election of magistrates--aldermen, mayor, burgomaster--the levying and
payment of taxes, and the military service to be rendered. Before the
evolution of strong national governments these charters created hundreds
of what were virtually little City-States throughout Europe (R. 95).

In these towns a new estate or class of people was now created (R. 96), in
between the ruling bishops and lords on the one hand and the peasants
tilling the land on the other. These were the citizens--freemen,
bourgeoisie, burghers. Out of this new class of city dwellers new social
orders--merchants, bankers, tradesmen, artisans, and craftsmen--in time
arose, and these new orders soon demanded rights and obtained some form of
education for their children. The guild or apprenticeship education which
early developed in the cities to meet the needs of artisans and craftsmen
(R. 99), and the burgh or city schools of Europe, which began to develop
in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, were the educational results
of the rise of cities and the evolution of these new social classes. The
time would soon be ripe for the mysteries of learning to be passed
somewhat farther down the educational pyramid, and new classes in society
would begin the mastery of its symbols.

[Illustration: FIG. 59. THE EDUCATIONAL PYRAMID
(From Smith, W. R., _Educational Sociology_, p. 176)
The concave pyramid suggests comparative numbers. Formal education began
at the top, and has slowly worked downward.]

THE REVIVAL OF COMMERCE. The first city of mediaeval Europe to obtain
commercial prominence was Venice. She early sold salt and fish obtained
from the lagoons to the Lombards in the Valley of the Po, and sent trading
ships to the Greek East. By the year 1000 Venetian ships were bringing the
luxuries and riches of the Orient to Venice, and the city soon became a