Now this is to a certain extent an error. There were certain
institutions which from the very nature of their origin and of the
principles on which they were based, must have been, at once in their
idea and in their structure, opposed to the fundamental principle of
feudalism. The Roman Church, for example, conformed itself to the
forms and customs of this system, but never lost its structural unity
and centralization, ideas founded on principles which stood in direct
opposition to those of feudalism. So it was, though perhaps in a less
degree, with the cities. Though adapting themselves in many ways to
feudal forms, here the idea of democracy was as strong in its
opposition to the dominant principle of feudalism, as ever was that of
centralization in the Church. The people, in their own conception at
least, stood out as an organic unity, and they considered their rights
and duties as matters which concerned them collectively, not
separately, as the commonwealth, not as individuals. Of course it was
long before any such opposition assumed a definite form and shape,
before even the people became conscious of its existence; but what I
wish to point out is, that it was there in fact from the beginning,
and must have formed a structural part of the development of city life
in the middle ages.
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