At the same time the municipal struggles of Commune against Commune lost none of their virulence.

The Counts, pressed on all sides by the towns that had grown up around them, adopted the policy of pitting one burgh against another.

When a noble was attacked by the township near his castle, he espoused the animosities of a more distant city, compromised his independence by accepting the captaincy or lieutenancy of communes hostile to his natural enemies, and thus became the servant or ally of a Republic.

In his desperation he emancipated his serfs, and so the folk of the Contado profited by the dissensions of the cities and their feudal masters.

This new phase of republican evolution lasted over a long and ill-defined period, assuming different characters in different centers; but the end of it was that the nobles were forced to submit to the cities.