Had these been the only results, they would still, perhaps, have been worth all the blood and treasure spent by the crusaders in their vain attempts to recover the permanent possession of the sepulcher of Christ; but these were by no means all.  The Crusades brought about a social and political revolution.  They conferred benefits and removed evils.  When they began, the greater part of the inhabitants of western Europe, including England, were chained to the soil (S150).  They had neither freedom, property, nor knowledge.

There were in fact but three classes, who really deserved the name of citizens and freemen; these were the churchmen (comprising the clergy, monks, and other ecclesiastics), the nobles, and the inhabitants of certain favored towns.  The effect of the Crusades was to increase the number of this last class.  We have seen that Richard was compelled, by his need of money, to grant charters conferring local self-government on many towns (SS182, 183).  For a similar reason the great nobles often granted the same powers to towns which they controlled.  The result was that their immense estates were broken up in some measure.  It was from this period, says the historian Gibbon, that the common people (living in these chartered towns) began to acquire political rights, and, what is more, to defend them.

188.  Summary.

We may say in closing that the central fact in Richard’s reign was his embarking in the Crusades.  From them, directly or indirectly, England gained two important advantages:  first, a greater degree of political liberty, especially in the case of the towns; secondly, a new intellectual and educational impulse.

John—­1199-1216

189.  John Lackland; the King’s Quarrels.

When Henry II in dividing his realm left his youngest son, John, dependent on the generousity of his brothers, he jestingly gave him the surname of “Lackland” (S171).  The nickname continued to cling to him even after he had become King of England and had also secured Normandy and several adjacent provinces in France.

The reign of the new King was taken up mainly with three momentous quarrels:  first, with France; next, with the Pope; lastly, with the barons.  By his quarrel with France he lost Normandy and the greater part of the adjoining provinces, thus becoming in a new sense John Lackland.  By his quarrel with the Pope he was humbled to the earth.  By his quarrel with the barons he was forced to grant England the Great Charter.

190.  Murder of Prince Arthur.

Shortly after John’s accession the nobles occupying a part of the English possessions in France expressed their desire that John’s nephew, Arthur, a boy of twelve, should become their ruler.  John refused to grant their request.