as they had done under Roman bureaucracy. As the 72 mark became consolidated into the town, with the land attached thereto, it began to acquire fresh privileges from its new lords, lay and ecclesiastic. These privileges were for the most part bought from the overlords under the compulsion of the need of money, bred by the wars they were engaged in, or, in the church territories, by the overweening love of splendid building, and the intrigues with Rome and foreign courts in which they were involved. These privileges consisted mainly of independent jurisdiction, rights of market and tolls, freedom from military service, etc., etc.
It was the interest of the towns to favour the growth of power in the king or monarch, since he was far off, and his domination was much less real and much less vexatious than that of the feudal neighbour, their immediate lord. The king, on his side, always engaged in disputes with his baronage, found his interest in creating and supporting free corporations in the towns, and thereby curbing the overweening power of his vassals; while at the same time the growing production of the towns added 73 to his exchequer, by creating a fresh source of supply, easier to exploit than that which the military nobles yielded.
This process of the gaining of independence of the growing medieval towns began as early as the 11th century, and culminated in the 14th. The first English charter was granted by Edward the Confessor. In France the first charter was granted to Le Mans in 1072, to Cambrai 1076; Laon, Beauvais, Amiens, and other towns followed. In later times the kings themselves founded free towns, as notably Edward I., both in Guienne and England; Kingston upon Hull (hodie Hull) and Winchelsea are examples of such places still remaining, though fortune has dealt with these two in such a widely different way.
In Spain, in quite early days the Visigothic code, a blending of Roman law and Teutonic custom, recognised the corporations definitely: the first charter was granted to Leon in 1020.