Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/751

 THE CITY IN HIS TOR V 735

the opposite direction. The great — and probably the only — lesson which Rome has to teach modern municipalities, qua municipalities, is the importance of the role of the public author- ity in providing healthful recreation for the citizens. Our strong individualistic instincts have led us to develop only those sides of municipal activity that contribute directly to individual wel- fare ; we are still far from accepting the idea of the social role of the municipality. It is clear to every student of our industrial and social conditions that we must sooner or later give due weight to this more positive view of governmental power. In the readjustment which is gradually being effected the experi- ence of the ancient cities will be of considerable value.

CITIES OF THE MIDDLE AGES.'

With the breaking up of the Roman empire, Europe enters upon a period of disintegration which finds expression in the most extreme forms of political decentralization. The feudal system, while containing the germs of city growth, did not per- mit of the free movement of population necessary to the growth of large centers. Settlement was dependent upon the will of the feudal lord. The earliest towns grouped themselves around the feudal castles, mainly to enjoy the protection afforded by the fortifications, while others owe their origin to special market privileges granted by the feudal lords. To one or the other of these two causes, or to both combined, the growth of the mediae- val towns may be traced. None of the early towns could boast of more than a few thousand inhabitants — hardly larger than a modern village ; in fact the largest English borough of the thirteenth century contained but five thousand inhabitants.' At the beginning of the fifteenth century London itself had a popu- lation of but forty thousand. The three primary requisites for city growth were lacking :

I. A large territory from which to draw population.

'See Ashley, End of the Middle Ages: Mrs. J. R. Green, Town Life in the Fifteenth Century; Jastrow, Die Enlstehung der deutschen Stadtgemeinde, Dusseldorf, 1889.

•Mrs. J. R. Green, o/>. £-z^.