the hands of Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, the justiciar or
King's lieutenant. Richard left England for Normandy in 1194, and returned
no more. England to him was a country where money could be raised, a
subject-province to be bled by taxation. Archbishop Hubert did his best to
satisfy the royal demands; and though by his inquisitions "England was
reduced to poverty from one sea to the other"--it is estimated that more
than L1,000,000 was sent to Richard in two years--the King was left
unsatisfied. The nation generally came to hate the Archbishop's taxation,
the Church suffered by his neglect, and he was finally compelled to resign
the justiciarship.

It was the London rising, under FitzOsbert's leadership, that directly
caused Archbishop Hubert's retirement, and FitzOsbert is notable as the
first of the long line of agitators.

The political importance of the capital was seen in the reigns of Cnut and
William the Conqueror. It was conspicuous on the arrival of Stephen in
1135, and its influence on national politics lasted till the middle of the
nineteenth century.[33]

By its charter London had the right of raising taxes for the Crown in its
own way, and in 1196 the method proposed by the Corporation provoked the
outbreak. "When the aldermen assembled according to usage in full hustings
for the purpose of assessing the taxes, the rulers endeavoured to spare
their own purses and to levy the whole from the poor" (Hoveden).

The poorer citizens were voteless, and the plan of the aldermen was to levy
the tallages per head, and not in proportion to the property of the
inhabitants. This meant, practically, that the whole, except a very small
fraction of the sum to be raised, must be paid by the working people.

Thereupon FitzOsbert protested, and the people rose in arms against the
demand.

FitzOsbert was an old crusader, and he was something of a lawyer and a
powerful speaker. Not a rich man by any means, FitzOsbert was yet a member
of the city council when, "burning with zeal for justice and fair play, he
made himself the champion of the poor." To his enemies he was a demagogue
and disreputable--so Ralph de Diceto, Dean of St. Paul's at that time,
described him. To others of more popular sympathies he was heroic and died
a martyr's death. Across the centuries he is seen as "an agitator"--the
first English agitator, the first man to stand up boldly against the
oppression of the common people. This palpably