopia_ has very many of the characteristics of _The Republic_. There is in it the same wonderful power of shaking off the prejudices of the place and time in which it was written. The government of Utopia is described as founded on popular election; community of goods prevailed, the magistrates distributed the instruments of production among the inhabitants, and the wealth resulting from their industry was shared by all. The use of money and all outward ostentation of wealth were forbidden. All meals were taken in common, and they were rendered attractive by the accompaniment of sweet strains of music, while the air was filled by the scent of the most delicate perfumes. More's ideal state differs in one important respect from Plato's. There was no community of wives in Utopia. The sacredness of the family relation and fidelity to the marriage contract were recognized by More as indispensable to the well-being of modern society. Plato, notwithstanding all the extraordinary originality with which he advocated the emancipation of women, was not able to free himself from the theory and practice of regarding the wife as part and parcel of the property of her husband. The fact, therefore, that he advocated community of property led him also to advocate community of wives. He speaks of "the _possession and use_ of women and children," and proceeds to show how this possession and use must be regulated in his ideal state. Monogamy was to him mere exclusive possession on the part of one man of a piece of property which ought to be for the benefit of the public. The circumstance that he could not think of wives otherwise than as the property of their husbands only makes it the more remarkable that he claimed for women absolute equality of training and careers. The circumstance that communists have so frequently wrecked their projects by attacking marriage and advocating promiscuous intercourse between the sexes may probably be traced to the notion which regards a wife as being a mere item among the goods and chattels of her husband. It is not difficult to find evidence of the survival of this ancient habit of mind. "I will be master of what is mine own," says Petruchio. "She is my goods, my chattels."

The Perfectionists of Oneida, on the other hand, held that there was "no intrinsic difference between property in persons and property in things; and that the same spirit which abolished exclusiveness in regard to money would abolish, if circumstances allowed full scope to it, exclusiveness in regard to women and children" (Nordhoff's _Communistic Societies of the United States_). It is this notion of a wife as property that is responsible for the wild opinions communists have often held in favour of a community of wives and the break-up of family relations. If they could shake off this notion and take hold of the conception of marriage as a contract, there is no reason why their views on the community of property should lead them to think that this contract should not include mutual fidelity and remain in force during the life of the contracting parties. It was probably not this conception of the marriage relation so much as the influence of Christianity which led More to discountenance community of wives in Utopia. It is strange that the same influence did not make him include the absence of slavery as one of the characteristics of his ideal state. On the contrary, however, we find in Utopia the anomaly of slavery existing side by side with institutions which otherwise embody the most absolute personal, political and religious freedom. The presence of slaves in Utopia is made use of to get rid of one of the practical difficulties of communism, viz. the performance of disagreeable work. In a society where one man is as good as another, and the means of subsistence are guaranteed to all alike, it is easy to imagine that it would be difficult to ensure the performance of the more laborious, dangerous and offensive kinds of labour. In Utopia, therefore, we are expressly told that "all the uneasy and sordid services" are performed by slaves. The institution of slavery was also made supplementary to the criminal system of Utopia, as the slaves were for the most part men who had been convicted of crime; slavery for life was made a substitute for capital punishment.

In many respects, however, More's views on the labour question were vastly in advance of his own time. He repeats the indignant protest of the _Republic_ that existing society is a warfare between rich and poor. "The rich," he says, "desire every means by which they may in the first place secure to themselves what they have amassed by wrong, and then take to their own use and profit, at the lowest possible price, the work and labour of the poor. And so soon as the rich decide on adopting these devices in the name of the public, then they become law." One might imagine these words had been quoted from the programme of The International (q.v.), so completely is their tone in sympathy with the hardships of the poor in all ages. More shared to the full the keen sympathy with the hopeless misery of the poor which has been the strong motive power of nearly all speculative communism. The life of the poor as he saw it was so wretched that he said, "Even a beast's life seems enviable!" Besides community of goods and equality of conditions, More advocated other means of ameliorating the condition of the people. Although the hours of labour were limited to six a day there was no scarcity, for in Utopia every one worked; there was no idle class, no idle individual even. The importance of this from an economic point of view is insisted on by More in a passage remarkable for the importance which he attaches to the industrial condition of women. "And this you will easily apprehend," he says, "if you consider how great a part of all other nations is quite idle. First, women generally do little, who are the half of mankind." Translated into modern language his proposals comprise universal compulsory education, a reduction of the hours of labour to six a day, the most modern principles of sanitary reform, a complete revision of criminal legislation, and the most absolute religious toleration. The romantic form which Sir Thomas More gave to his dream of a new social order found many imitators. The _Utopia_ may be regarded as the prototype of Campanella's _City of the Sun_, Harrington's _Oceana_, Bacon's _Nova Atlantis_, Defoe's _Essay on Projects_, Fenelon's _Voyage dans l'Ile des Plaisirs_, and other works of minor importance.

