CITY, according to Cowel, is a town corporate, which has a bishop and cathedral church, and is called cłviias, oppidum, and urbs ; civitas, because it is governed by justice and order of magistracy; oppidum, because it contains a great number of inhabitants; and urbs, because it is in due form surrounded with walls.

Kingdoms have been said to contain as many cities as they have sees of archbishops and bishops; but, according to Blount, city is a word that has obtained since the Conquest; for in the time of the Saxons there were no cities, but all the great towns were called burghs, and even London was then called Londonburgh, as the capital of Scotland is called Edinburgh. And long after the Conquest the word city is used promiscuously with the word burgh, as in the charter of Leicester, where it is called both civùas and burgus ; which shows that those writers were mistaken who tell us that every city was or is a bishop’s see, though with us the word city signifies such a town corporate as has usually a bishop and a cathedral church.

As to the ancient state of cities and villages, whilst the feudal policy prevailed they held of some great lord, on whom they depended for protection, and were subject to his arbitrary jurisdiction. The inhabitants were deprived of the natural and most unalienable rights of humanity. They could not dispose of the effects which their own industry had acquired, either by a latter will or by any deed executed during their life. They had no right to appoint guardians for their children during their minority. They were not permitted to marry without purchasing the consent of the lord on whom they depended. If once they had commenced a law-suit, they durst not terminate it by an accommodation, because that would have deprived the lord, in whose court they pleaded, of the perquisites due to him on giving his judgment. Services of various kinds, no less disgraceful than oppressive, were exacted from them without mercy or moderation. The spirit of industry was checked in some cities by absurd regulations, and in others by unreasonable exactions; nor would the narrow and oppressive maxims of a military aristocracy have permitted it ever to rise to any degree of height or vigour.

The freedom of cities was first established in Italy, owing principally to the introduction of commerce. As soon as they began to turn their attention towards this object, and to conceive some idea of the advantages they might derive from it, they became impatient to shake off the yoke of their insolent lords, and to establish among themselves such a free and equal government as would render property secure and industry flourishing. The German emperors, especially those of the Franconian and Suabian lines, as the seat of their government was far distant from Italy, possessed a feeble and imperfect jurisdiction in that country. Their perpetual quarrels, either with the popes or their own turbulent vassals, diverted their attention from the interior policy of Italy, and gave constant employment for their arms. These circumstances induced some of the Italian cities towards the beginning of the eleventh century to assume new privileges, to unite together more closely, and to form themselves into bodies politic, under the government of laws established by common consent. The rights which many cities acquired by bold or fortunate usurpations, others purchased from the emperors, who deemed themselves gainers when they received large sums for immunities which they were no longer able to withhold; and some cities obtained them gratuitously, from the facility or generosity of the princes on whom they depended. The great increase of wealth which the crusades brought into Italy, occasioned a new kind of fermentation and activity in the minds of the people, and excited such a general passion for liberty and independence, that before the conclusion of the last crusade, all the considerable cities in that country had either purchased or extorted large immunities from the emperors.

This innovation was not long known in Italy before it made its way into France. Louis le Gros, in order to create some power that might counterbalance those potent vassals who controlled or gave law to the crown, first adopted the plan of conferring new privileges on the towns situated within his own domain.. These privileges were called charters of community, by which he enfranchised the inhabitants, abolished all marks of servitude, and formed them into corporations or bodies politic, to be governed by a council and magistrates of their own nomination. These magistrates had the right of administering justice within their own precincts, of levying taxes, and of embodying and training to arms the militia of the town, which took the field when required by the sovereign, under the command of officers appointed by the community. The great barons imitated the example of their monarch, and granted similar immunities to the towns within their territories. They had wasted such great sums in their expeditions to the Holy Land, that they were eager to lay hold on this new expedient for raising money by the sale of those charters of liberty. Though the constitution of communities was as repugnant to their maxims of policy as it was adverse to their power, they disregarded remote consequences in order to obtain present relief. In less than two centuries, servitude was abolished in most of the cities of France, which consequently became free corporations, instead of dependent villages without jurisdiction or privileges. Much about the same period the great cities of Germany began to acquire like immunities, and laid the foundations of their present liberty and independence. The practice spread quickly over Europe, and was adopted in Spain, England, Scotland, and all the other feudal kingdoms.

The Spanish historians are almost entirely silent concerning the origin and progress of communities in that kingdom; so that it is impossible to fix, with any degree of certainty, the time and manner of their first introduction there. It appears, however, from Mariana, that, in the year 1350, eighteen cities had obtained a seat in the Cortes of Castile. In Aragon, cities seem early to have acquired extensive immunities, together with a share in the legislature. In the year 1118, the citizens of Zaragoza had not only obtained political liberty, but they were declared to be of equal rank with the nobles of the second class; and many other immunities, unknown to persons in their rank of life in other parts of Europe, were conferred upon them. In England, the establishment of communities or corporations was posterior to the Conquest. The practice was borrowed from France, and the privileges granted by the crown were perfectly similar to those above enumerated. It is not improbable that some of the towns in England were formed into corporations under the Saxon kings; and that the charters granted by the kings of the Norman race were not charters of enfranchisement[7:6:708] from a state of slavery, buta confirmation of privileges which they had already enjoyed. The English cities, however, were very considerable in the twelfth century. ' A clear proof of this occurs in the history just referred to. Fitz-Stcphen, a contemporary author, gives a description of the city of London in the reign of Henry II.; and the terms in which he speaks of its trade, its wealth, and the number of its inhabitants, would suggest no adequate idea of its state at present, when it is the greatest and most opulent city in Europe. But all ideas of grandeur and magnificence are merely comparative. It appears from Peter of Blois, archdeacon of London, who flourished in the same reign, and who had good opportunity of being informed, that this city, of which Fitz-Stephen gives such a pompous account, contained no more than 40,000 inhabitants. The other cities were small in proportion, and in no condition to extort any extensive privileges. That the constitution of the burghs of Scotland in many circumstances resembled that of the towns of France and England, is manifest from the Leges Eurgorum annexed to the Pe-giam Majestatem.