TRENCH, FLEMISH, ENGLISH, GERMAN TOWNS 361 more if he would keep his word, but the bishop outbid them with an offer of seven hundred pounds, and the king there- upon declared the commune abolished. The bishop then set out to recover his seven hundred pounds by taxing the [townspeople, but this was too much for them to bear and
- proved his undoing. They took arms, raised the cry of the
commune, broke into the episcopal palace, massacred its (defenders, and when the bishop was found hiding in a bar- rel, a serf beat out his brains. The king thereupon hastened with an army to avenge this sacrilegious murder and sacked
- the town; but a few years later the people got their com-
- mune after all, although some rights were now reserved for
king, bishop, and nobles. This case of Laon suggests several points that are true of jthe French communes in general. They were created espe- jcially at the expense of bi shop s and eccle siastical church and lords, and the Church in consequence made a communes great outcry against them. "Commune is a new and detest- able word," wrote an abbot of the time. The communes for their part usually would not admit the clergy to their mem- bership. In the rise of the communes, in short, we see a new jforce, primarily secular, political, and economic in character. The clergy to a considerable extent brought the communal Imovement upon themselves by their unwillingness to eman- cipate serfs or to grant considerable privileges and liberal ! charters to the towns, as many of the nobles did and thus in Isome measure forestalled and obviated the formation of communes. The case of Laon also illustrates royal interference in the formation of communes. The Capetians did not care to see independent towns springing up on their own King and domain, although they were sometimes unable to commune s prevent it. But, especially after the reign of Louis VI, they began to see the advantage of encouraging the movement upon the estates of their great vassals, whose power would thereby be weakened, especially if the new communes should retain a feeling of gratitude toward the Crown which had sanctioned their rise.
