335j "^^^^ PLEBISCITE IN ANCIENT AND FEUDAL TIMES 37 



This concession on the part of the seigneur was no more 

 a recognition of popular or democratic rights than was the 

 contractual right of consent or refusal of the vassal. With 

 the growth of the extent of the cities and the increase of 

 the enfranchised men and women of these growing centers 

 of habitation the question of contentment or discord, of at- 

 tachment or hostility to the seigneur came to be a most 

 vital one. Expressed voluntary allegiance afforded a greater 

 sense of security to the seigneur than an enforced and re- 

 sented submission, especially in the turbulent times of the 

 formative and declining period of feudal times. 



In the relations of bourgeoisie and king this concession of 

 consent or refusal was a welcome means of enlarging royal 

 suzerainty and sovereignty, in fact it was the chief means 

 by which the king finally emerged triumphant out of the 

 struggle with his more or less independent feudal lords.-* 



This class, intermediary between the villains and the seigneurs of 

 the fiefs, did not achieve all its importance until the end of the 

 reign of Louis le Gros and the erection of the communes. . . . Aided 

 in the 12th century by the kings, who protected it against the feudal 

 lords and granted it charters, in turn it obligated them by the sacri- 

 fice of blood and money at Bouvines, Taillebourg, Mons-en-Puelle.^^ 



Finally — and above all — of the people in feudal society 

 of the 12th and 13th centuries, the bourgeoisie represented 

 a decidedly privileged class. 



Upon examination the cases cited by Soliere fail to sup- 

 port his theory even for the time after the 13th century. 



The earliest case is that of the secession of the Lyonnais 

 from the Holy Roman Empire and its accession to France in 

 1307. 



At the end of the twelfth century the Lyonnais had 

 secured its independence from the Empire.^" To escape 

 the domination of the Church " the citizens of Lyons pro- 



2^ Ibid., pp. 221, 391-302. 



2" Ch. Dezobry and Th. Rachclct, Dictioniiairc general de biogra- 

 phic ct d'histoirc, Hourgcoisie. 



80 " Lyonnais, grand (jour'ernemcnt of ancient France, consisted of 

 three provinces: the Lyonnais i)roper, Forez and Rcaujolais. . . . 

 Under the Romans this country formed part of the first Lyonnaise. 

 It came afterwards under the domination of tiie Burgundians (413), 



