The historical interest of the reign of Richard I. is of two sorts: there is abundance of personal adventure and incident, and there is a certain quantity of legal and constitutional material which it is easier to interweave into a general disquisition on such subjects than to invest with a unity and plot of its own. But there is no great national change, no very pronounced development, no crisis of stirring interest or great permanent import. The strong system of government introduced by Henry II. was gaining still greater strength and consistency; the royal power, which it was the first object of that system to consolidate, was growing stronger and stronger, and the nation in general, whilst it was passing through that phase in which a strong government is a necessary guide and discipline, was benefiting by the policy which must sooner or later educate it to remedy the abuses and perhaps to overthrow the strong government itself. But as yet the royal power was wielded by men who used it like statesmen, and the strength of the nation was not tempted to assert itself by a premature struggle. One great personal struggle there was during the reign, and a somewhat interesting one in point of detail, but it is one which typified and prefigured rather than formed a link in the chain of causes that brought about the struggle of Runnymede. The great subjects of romantic interest are Richard’s crusade, captivity and death. England had little to do with these, except as being the source for the supply of treasure; she scarcely saw Richard; to her the king was little more than a political expression which furnished arguments to a series of powerful administrators, William Longchamp, Walter of Coutances, Hubert Walter and Geoffrey Fitz Peter. But as connecting English with Continental history the personal career of Richard has its own interest and value, and, even in a rapid survey like the present, it demands, if not the first place, certainly one which is second to no other. [Sidenote: Richard’s succession. ] [Sidenote: Eleanor regent. ]