Chapter V: The Town

Cities and towns are the grand theatres of civilisation. Its elements, it is true, have their place and their influence amidst rural scenes, but they commonly appear there as the reflection of what obtains in city life. It is of great importance, then, to take a view of the social condition of the towns and cities of Europe at that period, in order to estimate aright the character of European civilisation.

The era of the general enfranchisement of boroughs, when the elements of modern civilisation came into vigorous play, is coincident with the close of the period over which the present survey extends--it marks the eleventh and twelfth centuries; and, therefore, the state of towns previous to that grand civic awakening, is what chiefly demands attention in the present chapter.