THE COASTS OF SAINTONGE. 255 



Liid waste by war and overwhelmed by the sea, 

 sought refuge on this far distant promontory. They 

 were joined by a colony of Colliberts, who had 

 been driven out of Lower Poitou, and in 1152 

 the population had so much increased that it was 

 found necessary to build a new church.* From this 

 period the importance of La Rochelle increased ra- 

 pidly. After his marriage with Eleanor of Aquitaine, 

 Henry II., anxious to secure the fidelity of a town 

 that was peopled by bold seamen and rich merchants, 

 raised it to the rank of a commune and granted 

 it very considerable privileges. At a later period, 

 Eleanor accorded them fresh immunities, and or- 

 ganised that energetic and active municipality which 

 successfully struggled against so many cro*wned 

 heads, and which subsisted for more than 400 

 years.f 



The municipality of La Rochelle was composed 

 of twenty-four eschevins and seventy-six peers, ap- 

 pointed for life. This kind of senate was recruited, in 

 case of vacancies, by election, while moreover they 

 every year selected from their number three candi- 

 dates, from among whom the king or his representa- 

 tive was compelled to choose the mayor, who, during 

 the term of his office, exercised sovereign power. 

 The king of France, it is true, appointed a lieutenant- 



* Histoire de la mile de La Rochelle et du pays d'Aulnts, composte 

 d'apres les Auleurs el les litres originaux, by M. Arcere, 1 756. 



t The constitution of La Rochelle was fundamentally modified by 

 Francis I. in 1535, and re-established in its primitive form thirteen 

 years afterwards by Henry II. Independently of this temporary 

 suspension it continued almost unaltered from 1198 to 1628. 



