LECTURE V

THE PLANTAGENET DYNASTY.

THE REIGN OF HENRY II

Sources
Primary sources
- Peter of Blois, Letter no. 66: to Walter, archbishop of Palermo, 1177
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1177peterblois-hen2.asp
- The Constitutions of Clarendon, Internet Medieval Source Book
http://www.britannica.com/history/docs/clarndn.html;
- The Murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 29 December 1170 in
The Chronicle of "Benedict of Peterborough": ©1994, translated by Scott McLetchie.
E. Grimm, The Murder of Thomas Becket. Internet Medieval Sourcebook
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/Grim-becket.asp

Secondary sources
- Gillingham, J. The Early Middle Ages in Morgan, K.O. ed., The Oxford History of Britain
(Oxford: OUP, 1988), pp. 141-191
- Maurois, A., A History of England, trans.H.Miles (London:Cape, 1937), pp.96-132
- McDowall, David. An Illustrated History of Britain. London: Longman, 1989), pp. 23-29
- Trevelyan, G.M., An Illustrated History of England [1926], Romanian version: F.E
Condurachi, and D. Hurmuzescu (Bucuresti: Ed. Stiintifica, 1975) pp. 168-222

I. General characteristics of the rule of Henry II

The State of the country

At the time of Henry’s accession, England
- was exhausted after the wars between William’s successors: Matilda and Stephen
- the kingdom covered a large territory, from Cheviot Mountains to the Pyrenees, difficult to
administer

1. Social structure
- The differences between classes continued to be marked by the uses of several languages:
French, Anglo-Saxon and Latin
- The military aristocracy ceased to play an active part in battles and turned increasingly to land
administration and to problems related to land property
- The fortified castle were gradually replaced by manors - with a large hall and court surrounded
by a moat

2. Economy

3. Politics and administration

The development of the Exchequer
- Exchequer [O.Fr. Eschequier, Lat., saccarium, chess board], called after the table marked into
squares on which the accounts were made on counters for the treasury
- the Exchequer was an administrative and judicial department in charge of the revenue
- Henry took over the system of his predecessors and developed it
- in this way a regular system of tax collection was set into place

4. Legislation
(i) The right of the first-born, primogeniture
- the older son became sole heir of the estate, to the detriment of the other sons/daughters
- the measure aimed at maintaining the integrity of the property and ensuring its enlargement
over several generations
- the other sons, who were deprived of property, had to turn to church, to adventure or to marriage
alliances with members of lower classes
- the daughters were often forced to join monastic orders

(ii) The reform in the system of justice

The Royal Assizes and the Common Law:
- expression of an autocratic reign
- Henry II created a corpus of royal judges [curia regia], consisting of lay or clerical people,
- The judges travelled throughout the country and held court sessions [Royal Assizes]
- during these courts, royal decrees produced forms of judgment that were based on the law of the
entire kingdom [ not on local customs] and which were equally applied all over the English
territory,
- the Common Law distinguished the English form other nations
- the Common Law system was meant to ensure the uniformity of justice distribution and to
replace the various local ecclesiastical or feudal, private courts of justice

5. Religion: Henry II and Thomas Becket

(i) The critical situation that led to the crisis:
- the English monasteries were rich, they made their income mostly from sheep-raising and were
very well administered
- many of the monastic centres were not controlled by the English bishops but by their abbots
who were influenced by the Pope (this conflict of authority was what eventually led to the
destruction of monasteries later)
- Henry thought he could solve the conflict of interests by appointing Thomas Becket as
Archbishop of Canterbury
- the choice was not really good because Becket was violent, inconsistent and intelligent enough
to make a considerable opponent to the king and his barons

(ii) The particular issue of the "criminous clerks” (clerics who committed offences)
- the king demanded that criminal clerks be charged by a lay court, deferred to an ecclesiastical
court, and, if found guilty, defrocked [stripped of their sacerdotal prerogatives] and returned to be
judged by a lay tribunal.
- an agreement seemed to have been reached (at Woodstock) but Becket changed his mind and
refused to sign The Constitutions of Clarendon.
- as a consequence, monks, parish priests and anyone who could prove he could read could not be
charged with felonies (robbery, rape, or murder).

