re-affume the title of confuls, which had been extinct under the Longobards; and if these had fomewhat of a greater authority, they were not, nevertheless, exempt from the jurisdiction of the dukes and marquiffes, or from the fovereignty of the kings and emperors.

A greater fpirit of independence arifing in the minds of the Italians, in the time of thofe great difcords between the empire and the church, diminished to fuch a degree the efteem of the people towards the emperors, folemnly excommunicated by the pontiffs, that a great part of the cities of Italy, eftranging themfelves by little and little. from their obedience, began to conduct themfelves like independent ftates, in entire freedom. This happened in the time of Henry the Fourth and the Fifth; and the difobedience increafed ftill more, when all the Tedefque forces were engaged to fuftain, in Germany, the competition between Lothario the Second and Conrad the Swede for the throne of Cæfar. Then the cities, taking advantage of the distance of those who had power to bridle their arrogance, began to be infolent : * then they began to lift up their heads, and to do whatever feemed good in their own eyes: then they thought it lawful to appropriate to themselves many of the regalia belonging to their fovereign; and believing themselves able to fhake off the yoke of fuperiority, they attended to nothing but to their prefent advantage, and to dilate the limits. of their ufurped liberty. But with all this, they were never able to extinguish the quality of their fubjection, nor the obligation of dependence; for Frederick the First paffed over to eftablish and re

*His diebus, propter abfentiam regis, Italiæ urbibus, in infolentiam decedentibus. Ottone Frifingenfe.

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gulate,

gulate, in the convention of Conftance, their privileges, and the regalia which were then ufurped; and the people were held to an annual cenfus, * and obliged to perform certain royal and perfonal fervices.

In the twelfth century, the cities, after the fimilitude of ancient Rome, all re-affumed the title of confuls, and began, fome fooner and others later, to make their proper ftatutes, and establish their popular government. Though it is not poffible to afcertain the precife time when the inftitution of confuls was firft made in Piftoia, they are, nevertheless, found named in the ftatutes of 1107. 1107; and of thefe there were two, called the Conful of the Soldiers, and the Conful of Juftice, taken from the nobility of the place, and were called the Greater Confuls, to diftinguish them from the plebeian confuls of the fecond clafs, called the Leffer Confuls, or Confuls of the Merchants, taken from the common people. Their authority, and fometimes their numbers, were various; but there ought ever to be one more of the popular than of the greater confuls. The election of these magiftrates was made every year by the people, with the intervention of all the governors (rettori) of the arts of the city; and they governed, with the council of an hundred of the better fort of citizens, adminiftering juftice both to the laity and the ecclefiaftics. This council, befides its extraordinary affemblies, was obliged to meet in the months of March, May, July, and September, after a previous intimation, given by the confuls, of the bufinefs to be done; and for the refult of this affembly all determinations,

*Sigonius, lib. xiii. de Regno Italiæ.

Unus plus de popularibus quam de majoribus.

upon

upon things of most importance, muft wait; and all laws, refolutions, and deliberations, firft propofed and digefted in the fmaller council, by the few, must be here confirmed or rejected.

Here again is a conftitution of all authority in one affembly. The council of an hundred was fovereign. The confuls, though they had the command of the army, and the judgement of caufes, could do nothing in administration by themselves, or with advice of their little council. They had no negative upon any deliberation or refolution of the great council: and, on the other hand, the people had no negative, not even the poor protection of a tribunitian veto. Accordingly we read, in the next paragraph, that the power of the people having fo greatly increased, by means of their ufurped liberty, fo many factions had arifen, and feparated into fo numerous divifions, and all had become fo much the more intractable and feditious, and the stimulus of power was become the greater, that the emperor Frederick the First, in 1155, after having reduced to his obedience Mi- 1155. lan, and received the oaths of fidelity from all the other cities of Italy, and, among the reft, from all thofe of Tufcany, judged it neceffary, to obviate the continual tumults which arofe, to inftitute the office and dignity of podefta, and to send to the government of thofe cities gentlemen, from among the foreign nobility, with that title. This commiffion of podefta operated to the damage and diminution of the influence of the confuls, becaufe in this magiftrate was vefted the whole judicial power, both in private and civil causes, and in those which were public and criminal; and therefore the podesta was the ordinary judge in the

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city, with full power, dominion, and authority to govern, command, and chaftife, granted to him by the emperor, to whom, as their ligitimate fovereign, the people had recourfe in cafes of appeal, and in all denials of juftice.

From its fubjection to this minifter, in the earlieft times of the inftitution of his office, the city of Pistoia was ftill more irritated and oppreffed; and, as the nomination was referved directly to the fovereign, the officer was changed as often as the times feemed to him to require. The rigour of this inftitution was foftened by length of time and continual difcords and diffenfions, till the city of Pistoia acquired the right of the election of this minifter, who obliged himself, in many things, to follow the various ordinances and refolutions of the confuls. This election of the podefta was made by the Pistoians in virtue of a municipal law confented to by the fovereign; the perfon elected ftood in office only fix months, and was chofen by the council of the people, as it was called, that is, the council of an hundred, with the intervention of all the rectors of the chapels, and all the rectors of the arts. The podesta was bound to conduct with him, judges fkilful in the laws, notaries, two companies of militia, horfes, and fervants, and other followers; and in all things were thefe officers obliged to render their accounts. It was cuftomary to confer this dignity of podefta upon the primary citizens. Neither the confuls nor podefta, jointly or feverally, had authority to impofe taxes, confent to war, peace, truce, or alliance, without the council of the people, which

* Con tutta la balia, impero, e potefta di governare, cò mandare, e caftigare. Fioravanti, p. 18.

confifted

confifted of an hundred citizens, elected in the proportion of five and twenty for each of the four gates or quarters of the city, with the intervention. of all the rectors of the chapels, and rectors of the arts, or, in other words, the podesta, confuls; council of an hundred, and rectors of the chapels and arts, were all collected in one aflembly, to determine on grants for money, peace, war, truce, alliance, &c. and all queftions were determined by the vote of the majority, which neceffarily made that tempeftuous and capricious government in one center, againft which we contend.

And to the podefta, for his regulation in the exercife of his office, were given by the city fourteen counsellors, and two judges; one de lege, that is to fay, a doctor of laws; the other ex ufu, or de ufu, which fignified, as they interpreted the words, a protector of the commons; and two advocates for arguing each caufe: and by the opinion of all thefe he decided upon thofe things which affected the honour or utility of the public, as he himfelf, after having made his election of thefe attendants, was obliged to ftand by their advice.* This podefta, in early times, fuperintended not only the fecular government, but the ecclefiaftical: but in procefs of time the city became governed by three, namely, the confuls, the podefta, and the bishops; for the bishops had profited of the violent diffenfions that prevailed in the city, to draw to themselves various rights and jurifdictions, as has happened in other nations. The lordship of the podefta, therefore, having thrown down the authority of the confuls, thefe were no

*His oath was, Et petam a confiliariis toto tempore mei dominii de rebus, quæ mihi videbuntur expectare ad communem honorem et utiliatem, noftræ civitatis Piftorii. Fioravanti, p. 18, 19.

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