Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
|
See also:CITY (through Fr. cite, from See also:Lat. civitas) . In the See also:United See also:Kingdom, strictly speaking, " See also:city " is an honorary See also:title, officially applied to those towns which, in virtue of some pre-See also:eminence (e.g. as episcopal See also:sees, or See also:great See also:industrial centres), have by traditional usage or royal See also:charter acquired the right to the designation . In the United Kingdom the See also:official See also:style of " city " does not necessarily involve the See also:possession of municipal See also:power greater than those of the See also:ordinary boroughs, nor indeed the possession of a See also:corporation at all (e.g . See also:Ely) . In the United States and the See also:British colonies, on the other See also:hand, the official application of the See also:term " city " depends on the See also:kind and extent of the municipal privileges possessed by the corporations, and charters are given raising towns to the See also:rank of cities . Both in See also:France and See also:England the word is used to distinguish the older and central See also:nucleus of some of the large towns, e.g. the Cite in See also:Paris, and the " square mile " under the See also:jurisdiction of the See also:lord See also:mayor which is the " City of See also:London." In See also:common usage, however, the word implies no more than a somewhat vague See also:idea of See also:size and dignity, and is loosely applied to any large centre of See also:population . Thus while, technically, the City of London is quite small, London is yet properly de-scribed as the largest city in the See also:world . In the United States this use of the word is still more loose, and any See also:town, whether technically a city or not, is usually so designated, with little regard to its actual size or importance . It is clear from the above that the word " city " is incapable of any very clear and inclusive See also:definition, and the See also:attempt to show that historically it possesses a meaning that clearly differentiates it from " town " or " See also:borough " has led to some controversy . As the See also:translation of the See also:Greek 'rods or Latin civilas it involves the See also:ancient conception of the See also:state or " city-state," i.e. of the state as not too large to prevent its See also:government through the See also:body of the citizens assembled in the See also:agora, and is applied not to the See also:place but to the whole body politic . From this conception both the word and its dignified See also:connotation are without doubt historically derived . On the occupation of See also:Gaul the Gallic states and tribes were called civitates by the See also:Romans, 4 An See also:oval See also:cittern and a ghittern, See also:side by side, occur in the beautiful 13th-See also:century See also:Spanish MS. known as Cantigas de See also:Santa Maria in the See also:Escorial .
For a See also:fine facsimile in See also:colours see See also:marquis de Valmar, Real
.
Acad
.
Esq., publ. by L
.
See also:Aguado (See also:Madrid, 1889)
.
Reproductions in See also:black and See also:
197
.
Cittern with woman's See also:head, 15th century, on one of six bas-reliefs on the under parts of the seats of the See also:choir of the Priory See also:
How far any such distinction can be sharply See also:drawn may be doubted
.
With regard to England no definite See also:line can be drawn between those towns to which the name civitas or cite is given in See also:medieval documents and those called burgi or boroughs (see J
.
H
.
See also:Round, Feudal England, p
.
338; F
.
W
.
See also:Maitland, Domesday See also:Book and After, p
.
183)
.
It was, however, maintained by See also:Coke and See also:Blackstone that a city is a town incorporate which is or has been the see of a See also:bishop
.
It is true, indeed, that the actual sees in England all have a formal right to the title; the boroughs erected into episcopal sees by See also: For the See also:history of the origin and development of See also:modern city government see BoxouGH and See also:COMMUNE: Medieval . |
|
|
[back] CITTERN (also CITHERN, CITHRON, CYTHREN, CITIIAREN,... |
[next] CIUDAD |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.