The reign of Henry II as he pursues the goals of ridding the land of adulterine (unauthorized) castles and criminous clerks. The attempt to separate secular and religious court systems runs into opposition from Becket.

1. Henry II

2. Plantagenets
Angevins
French Broom
Genista monspessulana

3. Eleanor of
Aquitaine

4. England to
Aquitaine

5. England Divided

6. Castles
• Most continue to be motte and bailey
• Replacement of wood palisade with
stone – shell keep Norwich attrib. Henry I
Soldiers
Knights
Chapel

7. Wiston Castle, Wales

8. Adulterine
Castle
Scarborough

9. Henry II
Henry crowned
• Return to policies
of Henry I
• Appointment of
Chancellor –
Thomas Becket

10. 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."

11. 1154 Henry II King
Appointments
• Richard de Lucy – Royal Justiciar
• Robert de Beaumont –Co-justiciar
[Chief political and judicial officers]
• Thomas a Becket, Chancellor

12. King Henry II - Goals
• Destruction of adulterine castles
• Rule of law
• Continue his grandfather’s organization
of the court system

13. Chancellor
• Chief Administrative Officer
• Authorize payments in the absence of
King
• Travel with King – sometimes
• Ambassador

14. Becket the Chancellor
• Mission to Paris
• Mission to Toulouse
• Battle Abbey conflict

15. 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

16. Becket the Archbishop
• 1163 Henry supports council with Pope
at Tours
• Becket resigns as chancellor – symbolic
• Promotes sainthood for Anselm
• Makes claims against barons

17. 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

18. A Common Law
• Common across jurisdictions
• Common across time
– Respect for precedent

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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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.

23. Law and Order
1166 Assize of Clarendon
– Judicial procedures
1170 Inquest of sheriffs
– Sheriffs as agents of the Crown

24. Courts
King’s Bench
Criminal cases and
disputes between
citizens and King
Later, court of appeals

25. Courts
• Exchequer
• Exchequer of the
Jews [after Richard I]

26. The Courts
Court of Common Pleas
• 1178 Five justices to
hear civil disputes
between individuals
• Distinct from cases
involving the Crown
Mss. ~1460
http://courts.state.de.us/CommonPleas/history.stm

27. 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.

28. 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

29. Judgment
• Decision embodied in chirograph

30. Later Chirograph with Foot

31. Royal Land - Grand Assize
• Alternative chosen by tenant to trial by
battle.
• Jury of 12 knights
– view disputed property
– recognize greater right

32. 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.

33. The „Good Old Days‟
Crime - Lincolnshire
1202 c.2000
population ~200,000 population 600,000
• 114 homicides • 90 homicides
• 89 robberies • 184 robberies
• 65 woundings • 3800 assaults
• 42 rapes • 50 rapes

34. Becket vs. Henry
• Habit of lavish
expenditure
• Traditional first
loyalty of bishops
to Church

35. 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.

36. 1165 Council at Northampton
Gilbert Foliot

37. Becket in Exile

38. Becket in Exile
• Appeals to the Pope
• Counter appeals by bishops loyal to
Henry
• Collaboration with Louis of France

39. 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

40. “Who will rid me
of this turbulent
priest.”
29 December 1170

41. Becket the Saint
Canonized 1173