(iii) The death of Thomas Becket

- following the long series of quarrels, Henry expressed his desire to be rid of the archbishop
(Would no one rid me of this turbulent priest?)
- four of the king’s knights rode to Canterbury and killed the archbishop while he was preparing
to say mass
- Becket became a martyr and the Canterbury cathedral became one of the most important shrines
until the cult of the saints was forbidden with the rise of Protestantism

II. England after Henry II

1. Richard the Lion-Hearted (1189-1199)
- Richard was an active participant in the crusades in the Holy Land
- the crusades satisfied piety and a desire of war, looting, and exploration
- England did not participate in the first crusade (led by Goddefroy de Bouillon who freed
Jerusalem and established French states in Syria)
- Richard took part in the 3rd crusade, aiming at conquering back the territories lost to Saladine
- during Richard’s absence the government was left to John
- John rebelled against his brother but was defeated by Richard’s faithful barons and London
citizens led by Hubert Walter (Gaultier), Archbishop of Canterbury
- the Archbishop governed well, relying on the town and country middle class; he ransomed
Richard, who had been held captive in an Austrian prison
- Richard returned to England briefly, raised more taxes and left again, and died on the continent

2. John Lackland (1199-1216)

- John met with the resistance of the barons against the exaggerated demands of the Crown;
- the barons’ opposition, which was supported by their significant military force, subsequently
turned into a constitutional resistance
- John's abuse concerning taxation and his dispute with the Pope over England diminished his
prestige
- in 1215 at Runnymede the barons, supported by Archbishop Stephen Langton, forced the John
to sign the Magna Carta, which restricted considerably the royal power

6. Culture. Changes in Education

1. The rise of English universities
- like Parliament and the guilds, the university is an invention of the Middle Ages
- the first universities appear in Italy and then spread in all European countries

Structure and curricula:

- initially the universities did not need a building of their own
- in the 12th c. learning consisted of ecclesiastical law, classical Latin, Aristotle, mathematics,
medicine, based on Arabic translations, all of which demanded a new, corporate life
- Students were motivated by:
- a thirst for learning and curiosity
- professional ambition
- possibility of making money
- love of adventure
- the most important universities were: Oxford (around 11 th c.), Cambridge (13th c.), in England
and St. Andrews, in Scotland (15th c.)
- English universities developed especially after the conflict between Henry II, and the King of
France, Louis, when English students and scholars leave Paris and return home
- Oxford the oldest colleges: University College, Balliol, Merton
- Cambridge : the oldest college: Peterhouse
- the students came from the ranks of the yeomen, the townspeople, courtiers and the great feudal
lords
- careers presupposed holy orders, even lawyers and justices of peace (judges) belonged to minor
orders
- significant scholars: Robert Grosseteste, Roger Bacon (England), John of Salisbury (France)

2. Religious instruction and the mendicant orders in England

- in the 13th c. the Dominicans (St. Dominic) and the Franciscans (St. Francis) came to England
- they gave a new impetus to the church by focusing on the poor, the needy and the marginalized
- they turned religious instruction and sermon into a popular system a method later used by the
early Protestants

III. Major Personality: Henry II

- son of (empress) Matilda (Maud) and Geoffery Plantagenet of Anjou he was married Eleanor of
Aquitaine
- was well educated, scholarly with an interest in law (influenced by Italian universities)

Henry II, description by Peter of Blois

[Letter no. 66: to Walter, archbishop of Palermo, 1177)]

About David it was said [I Kings 16] to the commendation of his beauty, that he was red-haired;
however you will know that the lord king has been red-haired so far, except that the coming of
old age and gray hair has altered that color somewhat. His height is medium, so that neither does
he appear great among the small, nor yet does he seem small among the great. His head is round,
just as if the seat of great wisdom, and specially a shrine of lofty counsel. Such is the size of his
head, that so it matches with his neck and with the whole body in proportionate moderation.

