ABSTRACT
The adventures of medieval kings, emperors, popes and crusaders affected after all only a very small proportion of the people. As political feudalism died, social and economic feudalism continued and the king made no protest against it. A revolution of the villeins themselves or a natural decline of the whole system were the only means by which social feudalism could be ended. Feudalism had been justified in its early days because it afforded protection against invaders. But since that justification had long ago ceased to exist it was only a question of time before feudalism itself disappeared. With the decline of feudalism came the development of the towns. The nobles and villeins of the country-side had kept themselves alive, but they had not succeeded in making their lives comfortable. First big interchange of trade between the Italian merchants and merchants of Central Europe made necessary those great Italian cities of which Venice, Milan, Pisa, Genoa and Florence were the greatest.
