[95]
The next step in the growth of the episcopal power, and the most
important of all, is the progress from exemption to privilege, to
jurisdiction; and occurs after the return of the kingship of Italy to
the hands of native kings.[96] It means the full development of the
bishop into the temporal ruler, and as such belongs properly to the
history of the tenth century, and consequently is beyond the limits of
the present paper.
We have now considered individually and separately, in the course of
their development, the different elements which, when combined and
modified by the various changes described, contributed to form the
solid foundation upon which the fabric of the future independent life
of the cities was to be built. We have been dealing exclusively with
institutions, and the manner in which their growth has been
accomplished. For it is in the institutional life of a people, and in
the change and development it undergoes, that are to be found those
elements which form the basis for all future changes, whether simply
in the form of its government or in the structure of its social
system. If once a clear picture is gained of the structural parts
which form the institutional framework of any particular development,
and a truthful presentation of these forming principles is proved and
established, a detailed account of the material expression of them is
a matter of secondary importance.
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