sentences:  The supreme council was called the Twelve because that was the number of enfranchised communes.Finally, as a check on their power and that of the "podestà", the fathers of each commune elected a "caporale" charged with looking out for the interests of the poor and defenceless.In 1012, in a final effort to subdue the wild barons of the south and the northern cape, the Terra called in William, Margrave of Massa.