of its by-laws. Thus it assumed a jurisdiction, partly concurrent
with that of the lord, which it further extended to breaches
of the peace. And, finally, it raised funds by means of an
excise-duty, Ungeld (cf. the English malatolta) or Accise, Zeise.
In the older and larger towns it soon went beyond what the bishops
thought proper to tolerate; conflicts ensued; and in the 13th
century several bishops obtained decrees in the imperial court,
either to suppress the Rat altogether, or to make it subject to
their nomination, and more particularly to abolish the Ungeld,
as detrimental to episcopal finances. In the long run, however,
these attempts proved of little avail.
Meanwhile the tendency towards self-government spread even to the lower ranks of town society, resulting in the establishment of craft-gilds. From a very early period there is reason to believe merchants among themselves formed gilds for social and religious purposes, and for the furtherance of their economic interests. These gilds would, where they existed, no doubt also influence the management of town affairs; but nowhere has the Rat, as used to be thought, developed out of a gild, nor has the latter anywhere in Germany played a part at all similar in importance to that of the English gild merchant, the only exception being for a time the Richerzeche, or Gild of the Rich of Cologne, from early times by far the largest, the richest, and the most important trading centre among German cities, and therefore provided with an administration more complex, and in some respects more primitive, than any other. On the other hand, the most important commodities offered for sale in the market had been subject to official examination already in Carolingian times. Bakers’, butchers’, shoemakers’ stalls were grouped together in the market-place to facilitate control, and with the same object in view a master was appointed for each craft as its responsible representative. By and by these crafts or “offices” claimed the right of electing their master and of assisting him in examining the goods, and even of framing by-laws regulating the quality of the wares and the process of their manufacture. The bishops at first resented these attempts at self-management, as they had done in the case of the town council, and imperial legislation in their interests was obtained. But each craft at the same time formed a society for social, beneficial and religious purposes, and, as these were entirely in accordance with the wishes of the clerical authorities, the other powers could not in the long run be withheld, including that of forcing all followers of any craft to join the gild (Zunftzwang). Thus the official inspection of markets, community of interests on the part of the craftsmen, and co-operation for social and religious ends, worked together in the formation of craft-gilds. It is not suggested that in each individual town the rise of the gilds was preceded by an organization of crafts on the part of the lord and his officers; but it is maintained that as a general thing voluntary organization could hardly have proceeded on such orderly lines as on the whole it did, unless the framework had in the first instance been laid down by the authorities: much as in modern times the working together in factories has practically been an indispensable preliminary to the formation of trade unions. Much less would the principle of forced entrance have found such ready acceptance both on the part of the authorities and on that of the men, unless it had previously been in full practice and recognition under the system of official market-control. The different names for the societies, viz. fraternitas, Brüderschaft, officium, Amt, condictum, Zunft, unio, Innung, do not signify different kinds of societies, but only different aspects of the same thing. The word Gilde alone forms an exception, inasmuch as, generally speaking, it was used by merchant gilds only.[1]
From an early date the towns, more particularly the older episcopal cities, took a part in imperial politics. Legally the bishops were in their cities mere representatives of the imperial government. This fact found formal expression mainly in two ways. The Vogt, although appointed by the bishop, received the “ban,” i.e. the power of having justice executed, which he passed on to the lesser officers, from the king or emperor direct. Secondly, whenever the emperor held a curia generalis (or general assembly, or diet) in one of the episcopal cities, and for a week before and after, all jurisdictional and administrative power reverted to him and his immediate officers. The citizens on their part clung to this connexion and made use of it whenever their independence was threatened by their bishops, who strongly inclined to consider themselves lords of their cathedral cities, much as if these had been built on church-lands. As early as 1073, therefore, we find the citizens of Worms successfully rising against their bishop in order to provide the emperor Henry IV. with a refuge against the rebellious princes. Those of Cologne made a similar attempt in 1074. But a second class of imperial cities (Reichsstädte), much more numerous than the former, consisted of those founded on demesne-land belonging either to the Empire or to one of the families who rose to imperial rank. This class was largely reinforced, when after the extinction of the royal house of Hohenstaufen in the 13th century, a great number of towns founded by them on their demesne successfully claimed immediate subjection to the crown. About this time, during the interregnum, a federation of more than a hundred towns was formed, beginning on the Rhine, but spreading as far as Bremen in the north, Zürich in the south, and Regensburg in the east, with the object of helping to preserve the peace. After the death of King William in 1256, they resolved to recognize no king unless unanimously elected. This league was joined by a powerful group of princes and nobles and found recognition by the prince-electors of the Empire; but for want of leadership it did not stand the test, when Richard of Cornwall and Alphonso of Castile were elected rival kings in 1257.[2] In the following centuries the imperial cities in south Germany, where most of them were situated, repeatedly formed leagues to protect their interests against the power of the princes and the nobles, and destructive wars were waged; but no great political issue found solution, the relative position of the parties after each war remaining much what it had been before. On the part of the towns this was mainly due to lack of leadership and of unity of purpose. At the time of the Reformation the imperial towns, like most of the others, stood forward as champions of the new cause and did valuable service in upholding and defending it. After that, however, their political part was played out, mainly because they proved unable to keep up with modern conditions of warfare. It should be stated that seven among the episcopal cities, viz. Cologne, Mainz, Worms, Spires, Strassburg, Basel and Regensburg, claimed a privileged position as “Free Cities,” but neither is the ground for this claim clearly established, nor its nature well defined. The general obligations of the imperial cities towards the Empire were the payment of an annual fixed tax and the furnishing of a number of armed men for imperial wars, and from these the above-named towns claimed some measure of exemption. Some of the imperial cities lost their independence at an early date, as unredeemed pledges to some prince who had advanced money to the emperor. Others seceded as members of the Swiss Confederation. But a considerable number survived until the reorganization of the Empire in 1803. At the peace in 1815, however, only four were spared, namely, Frankfort, Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck, these being practically the only ones still in a sufficiently flourishing and economically independent position to warrant such preferential treatment. But finally Frankfort, having chosen the wrong side in the war of 1866, was annexed by Prussia, and only the three seaboard towns remain as full members of the new confederate Empire under the style of Freie und Hansestädte. But until modern times most of the larger Landstädte or mesne-towns for all intents and purposes were as independent under their lords as the imperial cities were under the emperor. They even followed a foreign policy of their own, concluded treaties with foreign powers or made war upon them. Nearly all the Hanseatic towns belonged to this category. With others like Bremen, Hamburg and Magdeburg, it was long in the balance which class they belonged to. All towns of any importance, however, were for a considerable time far ahead of the principalities in administration.
