Cultura y Civilización de los Pueblos de Habla Inglesa I

Diez, Carolina
Fernández, Milagros
Manzi, Jésica
Mini- Seminar: The Position of the Church in the EMA

Before the Normans there was not an open conflict between the jurisdiction of the Church and
the State. In Anglo Saxon times Bishops and Sheriff sat together at the shire court and discussed
cases concerning both lay and spiritual affairs. At that time, Bishops also acted as royal councillors.
As they were the only learned men, they were the only ones prepared to be secretaries and
judges of the Crown. The nature of the office was twofold: as religious men, they owed service to
the Pope; and as councillors, they owed service to the King.

In the economic aspect, we can mention that the church was very powerful because of the
amount of land they owned. Land given by William the Conqueror to the Church and the
aristocracy as a promise when they came to England. And also, part of that land came from
people, who before dying, used to leave their properties to the Church so as to be forgiven of their
sins. As a symbol of the power and wealth of the church, we can mention Canterbury, Salisbury
and Exeter Cathedral.

In the political aspect, they occupied important charges advising the Monarch. They were
members of the Great Council and the Curia Regis. Legally speaking, with the arrival of the
Normans, William I implemented a series of reforms, and one of them was the “The Benefit of the
Clergy”: members of the church could be judged in special courts: Spiritual Courts.

In the social aspect, they belonged to the upper social class: they were members of the
aristocracy.

In the educational aspect, thy held the monopoly of the education (as we’ve seen last class).
Elementary, Secondary and Higher Education were in charge of the church. The teachers were the
nuns and the monks/ priests, and the aim of education was to become a priest.

In the philosophical / spiritual aspect, it was a God centred society: they were the representatives
of God on Hearth. Science was not important at that time.

Under the leadership of Pope Gregory VII, with a series of reforms we are going to see in a
minute, the Church became a single body directed from Rome, and the clergy became a
“Cosmopolitan society” that shared the same language and rituals everywhere. This centralizing
of authority gave great power to the Church in the Early Middle Ages.

Pope Gregory VII:

*Created the Papal Monarchy  promoted reforms to claim right as a supreme authority of the
church over all Western Europe and to free the church from lay control.

*Bishops, spiritual officials of the church, only owed allegiance to the pope. Kings and princess
should not interfere with spiritual officials of the church.

WILLIAM I (1066- 1087)

*He brought England to continental influence again, which had been excluded as a consequence
of the Danish Invasions.

1
 Cultura y Civilización de los Pueblos de Habla Inglesa I
Diez, Carolina
Fernández, Milagros
Manzi, Jésica
* With the help of Lanfranc (Archbishop of Canterbury in England), he reformed the English
church according to Gregory’s ideas. But in doing so, problems arose when the reforms meant a
limitation of his royal power.

(* In this early period both Norman and Angevin Kings spent much of their effort in defending their
position, since bishops and many abbots were feudal officials. Good relations between the church
and state were based on the degree of freedom the pope allowed the king in selecting and
appointing his royal councilors.)

*Reforms introduced by William:

THE CELIBACY (being umarried)

THE DIVISION OF SPIRITUAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS (Benefit of the Clergy) (Bishops have
courts that deal with their affairs).

CHANGE THE PEOPLE OF THE HIERARCHY OF THE CHURCH: he replaced A-S clerics, for Norman
bishops and abbots. Converted Bishoprics and abbeys into feudal baronies, managed by clergymen
as a reward for the services to the Crown. Some of them were Tenants-in-chief. So they owed
loyalty to the king and they were part of the lay hierarchy. Because they were leading spiritual
members of the church’s hierarchy directed by the Pope, their dual loyalty to King and Pope
become CONTROVERSIAL, and RAISED A CONFLICT between Church and State when the Pope
claim his right to appoint bishops in England. William will not allow the Pope to restrict his royal
power. The king found it essential to nominate the people he relied on for counsel, for knights and
for prayers. He made this very clear to the Pope, who didn’t press the claim.

WILLIAM II (younger son of William) (1087- 1100) – HENRY I (1100 – 1135)

(William: skeptical about the about the claims of religion. During vacancies of archbishops, he keep
the revenues of the church for himself.)

