“Here is a place created by God for the salvation of many faithful souls.  One day a prosperous city shall flourish here.  Here I will build a chapel.”  Dedicated to Cosmo and Damian, the promised chapel became a shrine which attracted many pilgrims who returned to their various homes with glowing tales of the beautiful and fertile valley.  Little by little others came who did not leave, and by the seventh century when Bishop Lambert sat in the see of Tongres, Liege was a small town.

An active and loving shepherd was this Lambert.  He gave himself no rest but travelled continually from one church to another in his diocese to look after the needs of his flock.  He was a fearless prelate, too, and his words of well-deserved rebuke to the Frankish Pepin for a lawless deed excited the wrath of a certain noble, accessory to the act.  Trouble ensued and Lambert was slain as he knelt before the altar in Monulphe’s chapel at Liege.  Absorbed in prayer the pious man did not hear the servants’ calls, “Holy Lambert, Holy Lambert come to our aid,” words that later became a war-cry when the bishop was exalted into the patron saint of the town.

Not until the thirteenth century, however, when the episcopal see was finally established at Liege, was Lambert’s successor virtual lay overlord of the region as well as Bishop of Liege.  Monulphe’s little chapel had given way to a mighty church dedicated to the canonised Bishop Lambert.  The ecclesiastical state became almost autonomous, the episcopal authority being restricted without the walls only by the distant emperor and still more distant pope.  Within the walls, the same authority had by no means a perfectly free hand.  There were certain features in the constitution of Liege which differentiated it from its sister towns in the Netherlands.

Municipal affairs were conducted in a singularly democratic manner.  There was no distinction between the greater and lesser gilds, and, within these organisations, the franchise was given to the most ignorant apprentice had he only fulfilled the simple condition of attaining his fifteenth year.  Moreover, the naturalisation laws were very easy.  Newcomers were speedily transformed into citizens and enjoyed eligibility to office as well as the franchise.  The tenure of office being for one year only, there was opportunity for frequent participation in public affairs, an opportunity not neglected by the community.[2]

The bishop was, of course, not one of the civic officers chosen by this liberal franchise.  He was elected by the chapter of St. Lambert, subject to papal and imperial ratification for the two spheres of his jurisdiction.  But in the exercise of his function there were many restrictions to his free administration, which papal and imperial sanction together were unable to remove.