This fact is even of greater importance in the case of the gastald
than in that of the _dux_, because, on account of the elimination of
the character of local ruler, which was indissolubly attached to the
office of the latter, the gastald brought local affairs into direct
relation with other parts of the social system of the kingdom,
especially connecting them with the king or centre of the whole. Such
a connection, as may be inferred from what has just been said, while
legally true, of course, of the whole _civitas_, had practically the
effect of bringing the cities chiefly into relation with the rest of
the Lombard constitution; and, consequently, some writers point to the
office of gastald as the connecting link between municipal life and
the new state life of the Teutonic system. This statement seems to me
to be true except in so far as it makes the gastald the only
connecting link. For we have already seen the _dux_ holding the same
relation, only in a less direct manner, owing to the intrusion of
other interests belonging to his position; and we shall shortly have
to consider the _scabinus_, another local officer, who, under
Carlovingian rule, accomplished even more in this direction than the
gastald. I do not wish to fail in appreciation of the important
influence of this office in the development of the slowly growing idea
of individuality in the cities of Lombardy, only to point out that it
was not the only "connecting link" between the municipal units and the
state as a whole.
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