But an imperfect civic organization existed in the "wards" or quarters of the town, each governed by its own alderman, and in the "gilds" or voluntary associations of merchants or traders which ensured order and mutual protection for their members.

Loose too as these bonds may seem, they were drawn firmly together by the older English traditions of freedom which the towns preserved.

The London burgesses gathered in their town-mote when the bell swung out from the bell-tower of St.Paul's to deliberate freely on their own affairs under the presidency of their alderman.

Here, too, they mustered in arms if danger threatened the city, and delivered the town-banner to their captain, the Norman baron Fitz-Walter, to lead them against the enemy.
[Sidenote: Early Oxford] Few boroughs had as yet attained to such power as this, but the instance of Oxford shows how the freedom of London told on the general advance of English towns.

In spite of antiquarian fancies it is certain that no town had arisen on the site of Oxford for centuries after the withdrawal of the Roman legions from the isle of Britain.