Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/88

 70 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chap, iv commerce demanded the application of legal princi- ples such as only the Roman law contained. So a more thorough and intelligent study began in Bologna and the cities of Lombardy, which were centres of the new growth of trade and had preserved the strongest traditions of Roman law. A new stage in the knowl- edge of Roman law was reached, and this higher knowledge crossed the Alps to France, England, and Germany. In those countries there were men fit to receive the gift, and the Roman law henceforth was appropriated and applied in the new spirit of a larger time, a spirit which in its rationality and compre- hensiveness drew nearer to the spirit of the classic jurists.