222 Evolution of the Wages System. 



and Amiens by Louis VT. of France about 1110, Hallam 

 tells us that << before the death of Henry V. (1125), almost 

 all the cities of Lombardy and many of those of Tuscany 

 were accustomed to elect their own magistrates and to 

 act as independent communities in waging war and in 

 domestic government." And in England, according to the 

 same author, "From the time of William Ilufus (1087 to 

 1100) there was no reign in which charters were not 

 granted to different towns for exemption from tolls on rivers 

 and at markets, those lighter manacles of feudal tyranny, 

 or commercial franchises, or of immunity from the ordi- 

 nary jurisdiction, or lastly of internal self-government."* 



The increasing wealth and prosperity of the towns was 

 a constant source of envy to the barons, who, we are told, 

 "plundered them on every occasion without mercy or re- 

 morse." Therefore, in order to maintain their existence 

 and the freedom and wealth they had acquired, the towns 

 Avere forced to assume open hostility to the barons. As a 

 means of swelling their numbers and sustaining themselves 

 in this struggle, the burgesses made the towns a place of 

 refuge and safety for all who should come to reside within 

 their walls. And as an additional inducement they con- 

 ferred the right of citizenship upon all who remained there 

 one year, even though they were runaway serfs from the 

 neighboring baron's estate. Thus the towns not only pro- 

 tected the property and promoted the progress of the bur- 

 gesses, but they offered protection and freedom to all who 

 w^ho would flee thither from the clutches of their feudal 

 masters. By such means they naturally attracted to them 

 the most energetic and characterful portion of the people. 

 With this opportunity for improvement and freedom con- 

 stantly held out to even serfs of husbandry, the barons were 

 gradually compelled to provide better conditions, grant 

 more privileges, and some freedom, in order to prevent tluMii 

 from fleeing to the towns. And by the middle of the four- 

 teenth century, we are told, the villeins of England had 

 largely become hired laborers. In other words, the laborers 

 had developed from serfs (slaves) into wage receivers. 



Since the middle of the fourteenth century, the struggle 

 of the laboring classes has been distinctly one for wages, 

 as shown by the continuous legislation upon the subject 



Hallaui's History of the Middle Ages, Vol. I., pp. IGC-ICO and !'.; also Vol. 

 II., p. 78. 



