ABSTRACT
Most of Europe around 1300 was governed by king s assisted by a restricted rulin g class of ecclesiastics and nobles, the firs t and second estates of medieval society. These were the men wh o controlle d cities and towns , rather than the traders and artisans wh o live d and di d business in them. Italy and southern France were different . There cities had survive d fro m the Roman period whic h were stil l centres of urban lif e and culture ; and althoug h churchmen and nobles were a dominan t force i n these cities as elsewhere, the townspeopl e had begun to insist on havin g a share of government fro m the eleventh century onward s - and in some cities they even took over the government, callin g themselves 'communes' when they had ousted the churchmen and nobles fro m their monopol y of power .