*Henry quarreled with Anselm, the Archbishop of Canterbury, over the issue of investitures.

*The conflict begin with William the Rufus who had appointed Anselm as Archbishop and the
latter has refused to receive the palium and the cross from the king.

*According to medieval custom, new bishops and abbots received the symbols of pastoral office
from the king’s hand in a symbolic ceremony. For the reforming clerics, who were concerned with
the liberation of the church from lay control, the king intervention in this ceremony was offensive.

*Anselm refused to consecrate bishops who had been invested by the King. Henry found this
intolerant and opposed the archbishop creating a struggle until 1105.

*1107: Henry finally agreed to give up investiture on condition that he retained the right of
claiming bishops´ feudal homage. He has the right to choose the man who was to be bishop.
Anselm was finally able to return to England, and to consecrate bishops elected in his absence.

*After Anselm’s death in 1109, the church insisted that the king was a just layman and they would
not tolerate this old idea.

2
 Cultura y Civilización de los Pueblos de Habla Inglesa I
Diez, Carolina
Fernández, Milagros
Manzi, Jésica
*Henry ended giving up the investiture, which meant accepting the secular nature of his office
(important in the history of kinship).
HENRY II (1154-1189)

 Duke of Normandy, duke of Aquitaine, and count of Anjou Henry had inherited the
claims of his predecessors to lordship over neighboring territories.
 Ironically, is not for his successes that Henry is best remembered, but for his dubious
part in the murder of Thomas Becket. In June 1162 Becket was consecrated
Archbishop of Canterbury.
 Right from the start, Becket went out his way to oppose the king who, chiefly out of
friendship, had promoted him. Inevitably, it was not long before Henry began to react
like a man betrayed.
 Like many laymen, Henry resented the way in which clerks who committed felonies
could escape capital punishment by claiming trial in an ecclesiastical court. (BENEFIT
OF THE CLERGY SET BY WILLIAM I) > UNIFORMATION OF THE LAW: Henry
demanded that criminous clerks should unfrocked by the Church and handed over to
tha lay courts for punishment.
 HENRY summoned a council to Clarendom (January 1164). He presented the bishops
with a clear statement of the king’s customary rights over the Church –the
Constitution of Clarendom, which stated that if a member of the clergy was found guilty
in the Church courts, he would be degraded from his orders and then brought before
ordinary courts, and no appeals could be made to Rome without the king’s consent.
 Henry decided to destroy Becket. The archbishop was found guilty and sentenced to
the relinquishment of his estates. Becket exiled and appealed to pope.
 With Becket exiled, Henry concentrated on more important matters for the next five
years.
 In 1770 Becket returned to England. And on 29 December 1170 Becket was murdered
in his own cathedral. Henry had to withdraw his constitutions.

RICHARD (1189 -1199)

JOHN “LACKLAND” – “SOFT-SWORD” (1199 – 1216)

 Until December 1203, John, like his father and brother, spent most of his reign in his
Continental possessions. After that date he became, by force circumstances, an English
king.
 The French king was now a much formidable opponent.
 A disputed election to the see of Canterbury in 1205 led to a clash with Innocent III.
The Pope had appointed Stephen Langton, but John refused to allow him enter to
England.
 In 1208 Innocent laid an interdict on England and Wales for 6 years.
 In 1209 John himself was excommunicated. John’s response to the interdict was to
confiscate the estates of the Church.
3
 Cultura y Civilización de los Pueblos de Habla Inglesa I
Diez, Carolina
Fernández, Milagros
Manzi, Jésica
 In 1212 a baronial plot and Philip’s (King of France) plans to cross the Channel served
to remind John that an excommunicated king was particularly vulnerable to rebellion
and invasion.
 By agreeing to hold England as a fief of the Papacy (POPE AS THE SUPREME
OVERLORD OF ENGLAND) in May 1213 he completely won over Innocent and
assured himself of the pope’s support in the coming struggles.

In the 13th C, the Church was wealthier than ever since it received enormous amounts of
lands from men who wanted