All communists have made a great point of the importance of universal education. All ideal communes have been provided by their authors with a perfect machinery for securing the education of every child. One of the first things done in every attempt to carry communistic theories into practice has been to establish a good school and guarantee education to every child. The first impulse to national education in the 19th century probably sprang from the very marked success of Robert Owen's schools in connexion with the cotton mills at New Lanark. Compulsory education, free trade, and law reform, the various movements connected with the improvement of the condition of women, have found their earliest advocates among theoretical and practical communists. The communists denounce the evils of the present state of society; the hopeless poverty of the poor, side by side with the self-regarding luxury of the rich, seems to them to cry aloud to Heaven for the creation of a new social organization. They proclaim the necessity of sweeping away the institution of private property, and insist that this great revolution, accompanied by universal education, free trade, a perfect administration of justice, and a due limitation of the numbers of the community, would put an end to half the self-made distress of humanity.

The various communistic experiments in America are the most interesting in modern times, opportunities being naturally greater there for such deviations from the normal forms of regulations as compared with the closely organized states of Europe, and particularly in the means of obtaining land cheaply for social settlements with peculiar views. They have been classified by Morris Hillquit (_History of Socialism in the United States_, 1903) as (1) sectarian, (2) Owenite, (3) Fourieristic, (4) Icarian.

1. The oldest of the sectarian group was the society of the Shakers (q.v.), whose first settlement at Watervliet was founded in 1776. The Harmony Society or Rappist Community was introduced into Pennsylvania by George Rapp (1770-1847) from Wurttemberg in 1804, and in 1815 they moved to a settlement (New Harmony) in Indiana, returning to Pennsylvania again in 1824, and founding the village of Economy, from which they were also known as Economites. Emigrants from Wurttemberg also founded the community of Zoar in Ohio in 1817, being incorporated in 1832 as the Society of Separatists of Zoar; it was dissolved in 1898. The Amana (q.v.) community, the strongest of all American communistic societies, originated in Germany in the early part of the 18th century as "the True Inspiration Society," and some 600 members removed to America in 1842-1844. The Bethel (Missouri) and Aurora (Oregon) sister communities were founded by Dr Keil (1812-1877) in 1844 and 1856 respectively, and were dissolved in 1880 and 1881. The Oneida Community (q.v.), created by John Humphrey Noyes (1811-1886), the author of a famous _History of American Socialisms_ (1870), was established in 1848 as a settlement for the Society of Perfectionists. All these bodies had a religious basis, and were formed with the object of enjoying the free exercise of their beliefs, and though communistic in character they had no political or strictly economic doctrine to propagate.

2. The Owenite communities rose under the influence of Robert Owen's work at New Lanark, and his propaganda in America from 1824 onwards, the principal being New Harmony (acquired from the Rappists in 1825); Yellow Springs, near Cincinnati, 1824; Nashoba, Tennessee, 1825; Haverstraw, New York, 1826; its short-lived successors, Coxsackie, New York, and the Kendal Community, Canton, Ohio, 1826. All these had more or less short existences, and were founded on Owen's theories of labour and economics.

3. The Fourierist communities similarly were due to the Utopian teachings of the Frenchman Charles Fourier (q.v.), introduced into America by his disciple Albert Brisbane (1809-1890), author of _The Social Destiny of Man_ (1840), who was efficiently helped by Horace Greeley, George Ripley and others. The North American Phalanx, in New Jersey, was started in 1843 and lasted till 1855. Brook Farm (q.v.) was started as a Fourierist Phalanx in 1844, after three years' independent career, and became the centre of Fourierist propaganda, lasting till 1847. The Wisconsin Phalanx, or Ceresco, was organized in 1844, and lasted till 1850. In Pennsylvania seven communities were established between 1843 and 1845, the chief of which were the Sylvania Association, the Peace Union Settlement, the Social Reform Unity, and the Leraysville Phalanx. In New York state the chief were the Clarkson Phalanx, the Sodus Bay Phalanx, the Bloomfield Association, and the Ontario Union. In Ohio the principal were the Trumbull Phalanx, the Ohio Phalanx, the Clermont Phalanx, the Integral Phalanx, and the Columbian Phalanx; and of the remainder the Alphadelphia Phalanx, in Michigan, was the best-known. It is pointed out by Morris Hillquit that while only two Fourierist Phalanxes were established in France, over forty were started in the United States.

4. The Icarian communities were due to the communistic teachings of another Frenchman, Etienne Cabet (q.v.) (1788-1856), the name being derived from his social romance, _Voyage en Icarie_ (1840), sketching the advantages of an imaginary country called Icaria, with a co-operative system, and criticizing the existing social organization. It was his idea, in fact, of a Utopia. Robert Owen advised him to establish his followers, already numerous, in Texas, and thither about 1500 went in 1848. But disappointment resulted, and their numbers dwindled to less than 500 in 1849; some 280 went to Nauvoo, Illinois; after a schism in 1856 some formed a new colony (1858) at Cheltenham, near St Louis; others went to Iowa, others to California. The last branch was dissolved in 1895.

