Henry II

PlantagenetsAngevins

French BroomGenista monspessulana

Eleanor of Aquitaine

England to Aquitaine

England Divided

Castles

• Most continue to be motte and bailey• Replacement of wood palisade with

stone – shell keep Norwich attrib. Henry I

Soldiers

Knights

Chapel

Wiston Castle, Wales

Adulterine Castle

Scarborough

Henry II

Henry crowned• Return to policies

of Henry I• Appointment of

Chancellor –Thomas Becket

Matilda

• Continues to be a major influence on Henry

Epitaph 1169

"Here lies Henry's daughter, wife and mother; great by birth, greater by marriage, but greatest in motherhood." 

1154 Henry II King

Appointments• Richard de Lucy – Royal Justiciar• Robert de Beaumont –Co-justiciar

[Chief political and judicial officers]• Thomas a Becket, Chancellor

King Henry II - Goals

• Destruction of adulterine castles• Rule of law • Continue his grandfather’s organization

of the court system

Chancellor

• Chief Administrative Officer• Authorize payments in the absence of

King• Travel with King – sometimes• Ambassador

Becket the Chancellor

• Mission to Paris• Mission to Toulouse• Battle Abbey conflict

Becket the Archbishop

• 1162 After a year of vacancy, Becket appointed to Canterbury

–Logical successor as archdeacon

–Loyal–Efficient administrator–Showy but frugal, pious and

chaste

Becket the Archbishop

• 1163 Henry supports council with Pope at Tours

• Becket resigns as chancellor – symbolic• Promotes sainthood for Anselm• Makes claims against barons

John of Salisbury (~1115-1176)• Aide to archbishops of

Canterbury• Metalogicon (In Defence of

Logic)– Advocacy of mass

communication

• 1159 Policraticus (The Man of Government)– Divine right of

kings/responsibilities

A Common Law

• Common across jurisdictions• Common across time

– Respect for precedent

Criminous Clerks

• Minor clergy combine secular roles• Poorly trained (and paid?) parish priests• 1163 Council of Westminster• 1164 Constitutions of Clarendon

Constitutions of Clarendon

• Certain controversies between lay and clergy should be treated in royal court.

• Clergy should be tried in the royal court for non-church offenses.

• Archbishops, bishops, and parsons of the kingdom are not permitted to go out of the kingdom without the license of the lord king

Constitutions of Clarendon

• Laymen should not be accused except through known and lawful accusers and witnesses in the presence of the bishop.

• If the guilty persons are such that no one wishes or dares to accuse them, the sheriff, on being asked by the bishop, shall have twelve lawful men from the neighborhood… set forth the truth in the matter according to their own knowledge

Constitutions of Clarendon

• Appeals… should proceed from the archdeacon to the bishop, and from the bishop to the archbishop. And if the archbishop fails to provide justice, recourse should finally be had to the lord king

• When an archbishopric, [etc.] within the king's gift becomes vacant, it should be in his [the king’s] hands; and he shall thence take all revenues and income just as from his own demesne.

Law and Order

1166 Assize of Clarendon– Judicial procedures

1170 Inquest of sheriffs– Sheriffs as agents of the Crown

Courts

King’s BenchCriminal cases and

disputes between citizens and King

Later, court of appeals

Courts

• Exchequer• Exchequer of the

Jews [after Richard I]

The Courts

Court of Common Pleas • 1178 Five justices to

hear civil disputes between individuals

• Distinct from cases involving the Crown

http://courts.state.de.us/CommonPleas/history.stm

Mss. ~1460

1176 Assize of Novel Disseisin

• Process to achieve justice for a claim of wrongful dispossession.

Jury

1. Was the plaintiff disseised?

2. Did the defendant do it?

Justice would decide penalty based on finding.

Mort d’Ancestor

• Continuation of possession by heirs• Jury to decide rival claims• Tenant could show cause why claimant

was not eligible• Unsuccessful claimant subject to fines

Judgment

• Decision embodied in chirograph

Later Chirograph with Foot

Royal Land - Grand Assize

• Alternative chosen by tenant to trial by battle.

• Jury of 12 knights– view disputed property– recognize greater right

Criminal Law

• Juries of ‘presentment’– Private appeal by injured party– Public appeal– Indictment of serious criminals– Ordeal of water– Survivors who were still suspected could

be banished or have to provide guarantors.

The ‘Good Old Days’Crime - Lincolnshire

1202 population ~200,000

• 114 homicides• 89 robberies• 65 woundings• 42 rapes

c.2000population 600,000

• 90 homicides• 184 robberies• 3800 assaults• 50 rapes

Becket vs. Henry

• Habit of lavish expenditure

• Traditional first loyalty of bishops to Church

1164 Becket vs. Henry

• Thomas, archbishop of Canterbury, made answer for himself and the others, that they would receive those laws which the king said were made by his grandfather, and with good faith would observe the same; saving their orders and the honor of God and of the Holy Church in all respects

• Becket accedes upon mediation• Becket refuses to sign.

1165 Council at Northampton

Gilbert Foliot

Becket in Exile

Becket in Exile

• Appeals to the Pope• Counter appeals by bishops loyal to

Henry• Collaboration with Louis of France

Becket Returns

• 1169 Conference at Montmirail• Montmartre• 1170 Coronation of Henry, the ‘Young

King’ by Archbishop of York• Reconciliation? Possibility of

repeat coronation• Becket’s paranoia

“Who will rid me of this turbulent priest.”

29 December 1170

Becket the SaintCanonized 1173