almost absolute rule of a great lord, and a civic autonomy governed by
its own independent citizens. Even, however, if we are not yet to
portray the bishop in a position of high political importance, we may
briefly consider his social power and influence, and, as we have done
with the cities themselves, indicate the steps by which he was enabled
ultimately to gain such an exalted position.

The relations of the bishop to the inhabitants of the cities during
the period we are considering were pretty nearly such as described in
the first part of this paper. He stood forth as protector of the weak
and the oppressed; as mediator between an unfortunate prisoner and an
unjust judge who was seeking his private interest rather than
following the spirit of impartial justice; or between a downtrodden
vassal and the almost unlimited power of his feudal superior. He
lessened the severity of harsh judgments, he protested the imposition
of unjust fines and penalties. In very many cases he was even
appointed by the king or his representatives as co-judge to assist the
_judex_ or the _missus_ in hearing cases where oppression or injustice
was to be feared. But it is important for us to avoid confusing this
kind of jurisdiction with that which he enjoyed in the century after
he had attained the power and the office of count, and had combined
the religious functions of head of the diocese with the secular ones
of political ruler of the city. Any judicial authority possessed by
the bishop at this earlier period was not in virtue of any political
position he himself held, but came to him entirely in what might be
called an extraordinary manner, that is, by delegation from the king,
for definite specified occasions. As an example of this extraordinary
delegated jurisdiction, I will refer to a document in the Archivio of
the Canons of Arezzo[79] of the year 833, relating to the judgment of
a dispute between "Petrum Episcopum Arretinum et Vigilium Abatem