Their oppressors, the feudal nobility, were destroyed or kept in restraint. The new nobles were chiefly ministers of the crown, and all sections of the people looked to the King as the national representative. The importance of Henry’s reign abroad was scarcely less striking. His immense continental dominions made him one of the great powers of Europe. His close contact with France, and the difficulties which it produced, began the hereditary policy of opposition to that country which has characterized the whole of English history. On the other hand, though he may have had no clear view of what he was doing, he set on foot also the lasting friendships of the nation. The marriage of his daughter with the Guelph Duke brought England into constant friendship with Germany, and caused Otho, the son of Henry the Lion, to be brought up in England, and to be regarded as an English prince. The marriage of his other daughter with Spain set on foot that connection which lasted even beyond the Reformation. His work as a whole may be summed up in the words of Professor Stubbs: “He was faithful to the letter of his engagements. He recovered the demesne rights of the crown, so that his royal dignity did not depend for maintenance on constant taxation. He restored the usurped estates; he destroyed the illegal castles, and the system which they typified; he maintained the royal hold on the lawful ones, and the equality and uniformity of justice which their usurpers had subverted; he restored internal peace, and with it plenty, as the riches of England in the following reign amply testify. He arranged the administration of justice by enacting good laws and appointing faithful judges. He restored the currency; he encouraged commerce, he maintained the privileges of the towns; and, without encouraging an aggressive spirit, armed his people for self-defence. He sustained the form, and somewhat of the spirit of national representation. The clergy had grounds of complaint against him for very important reasons; but their chief complaints were caused by their preference for the immunities of their class to the common safeguard of justice.” RICHARD I. 1189-1199. Born 1157 = Berengaria of Navarre. CONTEMPORARY PRINCES. _Scotland._ | _France._ | _Germany._ | _Spain._ | | | William, 1165. | Philip Augustus, | Frederick | Alphonso IX., | 1180. | Barbarossa, 1155. | 1158. | | Henry VI., 1191. | | | Philip, 1198. | POPES.--Clement III., 1187. Celestine III., 1191. Innocent III., 1198.