Quote image editor
“Nothing was further from the mind of the original middle classes than any conception of the rights of man and citizen. Personal liberty itself was not claimed as a natural right. It was sought only for the advantages it conferred. This is so true that at Arras, for example, merchants tried to have themselves classed as serfs of the monastery of St. Vast in order to enjoy the exemption from the market-tolls which had been accorded to the latter.” — Henri Pirenne
Nothing was further from the mind of the original middle classes than any conception of the rights of man and citizen. Personal liberty itself was not claimed as a natural right. It was sought only for the advantages it conferred. This is so true that at Arras, for example, merchants tried to have themselves classed as serfs of the monastery of St. Vast in order to enjoy the exemption from the market-tolls which had been accorded to the latter.