The inhabitants of Rheims remembered with pride that their municipal magistracy and its jurisdiction were anterior to Clovis, dating as they did from before the days of St.Remigius, the apostle of the Franks.

The burghers of Metz boasted of having enjoyed civil rights before there was any district of Lorraine: "Lorraine," said they, "is young, and Metz is old." The city of Bourges was one of the most complete examples of successive transformations and denominations attained by a Roman municipality from the sixth to the thirteenth century under the Merovingians, the Carlovingians, and the earliest Capetians.
At the time of the invasion it had arenas, an amphitheatre, and all that characterized a Roman city.

In the seventh century, the author of the life of St.Estadiola, born at Bourges, says that "she was the child of illustrious parents who, as worldly dignity is accounted, were notable by reason of senatorial rank; and Gregory of Tours quotes a judgment delivered by the principals (_primores_) of the city of Bourges.

Coins of the time of Charles the Bald are struck with the name of the city of Bourges and its inhabitants (_Bituriges_).

In 1107, under Philip I., the members of the municipal body of Bourges are named _prud'hommes_.