natural enemies, and thus became the servant or ally of a Republic. In
his desperation he emancipated his serfs, and so the folk of the Contado
profited by the dissensions of the cities and their feudal masters. This
new phase of republican evolution lasted over a long and ill-defined
period, assuming different characters in different centers; but the end
of it was that the nobles were forced to submit to the cities. They were
admitted to the burghership, and agreed to spend a certain portion of
every year in the palaces they raised within the circuit of the walls.
Thus the Counts placed themselves beneath the jurisdiction of the
Consuls, and the Italic population absorbed into itself the relics of
Lombard, Frank, and German aristocracy. Still the gain upon the side of
the republics was not clear. Though the feudal lordship of the nobles
had been destroyed, their wealth, their lands, and their prestige
remained untouched. In the city they felt themselves but aliens. Their
real home was still the castle on the neighboring mountain. Nor, when
they stooped to become burghers, had they relinquished the use of arms.
Instead of building peaceable dwelling-houses in the city, they filled
its quarters with fortresses and towers, whence they carried on feuds
among themselves and imperiled the safety of the streets. It was
speedily discovered that the war against the Castles had become a war
against the Palaces, and that the arena had been transferred from the
open Contado to the Piazza and the barricade. The authority of the
consuls proved insufficient to maintain an equilibrium between the
people and the nobles. Accordingly a new magistrate started into being,
combining the offices of supreme justiciary and military dictator. When
Frederick Barbarossa attempted to govern the rebellious Lombard cities
in the common interest of the Empire, he established in their midst a
foreign judge, called Podestà _quasi habens potestatem Imperatoris in
hâc parte_. This institution only served at the moment to inflame and
imbitter the resistance of the Communes: but the title of Podestà was