commencing with two from the documents which have already been quoted from Brunetti, relating to the dispute between the bishops of Siena and Arezzo.  In the first of these[25] we see that in the year 715, the king’s majordomus Ambrosius interferes “in Curte a Domini Regis” at Siena, in opposition to the local bishop and gastald; and in the second[26] we find the royal notary Gunthram forbidding a fresh examination of witnesses “in Curte Regia Senensis.”  In a document of the next year[27]—­716—­we find “Ebugansus, Notarius regiae Curtis,” taking part in the procedure in a case between the bishops of Pistoia and Lucca; and a little later, in the year 756, is mention of an exchange of property between “civitis regia lucencis” and the church situated in that city.[28] In the “Opusculum de Fundat.  Monast.  Nonantulae,” published by Muratori,[29] we find a donation by King Aistulf to that monastery:  “prope castellum Aginulfi, quod pertinet de curte nostra lucense, et duas casas masaritias de ipsa curte”; and “granum ilium, quod annue colligitur de portatico, in Curte nostra, quae sita est in Civitate Nova."[30] In Carlovingian times Charles the Bald, in the year 875, in the “Chronica Farfense,"[31] appears as saying, “in Curte nostra infra Castrum Viterbense”:  elsewhere “curtis regie Viturbensis” is spoken of[32]:  and later, in 899, Berenger gives to the bishop of Florence “terram ... pertinentem de curte Regis istae Florentiae"[33]:  and finally, not to multiply examples, I will mention a privilege of Karloman’s, published by Ughelli[34], by which he gives to the bishop of Parma certain regalia:  “id est curtem regiam extructam infra civitatem Parmam cum omne officio suo,” etc.  From even these few instances we can see the connection between the Curtis Regia and the city which gave its name to the civitas, a connection the importance of which we must not fail to appreciate, in consideration of the great influence which it exercised in the future development of the municipal unit from a beginning so insignificant.

Of some importance in connection with the early history of the cities are the questions which arise in relation to the fiscal duties and privileges of the curtes regia and its officers.  In it was centered the fiscal administration of the kingdom; and its officers, in the various grades from the dux downward, received and were responsible for the revenues of the state.  So prominent a part belonged to this form of the functions of the curtes that it is quite common to hear the revenues themselves, by a transposition of terms, called by that name, or by that of palatium, a word sometimes found even for the curtes regia in their proper general sense; but this, from what I have been able to gather concerning its legitimate use, should properly be applied only to the residence, or by conversion the revenues of the king himself[35].  What is of interest to us in this matter is the fact that the curtis regia fell heir to the publicum or communal property of the old Roman curia, when these were overthrown by the Lombard conquest.