Concetti Chiave
- Henry II was the first king of the Plantagenet-Anjou dynasty, succeeding the last Norman king, Stephen.
- His reign was marked by efforts to reduce the power of the barons and the clergy, addressing the semi-anarchical state of the country.
- Henry II introduced significant reforms, including the establishment of a personal royal army and the implementation of Common Law for greater legal objectivity and impartiality.
- His reign saw a fierce conflict with the Church, which had become a powerful parallel state, leading him to attempt compromises to limit its influence.
- The clash with the Church reached a peak with the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket in 1170, highlighting ongoing tensions over jurisdiction and authority.
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.
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.
The relationship with the Church
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.
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
- Chi fu il successore di Guglielmo il Conquistatore e quale evento segnò una riconciliazione tra Anglo-Sassoni e Normanni?
- Quali furono le principali riforme attuate da Enrico II durante il suo regno?
- Come cercò Enrico II di limitare il potere della Chiesa?
- Quale fu il principale conflitto tra Enrico II e la Chiesa?
- Quale evento segnò il culmine dello scontro tra la Chiesa e lo Stato sotto Enrico II?
Il successore di Guglielmo il Conquistatore fu Enrico I, durante il cui regno avvenne un primo segno di riconciliazione tra Anglo-Sassoni e Normanni con il matrimonio tra Edith ed Enrico I.
Enrico II attuò importanti riforme militari e giudiziarie. Costituì un esercito proprio e introdusse il Common Law, che garantiva maggiore obiettività e imparzialità rispetto al diritto civile.
Enrico II cercò di limitare il potere della Chiesa stabilendo che essa potesse nominare i vescovi solo se accettavano di essere suoi vassalli e riuscì a nominare un suo amico, Simon Becket, come Arcivescovo di Canterbury.
Il principale conflitto tra Enrico II e la Chiesa riguardava la giurisdizione sui sacerdoti colpevoli di crimini contro lo stato, con la Chiesa che affermava la propria giurisdizione e il re la sua.
Il culmine dello scontro tra la Chiesa e lo Stato sotto Enrico II fu l'omicidio di Simon Becket nel 1170, nonostante la sua amicizia con il re, poiché Becket rimase fedele alla Chiesa.
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