They were admitted to the burghership, and agreed to spend a certain portion of every year in the palaces they raised within the circuit of the walls.
Thus the Counts placed themselves beneath the jurisdiction of the Consuls, and the Italic population absorbed into itself the relics of Lombard, Frank, and German aristocracy.

Still the gain upon the side of the republics was not clear.

Though the feudal lordship of the nobles had been destroyed, their wealth, their lands, and their prestige remained untouched.

In the city they felt themselves but aliens.

Their real home was still the castle on the neighboring mountain.