His head is round, just as if the seat of great wisdom, and specially a shrine of lofty counsel. Such
is the size of his head, that so it matches with his neck and with the whole body in proportionate
moderation. His eyes are round, and white and plain, while he is of calm spirit; but in anger and
disorder of heart they shine like fire and flash in fury. His hair is not in fear of the losses of
baldness, nevertheless on top there is a tonsure of hairs; his leonine face is rather square. The
eminence of his nose is weighed to the beauty of the whole body with natural moderation;
curved legs, a horseman's shins, broad chest, and a boxer's arms all announce him as a man
strong, agile and bold; nevertheless, in a certain joint of his foot the part of the toenail is grown
into the flesh of his foot, to the vehement outrage of the whole foot. His hands testify grossly to
the same neglect of his men; truly he neglects their care all the time; nor at any time, unless
carrying birds, does he use gloves. Daily in mass, in counsels and in other public doings of the
realm always from morning until vespers he stands on his feet. And, he never sits, unless riding a
horse or eating, although he has shins greatly wounded and bruised with frequent blows of horses'
hooves. In a single day, if necessary, he can run through four or five day-marches and, thus
foiling the plots of his enemies, frequently mocks their plots with surprise sudden arrivals; he
wears boots without a fold, caps without decoration, light apparel. He is a passionate lover of
woods; while not engaged in battles, he occupies himself with birds and dogs. For in fact his flesh
would weigh him down enormously with a great burden of fat, if he did not subdue the insolence
of his belly with fasts and exercise; and also in getting onto a horse, preserving the lightness of
youth, he fatigues almost every day the most powerful for the labor. Truly he does not, like other
kings, linger in his palace, but traveling through the provinces he investigates the doings of all,
judging powerfully those whom he has made judges of others. No one is more cunning in
counsel, more fiery in speech, more secure in the midst of dangers, more cautious in fortune,
more constant in adversity. Whom once he has esteemed, with difficulty he unloves them; whom
once he has hated, with difficulty he receives into the grace of his familiarity. Always are in his
hands bow, sword, spear and arrow, unless he be in council or in books. As often as he is able to
rest from cares and anxieties, he occupies himself by reading alone, or in a crowd of clerics he
labors to untangle some knot of inquiry. For while your king knows his letters well, our king is
more literate by far. Truly I have judged the abilities of both in learned matters. You know that
the king of Sicily was my student for a year, and had had from you the basic arts of versification
and literature; he obtained more benefit of knowledge through my industry and solicitude.
However as soon as I had departed the kingdom, that one turned himself over to abject books in
imperial leisure. But yet in the household of the lord king of the English every day is school, in
the constant conversation of the most literate and discussion of questions. No one is more honest
in speech than our king, more polite in eating, more moderate in drinking; no one is more
magnificent in gift-giving, no one more munificent in alms-giving: and therefore his name is like
poured oil, and the entire church of saints describes the alms of such a one. Our king is peaceable,
victorious in war, glorious in peace: he is zealous for the things to be desired in this world and he
procures peace for his people. He considers whatever pertains to the peace of the people, in
whatever he speaks, in whatever he does; so that his people may rest, he incessantly takes on
troubled and enormous labors. It aims to the peace of his people that he calls councils, that he
makes laws, that he makes friendships, that he brings low the proud, that he threatens battles, that
he launches terror to the princes. Also that immensity of money aims at the peace of his people,
which he gives out, which he receives, which he gathers, which he disperses. In walls, in
ramparts, in fortifications, in ditches, in enclosures of wild beasts and fish, and in palaces there is
no one more subtle, and no one more magnificent to be found.
Source:
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/1177peterblois-hen2.asp

IV.TEXTS
The Constitutions of Clarendon, 1164
The king, his barons and the bishops and the archbishops met at Clarendon in an attempt to work
out an agreement.
Henry’s aim was to consolidate the royal prerogatives in relation to the ecclesiastical authority

“From the year of our Lord's incarnation 1164, the fourth year of the papacy of Alexander, the
tenth of the most illustrious Henry, king of the English, in the presence of the same king, was
made this remembrance or recognition of acertain part of the customs, liberties, and dignities of
his predecessors, that is to say of King Henry his grandfather and others, which ought to be
observed and held in the kingdom. And because of discesnsions and discords which had arisen
between the clergy and the lord king's justices and the barons of the kingdom concerning the
customs and dignities, this recognition has been made before the archbishops and bishops and
clergy, and the earls and barons and great men of the kingdom.”

“Art. 3. Clerks charged and accused of any matter, summoned by the king's justice,shall come
into his court to answer there to whatever it shall seem to the king's court should be answered
there; and in the church court to what it seems should be answered there; however the king's
justice shall send into the court of holy Church for the purpose of seeing how the matter shall be
treated there. And if the clerk be convicted or confess, the church ought not to protect him
further.”
“Art. 7. No one who holds of the king in chief or any of the officials of his demesne is to be
excommunicated or his lands placed under interdict unless the lord king, if he be in the land, or
his justiciar, if he be outside the kingdom, first gives his consent, that he may do for him what is
right: yet so that what pertains to the royal court be concluded there, and what looks to the church
court be sent thither to be concluded there.”

“Art.12. When an archbishopric or bishopric, or an abbey or priory of the king's demesne shall be
vacant, it ought to be in his hands, and he shall assume its revenues and expenses as pertaining to
his demesne. And when the time comes to provide for the church, the lord king should notify the
more important clergy of the church, and the election should be held in the lord king's own chapel
with the assent of the lord king and on the advice of the clergy of the realm whom he has
summoned for the purpose. And there, before he be consecrated, let the elect perform homage and
fealty to the lord king as his liege lord for life, limbs, and earthly honor, saving his order.”
[Source: Medieval sourcebook]

The Murder of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, 29 December 1170

