The commune is a sworn confederacy (conjuratio),
which bears some resemblance both to the fraternities established for the
enforcement of the Truce of God (supra, p. 103) and to the
merchant-gilds. But it has also new and striking features. It is formed in
defiance of authority, and for the purpose of seizing rights which are legally vested
in the seigneur or the Crown. It is hostile to the ruling classes of society;
and the object of the members is to establish a republican form of government
within their city. They are largely merchants or artisans; but they concern
themselves with wider interests than those of trade, and often insist that no
man, of whatever avocation, shall remain in the city unless he joins the
commune.
We should be glad to know more of the bold spirits who
directed the communal movement in this early stage. They startled
contemporaries by their radicalism, and their conduct gives the lie to our preconceived
idea that a townsman is a man of peace. These medieval burgesses were accustomed
to defend their rights by force; there is nothing abnormal in the rule of the
merchant-gild of Valenciennes that the gild-brethren should always bring their
weapons with them to the market, and should ride in armed companies to distant
fairs. The Milanese and the men of Ghent are typical in their greed for empire,
in their readiness to strike a blow for their own profit whenever war is in the
land. If the seigneurs of such cities gave cause for dissatisfaction, they
found that they had brought a hornet's nest about their ears. In the struggle
for liberties the popular party displayed a high courage which rose superior to
defeat, though in the hour of triumph it was too often sullied by ferocious
acts of vengeance. They threw themselves with intelligence and energy into the
feuds of other interests and classes, backing the Church against the State, the
State against the baronage, or the weaker against the stronger of two rival
lords. The policy of the towns was often double-faced, material and separatist;
but it also embodied ideals of justice and of citizenship which were destined
to prevail in the struggle for existence, and to produce a wholesome
reformation in the structure of society.
