One element appeared in this period which was to prove a great limitation on seigniorial authority, and was to be an aid to the king in the establishment of internal good order and unity. This was the plebeian town. The most important type of this class was the _villa_, or _concejo_, which originated in the tenth century. The _villas_ were founded on lands conquered by the kings, and were usually in frontier districts exposed to the enemy. On this account special privileges were granted in order to induce people to settle there. Anybody who could contrive to reach a _villa_ was declared free, even if of servile grade before. All citizens were not equal, however; there were varying grades of rank, though all were free. The _villas_ were exempted from many duties to the state,--often from the payment of taxes. They were also withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the counts, and were granted much political authority. Each _villa_ received its own _fuero_, or charter, by a special grant, with the result that there was a great variety in the terms of different charters, although certain of them tended to become the types which were imitated in subsequent grants. As a general rule the government of a _villa_ was in the hands of the assembly of citizens, in which local laws were enacted and judges and administrative officers elected. These rights, added to a long line of exemptions, made veritable political entities of the _villas_, which were independent of all but the king, and were in great measure not subject to him. The _villa_ extended beyond its own walls to include neighboring rural districts as well. The rise of the _villas_ on royal lands compelled the nobility and the clergy to form similar settlements in order to attract people to their territories or to avoid uprisings of their dependents, although these towns did not achieve rights equal to those of the _villas_.
[Sidenote: Diversity and primitive character of the law.]
Since privilege was the general rule, the law in northwestern Spain was very far from being uniform. The Visigothic _Fuero Juzgo_ continued to be the general law, but it was often supplanted as a result of grants by the king to nobles, clergy, and _villas_, and by the nobles and clergy to yet other units under their rule. Very important, too, was the modifying effect of local customs, which in the absence of other specific law were frequently cited. These customs tended to resemble those of the Germanic invaders or even of the indigenous peoples, since the type of life at this time was similar to that of earlier unsettled periods. This era, therefore, was one of a marked falling away from Roman traditions, which had to wait several centuries before they again came into their own.