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OF THE REFOBMATION. 281which itmight have been turned to advantage. HenryVIIL, who was the chief gainer, dissipated his large revenues without aim or method. In Denmark the kings wereobliged to resign the better portion to their nobility and;the majority of the German princes were noble-mindedenough to apply the forfeited property of the Church to thefoundation of useful establishments, especially of those forpublic education.The fall of the hierarchy, however, was of itself sufficientto make wayfor an increase of power in the princes. Fromthis time forth no exemptions could be claimed, no papal orepiscopal jurisdiction exercised within their dominions, unless by their permission. Foreign interference, which hadbeen so especially formidable to the weaker princes, nowceased altogether, and they were left sole masters over theirown people. But the chief cause of their increase of powerdeeper,the Protestant princes. The increased activity which thelay stilland was common alike to the Catholic andreligious and politicalinterests of the Reformation had calledforth, necessarily tended to enlarge their sphere of action,even though there was no express provision to that effectintroduced into the constitution. The influence of the Reformation in this respect upon the German princes, andupon the empire, has been noticed above. No previoussovereign of England had possessed such absolute power asElizabeth ;we have seen that the autocracy of the Frenchmonarchs was grounded upon the fall of the Hugonots;while the national freedom of Spain may be fairlysaid tohave owed its ruin to the continual wars in which its kingswere engaged, as defenders of the ancient faith, and to theroyal Inquisition which they established.In thisway the Reformation created a new order of thingsin Europe.Its princes, by becoming masters of their owndominions, through the cessation of the feuds in which theyhad previously been engaged,found themselves in a situationto extend their views to other countries, and uponthisfoundation the subsequent structure of European politicswas raised.A third change, of great importance to the condition ofcivil society,was brought about, in the Protestant states atleast, by the altered position of the clergy.It is true, that