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| 29 3 The City-States of the Dark Ages Since the beginning of the concept, citizenship was a critical element of nation building and the very development of democracy in the Western sense. It is therefore not surprising that citizenship has reflected, in form and content, the historical development of ancient territories into what eventually came to be known as nation-states.1 The concept of citizenship after the end of the ancient world was at first in jeopardy, as was the Western world itself. In fact, after the collapse of the Roman Empire in the wake of the invasions and control by various Germanic peoples, citizenship was almost lost as a political concept.2 Nonetheless, the fall of the Roman Empire did not result in the demise of the construct of citizenship.3 A somewhat changed form of citizenship continued in Italian cities and slowly spread over continental Europe.4 In many respects, the enduring nature of citizenship demonstrates the vitality of Roman legal order and influence on Western culture. Despite the fall of Rome and the invasions of the “barbarians”—Huns, Lombards, Goths, Visigoths , and others—Roman notions of membership survived though little else did. This period of foreign invasions and domination, from roughly the fifth to the tenth centuries A.D., along with the rise of Christianity, was crucial in the development of Western and world history.5 It was during the medieval era when “European nations as we know them today were formed and solidified.”6 While the end of Rome marked the end of the ancient world and ancient political order, its culture survived in many ways. As previously mentioned, Roman civilization was one of cities, many (but not all) of which were destroyed during the barbarian invasions. Nevertheless , despite the dramatic changes resulting from the fall of the Roman Empire and the fall of many of its great cities as well as the figurative and literal monuments of its power, an individualized notion of the city emerged; it was this development, coupled with the historic power of a new cultural force—Christianity—that dramatically changed Europe. In many respects, both of these phenomena, in their own ways, ensured the survival of the 30 | The City-States of the Dark Ages concept of citizenship in a world that was very different from the ancient world where the concept had originated. The Middle Ages, also referred to as the Dark Ages, was a time of worldwide change and uncertainty. With the fall of the Roman Empire came a time of instability and transformation. This transformation of culture, politics, and social interaction brought change to the construct of citizenship, but the concept nonetheless remained. New powers, such as the Arab nations, had entered the heart of commercialization in the Mediterranean Sea. The desperation of the Dark Ages thrust the need for some form of notion of membership upon the surviving city-states to ensure the survival of the city-state. In other words, a form of loyalty and economic stability was necessary if the city-state was to survive. The City-State The type of citizenship created in the Dark Ages started as a necessity for survival of the city-states due to the fall of the Roman Empire and the rise of distinct smaller and initially weak city-states. Max Weber observed that in order for a settlement to develop into a city, it had to be a “nonagricultural -commercial type” of settlement and needed to be equipped with the following features: a fortification, a market, its own autonomous law, an associational structure, and at least partial autonomy.7 Weber also noted that as a general rule town dwellers were members of professional associations of guilds and crafts with a specifically urban location, and they were members of the urban districts, city wards, and blocks into which the city was divided by local authorities.8 In such capacities, the town dwellers had definite duties and, at times, even certain rights.9 The city ward as a collective entity could be made responsible for the security of persons or for carrying out other police duties, and for this reason they could be organized into communes with elected officials or hereditary elders.10 Weber regarded the medieval city as an important location for Western democracy because the independent guilds, the decline of slavery, the growth of independent legal institutions, and the creation of an urban militia all favored the growth of social rights.11 In the towns, merchant...

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