We have there pointed out that the Rath or Town Council, that is, the supreme governing body of the municipality, was in all cases mainly, and often entirely, composed of the heads of the town aristocracy, the patrician class or "honorability" (_Ehrbarkeit_), as they were termed, who on the ground of their antiquity and wealth laid claim to every post of power and privilege.

On the other hand were the body of the citizens enrolled in the various guilds, seeking, as their position and wealth improved, to wrest the control of the town's resources from the patricians.

It must be remembered that the towns stood in the position of feudal over-lords to the peasants who held land on the city territory, which often extended for many square miles outside the walls.

A small town like Rothenburg, for instance, which we have described above, had on its lands as many as 15,000 peasants.
The feudal dues and contributions of these tenants constituted the staple revenue of the town, and the management of them was one of the chief bones of contention.
Nowhere was the guild system brought to a greater perfection than in the free Imperial towns of Germany.

Indeed, it was carried further in them, in one respect, than in any other part of Europe, for the guilds of journeymen (_Cesellenverbaende_), which in other places never attained any strength or importance, were in Germany developed to the fullest extent, and of course supported the craft-guilds in their conflict with the patriciate.