Concetti Chiave
- Henry 1st initiated reconciliation between Anglo Saxons and Normans through marriage, marking a key historical shift.
- Under Stephen's successor, Henry 2nd, England faced semi-anarchy with aristocracy and church powers challenging the crown.
- Henry 2nd implemented crucial military and legal reforms, introducing the Common Law for more objective and impartial justice.
- The conflict with the Church was intense, as it wielded significant power, leading Henry 2nd to attempt to curb its autonomy.
- The dispute over clerical jurisdiction culminated in the murder of Archbishop Simon Becket, highlighting the tension between church and state.
Reconciliation and succession
The successor of William the Conqueror was Henry 1st during whose reign a first sign of reconciliation between Anglo Saxons and Normans happened (marriage between Edith and Henry 1st). Stephen was the son of Henry 1st and he was the last Norman King.
Stephen successor was Henry 2nd, the first Plantagenet-Anjou dinasty’s king.
During the years of his government the country was in a condition of semi-anarchy because both the aristocracy and the church had strengthened/ enforced their autonomy and independence from the crown. They became 3 separate powers, 3 parallel states. The first task of the King was to reduce the power of the barons and the clergy.
During his reign, Henry 2nd carried out a series of extremely important reforms. First of all he reformed the military service, secondly he reformed the justice.
Military and legal changes
The first reform was military: a royal army didn't exist so he constituted an army of his own.
In his reformation of the legal system he introduced the Common Law, which, contrary to the civil law that drew inspiration from the roman code(the king is above the law), It established the evaluation of the previous cases and therefore it was a guarantee of major objectivity (the law was above everyone and it was also above the king’s will ). The common law was also able to grant more impartiality to the individuals because the judge was obliged to take into account the previous cases and he couldn’t express a judgement arbitrarily.
Church and state conflict
As regards his relationship with the Church he started a fierce quarrel with It because the Church had acquired such an enormous political and economic power so to become a sort of “state within the state”, a kind of parallel kingdom.
For example the Church had the power to choose/could choose among bishops and could even give them wealth of any kind. Moreover They weren’t subject to the king’s jurisdiction.
To limit the power of the Church he reached two important objectives.
First of all, he tried to reach a kind of compromise according to which He stated that the Church would have the right to appoint Bishops on condition that They accepted to be subject to the king as his vassals.
At the same time the second success reached by him was represented by the fact that he succeeded in naming one of his personal friends as Archbishop of Canterbury: Simon Becket.
Becket's loyalty and murder
However the quarrel between the Church and the crown was immediately revived by the problem of who should judge the priests guilty of crimes against the state. Of course the Church affirmed its jurisdiction and the king his own. This problem was never solved and on the contrary the clash between Church and State reached its climax with Becket’s murder. He was murdered by a group of partisans of the king in 1170.
Despite his friendship to the king Simon Becket remained faithful to the Church throughout his life so he rebelled against his friend, the king.
Domande da interrogazione
- What marked the first sign of reconciliation between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans during Henry 1st's reign?
- What challenges did Henry 2nd face during his reign, and what was his primary task?
- How did Henry 2nd reform the military and legal systems?
- What was the nature of the conflict between Henry 2nd and the Church?
- How did Simon Becket's relationship with Henry 2nd evolve, and what was its outcome?
The first sign of reconciliation was the marriage between Edith and Henry 1st, symbolizing a union between the Anglo-Saxons and Normans.
Henry 2nd faced a semi-anarchic state with the aristocracy and the church acting as independent powers. His primary task was to reduce the power of the barons and the clergy.
Henry 2nd established his own royal army and introduced the Common Law, which emphasized the evaluation of previous cases, ensuring the law was above everyone, including the king.
The conflict arose due to the Church's significant political and economic power, leading to a struggle over jurisdiction and the appointment of bishops, culminating in the murder of Simon Becket.
Despite being appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Henry 2nd, Simon Becket remained loyal to the Church, leading to a conflict with the king and ultimately his murder by the king's partisans in 1170.
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