66 ON THE PROBABLE ORIGIN 
their activity on these occasions. In Germany, 
as in Tuscany and in Lombardy, the cause of 
the lower orders was promoted by the quarrels 
of the old families among themselves, which 
made it necessary for some other power to step 
between and preserve the peace, and which also 
divided the force which might otherwise have 
resisted the popular claims. Instead of describ- 
ing the outrages committed at Cologne, whose 
history most nearly resembles those of Milan 
and Florence, it will be more interesting to read 
what happened at Augsburg, as an example of 
that wise and timely compromise with a rising 
power, by which the benefits of change are 
attained without its evils. 
In the middle of the 14th century the old 
families still kept possession of the government, 
but beyond the Alps, and in the cities on the 
Rhine, to which the artizans of Augsburg car- 
ried their productions for sale, they saw the 
men of their own order admitted to the admi- 
nistration, and they determined to claim a similar 
share. Nocomplaints were made of misgovern- 
ment and oppression against the old families ; 
but the time was come, when their monopoly 
must cease. On the 21st. October, 1368, the 
companies in arms took possession of the gates 
