That Great Charter was the joint work of the insurgent lords, and of those who still in name remained faithful to the crown. In many points this rising of the barons bears the appearance of an ordinary feudal insurrection. Closer examination proves that it was of a different character. The very success of Henry II in his great plan of national regeneration had tended to change the character of English politics. Till his time, the bulk of the people had regarded the crown on the whole as a defence against their feudal tyrants. In the pursuit of good government he had crushed the feudal nobles, and had welded Norman and English into one nation. In so doing, he had greatly increased the royal power; for in those early times good government invariably implied a strong monarchy. In patriotic hands his work might have continued. But when the increased royal power passed to reckless rulers, such as Richard and John, it enabled them to play the part of veritable tyrants. They had used this power in ruthlessly pillaging the people. The great justiciaries, Hubert and Fitz-Peter, content with keeping order and retaining constitutional forms, had almost of necessity lent themselves to this course, while lesser officials had undoubtedly acted with arbitrary violence. The interests of the King and his ministers had thus become separated from those of the nation. To oppose this tyranny, nobles and people could now act in concert. The struggle was no longer between King and people on one side against the nobles on the other, but nobles and people had joined against the King. Besides this political change, a great revolution had taken place in the character of the nobility itself. The feudal nobles, the friends of the Conqueror, had for the most part given place to a new nobility, the sons of the counsellors and ministers of Henry II. In the centre of England alone did remnants of the old feudal families remain. The insurrection then, coming from the North, was the work not of feudal barons but of the new ministerial baronage. Again, the claims raised, although, inasmuch as the monarchy was still in form a feudal monarchy, they bear a resemblance to feudal claims, were such as might have been expected from men trained in the habits of administration. They were claims for the redress of abuses of constitutional power, and were based upon a written document. In addition to this, they were supported by the clergy, who were never and could never be feudal in their views, and by the towns, whose interests were always opposed to those of the feudal nobility. There is another thing to be recollected; the Charter, as ultimately granted, was not the same as the demands of the barons. A considerable number of the older barons, of the bishops, and even the Archbishop himself, remained ostensibly true to the King, and were present at Runnymede as his followers. We are told that it was the younger nobles who formed the strength of the reforming party.