wish to point out is, that it was there in fact from the beginning,
and must have formed a structural part of the development of city life
in the middle ages.

In outlining the course of the history of institutions, it is seldom
that we are so fortunate as to find definite landmarks by which we can
accurately mark the chronological course of their development. The
giving of definite dates for the progress of ideas is in most cases
both misleading and illusory, as, except in instances of violent
revolution, changes are apt to be gradual, rather than immediate and
arbitrary. But we can indicate the periods of progress by comparing
them with the contemporary political changes, and roughly designate
their eras by the dates of prominent political events. In doing this,
however, we must always remember that the dates given, while definite
from a political standpoint, are in most cases, from an institutional
standpoint, only indicative of a more or less extended period of
change. This fact being recognized, let us proceed to examine the
changes introduced into Italy by the Carlovingian rulers, and the
condition of the society upon which these changes were engrafted.

When in the year 773-774, Charlemagne, in pursuance of his idea of
universal empire, and aiding the Pope as "Patricius" of Rome, entered
Lombardy with his army, took Pavia after a siege of six months, and
shut up Desiderius in a monastery, he found in Lombard society a well
defined, if not a perfectly developed system. In all their relations
with other nations, the evidence of history proves the Franks to have
been a conquering rather than a colonizing race; consequently we may
expect to find that in their conquest of Lombardy, they rather gave
her only new rulers without materially interfering with the condition
of the inhabitants or altering their mode of life. The institutions of