In the year of the incarnation of the Lord 1170, Henry king of the English, son of Empress
Matilda, held his court in Normandy at Bur, keeping the day of the Lord's Nativity, saddened and
troubled greatly because the archbishop of Canterbury did not wish to absolve the English
bishops whom he had bound with the chain of excommunication. And since the above-mentioned
king thus angry was in ire, four knights of his household, on account of the disturbed spirits
which they saw in him, desiring to defend him, secretly, without the knowledge of the king,
hurried to the sea to cross the channel to England.
And when they had crossed the channel, they seized their journey with hastened course toward
Canterbury.
And the father [Becket] had spent barely a month in his church, when behold, on the fifth day of
Christmas the aforementioned four knights came to Canterbury, indeed vassals promised to
Satan, whose names are these: William de Tracy, Hugh de Moreville, Richard Brito and Reginald
fitz Urse; and the armed men in their rage came upon the aforementioned archbishop in the
church.
And having entered into that church, they said with great shouts, "Where, where is the traitor?"
No one responded to them. And they asked again, "Where is the archbishop of Canterbury?" That
one himself responded to them, "Here I am, the servant of Christ, whom you seek." One of the
murderous knights retorted to him in a spirit of fury, "You will die in a moment; it is truly
impossible that you live any longer."
However the archbishop responded with no less steadiness in words as in spirit: "I am prepared to
die for my God, and for the establishment of justice, and for the freedom of the church. But as
you seek my head, I forbid, on behalf of Almighty God, and under anathema, that you should
harm in any way anyone else, whether monk or cleric or layman, great or small, but let them be
immune from penalty, as they are not involved in this." These words of his are seen to imitate
Christ speaking in the Passion: "If you seek me, let these men go." [John 18:18]
With these words, seeing the butchers with drawn swords, he bowed his head in the manner of
praying, offering these words: "To God and the Blessed Mary, and to the holy patrons of this
church, and to the Blessed Denis, I commend my very self and the cause of my church." Then in
all these tortures the martyr, of unconquered soul and admirable steadfastness, did not utter a
word or cry, did not bring forth a groan, nor lay bare his arm or his garment to the one striking
him, but offered his bowed head to their swords, holding fast until it was accomplished.
Thereupon the aforementioned knights, fearing a multitude of both sexes rushing on them from
all sides, and lest he be delivered by the prayer he had begun, sped their villainy. And when one
of them reaching out brandished his sword at the head of the archbishop, he nearly cut off the arm
of a certain cleric, who was called Edward Grim, and likewise wounded the anointed of the Lord
in the head. Truly that cleric stretched out his arm over the head of the father, so that he might
receive the blows or rather divert the blow of the one striking.
He stood thus far just on behalf of justice, patient as a lamb, innocent without a murmur, without
complaint, and offered himself as a complete offering to the Lord. And lest any of the deadly
vassals be able to argue later that he was blameless, the second and third cruelly smashed their
swords against the top of the head of the steadfast athlete, crushed it, and threw down to the
ground the victim of the Holy Spirit.
Truly the fourth, raving with furious cruelty all the more, cut off the tonsured crown of the dying
man already prostrate, scattered the top of the head and, inserting the sharp point into the head,
poured forth the brain with blood over the stone pavement. Thereupon in the beginning of the
seventh year of his exile, the aforementioned martyr Thomas, for the law of his God, and for the
justice of his church, which had completely perished in the English church, struggled all the way
unto death, and did not fear the words of the impious, but founded on the rock which is Christ, for
the name of Christ, in the church of Christ, by the swords of the wicked, on the fifth day of
Christmas, that is on the day after the feast of the Innocents, he himself lay down innocent.
Then all ran away, leaving him behind, so that what was written might be fulfilled: "I will strike
the shepherd and the sheep of the flock will be scattered." [Matt. 26:31]
Truly the knights who had perpetrated that profane deed made their way back through the stable
of the martyr and removed his horses, which they divided among themselves just as it pleased
them. Those wicked ones, suddenly aware of their deed and despairing of pardon, did not dare to
return to the court of the king whence they had come; but they withdrew to the western parts of
England all the way to Knaresborough, an estate of Hugh de Moreville's, and there remained for
awhile until they were considered vile by compatriots of that province.
Meanwhile, the king, who held his court at Bur as we have said above, came to Argentan. Where,
when he had heard that the archbishop of Canterbury was slain so cruelly in the church of
Canterbury, he grieved violently, even more than it is possible to say. His life was miserable
beyond words. Truly he did not wish to eat anything for three days, nor to speak with anyone, but
conducted his lonely life behind closed doors for five weeks, until Rotrod archbishop of Rouen
and the bishops of the Normans came to him to console him.

[Source:The Chronicle of "Benedict of Peterborough": ©1994, translated by Scott McLetchie.

Internet Medieval Source Book]