CITY. 



249 



ties, as Cttta Custcllana, Citta Ducale, Cilta Nuova, 

 &c. 



CITY, in history. Mankind have been twice in- 

 debted for civilization and liberty to cities. With 

 them civilization and political institutions began, and 

 in them were developed the principles of democracy 

 or of equal rights in the middle ages. The origin of 

 cities belongs to the earliest period of history. Ac- 

 cording to Moses, Nimrod built three, among which 

 Babylon was the most important. The Jews oelieve, 

 though without foundation, that Shem erected the 

 first city after the deluge. At the commencement of 

 society, the form of government was patriarchal. 

 The ruler was the head of the family or clan. Re- 

 lationship, the innate wish of men to live in society, 

 and, more, perhaps, than both these causes, the ne- 

 cessity of providing means of defence against more 

 powerful clans, brought together separate families 

 into one spot. The fertility of the East, also, was 

 an inducement to men to give up the rambling life 

 of nomades, and to form permanent settlements. 

 These settlers began to barter with those tribes who 

 continued to wander with their herds from place to 

 place. Thus cities sprung up. These were soon 

 surrounded with walls, to prevent the inroads of the 

 wandering tribes. The bond of connexion between 

 their inhabitants thus became closer, and their or- 

 ganization more complete. As by degrees the chiefs 

 of these family-states died away, the citizens began to 

 elect the most able or most popular men for magis- 

 trates, without respect to birth or descent. Thus po- 

 litical institutions began to assume a systematic cha- 

 racter. The earliest form of government succeeding 

 the patriarchal state was probably monarchical. In 

 this, the religious, paternal, and political authority 

 remained rudely mingled. The authority of the 

 king was weak, his connexion with the different parts 

 of his dominions imperfect, and the progress of civili- 

 zation was promoted almost solely by the growth of 

 the cities. These gave rise to the division of labour, 

 the refinements of social intercourse, the develop- 

 ment of laws caused by the conflicting interests of 

 many people living close together, the idea of equa- 

 lity of rights, the diminution of awe for a distant 

 monarch, the growth of patriotism, springing from 

 the sense of advantages enjoyed, and the exertions 

 necessary to maintain them. J hese were the salu- 

 tary consequences of the establishment of cities. 

 Under the mild sky of Asia, Africa, Greece, and 

 Italy, cities were built first, and in the greatest num- 

 ber. The Phoenicians and Egyptians particularly 

 distinguished themselves by me erection of cities, 

 which soon attained a high degree of wealth, and 

 consequently of civilization. The Egyptians con- 

 sidered their city Diospolis (Thebes) older than any 

 of the Greek cities, and Pliny says that Cecropia 

 (erected in Attica by Cecrops. 1582 B. C., and after- 

 wards called Athens) was the oldest city of Greece. 

 Heeren justly remarks, that the rise of cities was 

 the most important source of the republicanism of 

 antiquity. This is particularly true of Greece. In 

 fact, cities are, by their very nature, of a republican 

 tendency. Several confederations of cities existed in 

 the ancient world j for instance, the Phoenician, con- 

 sisting of the cities of Tyre, Sidon, &c., and the 

 Achaean league, formed by the most important cities 

 of Greece, in order to strengthen themselves against 

 the power of Macedon. Under Augustus and his 

 successors, the Komans began to establish colonial 

 cities in Germany, having done the same long before 

 in Gaul, Spain, Africa, &c. In Switzerland, they 

 first erected cities about A. D. 70, which, however, 

 were mostly laid waste by the Alemanni, and subse- 

 quently rebuilt under the government of the Franks 

 (A. I). 496). The Germans, accustomed tp a wild, 



rambling life, did not show any disposition to Ihe in 

 cities, until Charlemagne laboured to collect them 

 together in settled abSdes, from his desire to civilize 

 thlm. Henry I. distinguished himself particularly in 

 this way, and, on this account, has been called, by 

 Some, Henry the City-builder (der Stadeerbauer). He 

 gave the cities great privileges, hi order to induce 

 his subjects to live in them, and thus laid the founda- 

 tion of that power, which, at a future period, contri 

 buted most to break down the feudal system. In 

 many cities, imperial castles were erected to protect 

 the inhabitants, and the insupportable oppressions 

 and even cruelties exercised by the feudal lords upon 

 their peasants, or by the wandering knights and rob- 

 bers, drove many people into the cities. The attacks 

 of the neighbouring lords gave firmness to their un- 

 ion, and compelled them to cultivate their resources. 

 Commerce and the various arts and trades were soon 

 cultivated within their walls, and their wealth and 

 respectability increased. They soon became sensible 

 of the want of a better system of laws and political 

 administration than prevailed around them, and the 

 principle of equal rights and laws was quickly deve- 

 loped. 



One of the most important remnants, if not the 

 most important, of the great fabric of ancient civili- 

 zation, was the cities of Italy. What the world would 

 have become without them is not to be calculated. 

 In spite of then- bloody contests with each other, 

 and the vices to which these gave rise, they must be 

 considered as having lighted the torch of modern ci- 

 vilization. It was not the monarchies, it was not 

 the courts of the great princes, it was the cities of 

 Northern Italy, which opened the way for the pro- 

 gress of improvement; and the petty princes of 

 Italy caught from them the spirit which prompted 

 their efforts to promote it. Under the reign oi 

 Conrad III. (1138 52), the cities of Lombardy, and 

 particularly Milan, which stood at their head, had 

 acquired a high degree of wealth and power, and 

 had formed themselves into a confederation. The 

 struggles between the emperors and these cities form 

 one of the most important portions of the history of 

 the German empire and of Italy. Frederic I. in vain 

 demolished the powerful city of Milan. It was soon 

 rebuilt, and the cities of Lombardy, hi alliance with 

 the pope, obliged the emperor to conclude with them 

 a very disadvantageous peace at Constance. Two 

 other confederations of cities, highly important, were 

 formed during the interregnum of the German em- 

 pire, between 1256 and 1272. One of them was the 

 powerful Hansa, or Hanseatic league (q. v.) ; the 

 other, the confederacy of the High German and 

 Rhenish cities, from the foot of the Alps to the 

 mouth of the Mayne, established by Walpode of 

 Mentz, in 1255. A similar confederacy, and a very 

 important one, was that of the Suabian cities, insti- 

 tuted in 1488, to repel the outrages of the feudal 

 lords and knights. .By degrees, the cities acquired, 

 in the different countries of Europe, the right of re- 

 presentation in the legislative bodies ; and wealth, 

 industry, knowledge, and equal laws, spread from 

 them through Europe. But the cities of Lombardy, 

 though still flourishing and wealthy, had fallen, for 

 the most part, under the rule of single families ; 

 their republican governments vanished, and their con- 

 federation was dissolved. The associations of Ger- 

 man cities experienced a similar fate. By the peace 

 of Westphalia, the princes of the German empire 

 were declared sovereign powers, and the more their 

 authority increased, the more did the relative weight 

 of the cities diminish. , These had formerly suffered 

 from the oppressions of the feudal lords. They were 

 now the victims of the policy of the neighbouring 

 princes, whom envy often led to adopt the most uwvur- 



