Organization and Condition of the Commercial and Industrial Classes in the West from the Eleventh to the Fourteenth Centuries.

The commercial and industrial classes had united to conquer their freedom; now after the victory they began definitely to organize themselves. While, on the one hand, their associations became legal organisms, on the other, the elements of which they were composed fell into distinct groups, according to their natural affinities. The richest among them formed a veritable aristocracy, a patriciate, while on their side the masses formed a vast democracy of free crafts and sworn corporations.