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. SECTION I. ROMAN MUNICIPALITIES. The remains of the Roman municipalities obviously present themselves, as forming the first division. Rome herself stands at the head of these. "We find a considerable obscurity spread over the internal history of Rome, during the long period from the recovery of Italy by Belisarius, to the end of the eleventh century. The popes appear to have possessed some measure of temporal power, even while the city was professedly governed by the exarchs of Ravenna, in the name of the eastern empire. This power became more extensive after her separation from Constantinople. It was, however, subordinate to the undeniable sovereignty of the new imperial family, who were supposed to enter upon all the rights of their predecessors. There was always an imperial officer, or prefect, in that city, to render criminal justice; an oath of allegiance to the emperor was taken by the people; and upon an irregular election of a pope, a circumstance by no means unusual, the emperors held themselves entitled to interpose. But the spirit, and even the institutions of Rome were republican. Amidst the darkness of the tenth century, which no contemporary historian dissipates, we faintly distinguish the awful names of senate, consuls, and tribunes, the domestic magistracy of Rome. These shadows of past glory strike us at first with surprise; but there is no improbability in the supposition that a city so renowned and populous, and so happily sheltered from the usurpation of the Lombards, might have preserved, or might afterwards establish a kind of municipal government which it would be natural to dignify with those august titles of antiquity."[1] There can be no doubt that through the whole period of the dark ages a lingering attachment was felt by the citizens of Rome to their ancient institutions--an attachment which local traditions of bygone glory, historical associations connected with the very soil on which they trod, and the mutilated yet magnificent remains of the ancient structures which graced the forum, could not but keep alive.