Even Eichard's crusade woke little interest in his island realm.

What England saw in her kings was "the good peace they made in the land." And with peace came a stern but equitable rule, judicial and administrative reforms that carried order and justice to every corner of the land, a wealth that grew steadily in spite of heavy taxation, an immense outburst of material and intellectual activity.
[Sidenote: The Universities] It was with a new English people therefore that John found himself face to face.

The nation which he fronted was a nation quickened with a new life and throbbing with a new energy.

Not least among the signs of this energy was the upgrowth of our Universities.

The establishment of the great schools which bore this name was everywhere throughout Europe a special mark of the impulse which Christendom gained from the crusades.