irer and stronger than before.

A similar though slower growth can be traced among the cities of the
North. As early as 1067 we find the town of Mans near Normandy
rebelling against its lord. Still earlier had Henry the City-builder
thought it wise to strengthen and fortify his peasantry, despite the
counsel of his barons. Indeed, through all the Middle Ages we find
kings and commons drawn often into union by their mutual antagonism to
the feudal nobility. Barbarossa, even while he quarrelled with the
Italian cities, encouraged those of Germany.

At the same time that Frederick was thus reasserting the imperial
power, England had a strong king in Henry II. By wedding the most
important feudal heiress in France, Henry added so many provinces to
his ancestral French domain of Normandy that more than half France lay
in his possession, and the French kings found that in this overgrown
duke, who was also an independent monarch, they possessed a vassal far
wealthier and more powerful than themselves. Henry took more than one
step toward the humiliation, or even subjugation, of France, but seems
to have been hampered by a real feudal respect for his overlord.
Moreover, he got into the same difficulty as the Emperor. He
quarrelled with the Church, and found it too strong for him. Much of
his time and most of his energy were devoted to his celebrated
struggle against his great bishop, Thomas Becket.[2]

Thus the French King was given time and opportunity to strengthen his
sovereignty. Then came the great Third Crusade, altering and once more
upsetting the growing forces of the times, and among its many
unforeseen results was the rescue of France from the grip of her too
mighty vassal. The long threatening recapture of Jerusalem became a
fact in 1187.[3] The Christian kingdom established by the First
Crusade was overthrown; and Emperor Barbarossa, in his splendid and
revered old age, vowed to attempt its reestablishment.

Once more did all the nobility of Europe pour eastward, embracing
eagerly the purpose of their chief. This was the last great crusade,
those that followed being but feeble and unimportant efforts in
comparison. Not only was the Emperor at its head, but the King of
England, son of Henry II, the famous Richard of the Lion Heart, took
up the movement with enthusiasm. So, also, though less passionately,
did Philip Augustus, ablest of the kings of France. No other crusade
could boast such names as these.[4]

Ye