See also the articles SOCIALISM; OWEN; SAINT-SIMON; FOURIER, &c.; and
the bibliography to SOCIALISM. The whole subject is admirably covered
in Morris Hillquit's work, referred to above; and see also Noyes's
_History of American Socialisms_ (1870); Charles Nordhoff's
_Communistic Societies of the United States_ (1875); and W. A. Hinds's
_American Communities_ (1878; 2nd edition, 1902), a very complete
account.

COMMUTATION (from Lat. _commutare_, to change), a process of exchanging one thing for another, particularly of one method of payment for another, such as payment in money for payment in kind or by service, or of payment of a lump sum for periodical payments; for various kinds of such substitution see ANNUITY; COPYHOLD and TITHES. The word is also used similarly of the substitution of a lesser sentence on a criminal for a greater. In electrical engineering, the word is applied to the reversal of the course of an electric current, the contrivance for so doing being known as a "commutator" (see DYNAMO). In America, a "commutation ticket" on a railway is one which allows a person to travel at a lower rate over a particular route for a certain time or for a certain number of times; the person holding such a ticket is known as a "commuter."

COMNENUS, the name of a Byzantine family which from 1081 to 1185 occupied the throne of Constantinople. It claimed a Roman origin, but its earliest representatives appear as landed proprietors in the district of Castamon (mod. _Kastamuni_) in Paphlagonia. Its first member known in Byzantine history is Manuel Eroticus Comnenus, an able general who rendered great services to Basil II. (976-1025) in the East. At his death he left his two sons Isaac and John in the care of Basil, who gave them a careful education and advanced them to high official positions. The increasing unpopularity of the Macedonian dynasty culminated in a revolt of the nobles and the soldiery of Asia against its feeble representative Michael VI. Stratioticus, who abdicated after a brief resistance. Isaac was declared emperor, and crowned in St Sophia on the 2nd of September 1057. For the rulers of this dynasty see ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER, and separate articles.

With Andronicus I. (1183-1185) the rule of the Comneni proper at Constantinople came to an end. A younger line of the original house, after the establishment of the Latins at Constantinople in 1204, secured possession of a fragment of the empire in Asia Minor, and founded the empire of Trebizond (q.v.), which lasted till 1461, when David Comnenus, the last emperor, was deposed by Mahommed II.

For a general account of the family and its alleged survivors see
article "Komnenen," by G. F. Hertzberg, in Ersch and Gruber's
_Allgemeine Encyklopadie_, and an anonymous monograph, _Precis
historique de la maison imperiale des Comnenes_ (Amsterdam, 1784);
and, for the history of the period, the works referred to under ROMAN
EMPIRE, LATER.

COMO (anc. _Comum_), a city and episcopal see of Lombardy, Italy, the capital of the province of Como, situated at the S. end of the W. branch of the Lake of Como, 30 m. by rail N. by W. of Milan. Pop. (1881) 25,560; (1905) 34,272 (town), 41,124 (commune). The city lies in a valley enclosed by mountains, the slopes of which command fine views of the lake. The old town, which preserves its rectangular plan from Roman times, is enclosed by walls, with towers constructed in the 12th century. The cathedral, built entirely of marble, occupies the site of an earlier church, and was begun in 1396, from which period the nave dates: the facade belongs to 1457-1486, while the east of the exterior was altered into the Renaissance style, and richly decorated with sculptures by Tommaso Rodari in 1487-1526. The dome is an unsuitable addition of 1731 by the Sicilian architect Filippo Juvara (1685-1735), and its baroque decorations spoil the effect of the fine Gothic interior. It contains some good pictures and fine tapestries. In the same line as the facade of the cathedral are the Broletto (in black and white marble), dating from 1215, the seat of the original rulers of the commune, and the massive clock-tower. The Romanesque church of S. Abondio outside the town was founded in 1013 and consecrated in 1095; it has two fine campanili, placed at the ends of the aisles close to the apse. It occupies the site of the 5th-century church of SS. Peter and Paul. Near it is the Romanesque church of S. Carpoforo. Above it is the ruined castle of Baradello. The churches of S. Giacomo (1095-1117) and S. Fedele (12th century), both in the town, are also Romanesque, and the apses have external galleries. The Palazzo Giovio contains the Museo Civico. Como is a considerable tourist resort, and the steamboat traffic on the lake is largely for travellers. A climate station is established on the hill of Brunate (2350 ft.) above the town to the E., reached by a funicular railway. The Milanese possess many villas here. Como is an industrial town, having large silk factories and other industries (see LOMBARDY). It is connected with Milan by two lines of railway, one via Monza (the main line, which goes on to Chiasso--Swiss frontier--and the St Gotthard), the other via Saronno and also with Lecco and Varese.