them as “good men” or notables, the consuls knew how to make a position for themselves in the hierarchy.  If the consulate, which was a powerful expression of the most prominent system of independence, did no succeed in suppressing feudalism in Provence as in Italy, it at least so transformed it, that it deprived it of its most unjust and insupportable elements.  At Toulouse, for instance (where the consuls were by exception called capitouls, that is to say, heads of the chapters or councils of the city), the lord of the country seemed less a feudal prince in his capital, than an honorary magistrate of the bourgeoisie.  Avignon added to her consuls two podestats (from the Latin potestas, power).  At Marseilles, the University of the high city was ruled by a republic under the presidency of the Count of Provence, although the lower city was still under the sovereignty of a viscount.  Perigueux, which was divided into two communities, “the great and the small fraternity,” took up arms to resist the authority of the Counts of Perigord; and Arles under its podestats was governed for some time as a free and imperial town.  Amongst the constitutions which were established by the cities, from the eleventh to the sixteenth centuries, we find admirable examples of administration and government, so that one is struck with admiration at the efforts of intelligence and patriotism, often uselessly lavished on such small political arenas.  The consulate, which nominally at least found its origin in the ancient grandeur of southern regions, did not spread itself beyond Lyons.  In the centre of France, at Poictiers, Tours, Moulin, &c., the urban progress only manifested itself in efforts which were feeble and easily suppressed; but in the north, on the contrary, in the provinces between the Seine and the Rhine, and even between the Seine and the Loire, the system of franchise took footing and became recognised.  In some places, the revolution was effected without difficulty, but in others it gave rise to the most determined struggles.  In Normandy, for instance, under the active and intelligent government of the dukes of the race of Roll or Rollon, the middle class was rich and even warlike.  It had access to the councils of the duchy; and when it was contemplated to invade England, the Duke William (Fig. 35) found support from the middle class, both in money and men.  The case was the same in Flanders, where the towns of Ghent (Fig. 36), of Bruges, of Ypres, after being enfranchised but a short time developed with great rapidity.  But in the other counties of western France, the greater part of the towns were still much oppressed by the counts and bishops.  If some obtained certain franchises, these privileges were their ultimate ruin, owing to the ill faith of their nobles.  A town between the Loire and the Seine gave the signal which caused the regeneration of the North.  The inhabitants of Mans formed a community or association, and took an oath that they