private possessions of the churches concerned. They had nothing to do
with the privileges of a later time, by which a power to exact burdens
was granted and a positive jurisdiction over others allowed: that is,
public functions bestowed rather than private rights conceded.

That a distinction of such a character was a difference of kind and
not of degree is so plainly apparent that it is unnecessary to dwell
longer upon it, and it only remains for us to consider briefly the
chronology of some of the changes that took place. If we adhere
strictly to the proper signification of the terms used, the
development can be somewhat succinctly described by the simple
enumeration of the three characteristic features of its progress, viz.
_protection, exemption, privilege_ that is jurisdiction or temporal
power; and the three periods which are covered respectively by the
prominence of these ideas can be roughly stated to be: for the first,
the reigns of Charlemagne and his successors down to the time of
Charles the Bald--including any indication of this idea which we may
find during the reigns of the last rulers of the first Lombard
kingdom; for the second, the reigns of Charles the Bald, Karloman, and
Charles the Fat; and for the third, the full development of the
episcopal power in the tenth century, down to the period of its final
decline, and the rise of actual municipal government within the
communes.

It is doubtful whether immunities of any importance were granted even
by the latest kings of the Lombards, before the invasion of the
Franks. Under the first Lombard monarchy the church held a very
subordinate position with regard to the state, and if privileges were
granted to any of its members, they had attached to them no greater
meaning than the simple extension to them of the _mundibrium_ of the