The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain Read Free Page A

at the judgement of the lord king’s court …
    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 shall notify the more important clergy of the church and the election should be held in the lord king’s own chapel … 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 honour, saving his order.
    13 If any of the great men of the kingdom should forcibly prevent archbishop, bishop or archdeacon from administering justice in which he or his men were concerned, then the lord king ought to bring such a one to justice …
    14 Chattels which have been forfeited to the king are not to be held in churches against the king’s justice, because they belong to the king whether they be found inside churches or outside.
    15 Pleas concerning debts which are owed on the basis of an oath or in connection with which no oath has been taken are in the king’s justice.
    16 Sons of villains should not be ordained without the consent of the lord on whose land it is ascertained that they were born.
    Henry demanded that the leaders of the church swear an oath to abide by these rules. Becket obeyed but then changed his mind and all the bishops followed his lead.
    There were furious arguments, and the king resolved to have Becket stripped of his position in the church. In November he had the archbishop arraigned on charges of breaking his oath. After the trial Becket fled abroad, and from his refuge in France he tried to persuade the pope to condemn Henry’s ecclesiastical policy and to place him under interdict. He was supported by Louis VII, who was now anxious to break up Henry’s continental empire.
    Continuing with his work of restoring stable government under a strong, centralized monarchy, Henry decreed theAssize of Clarendon in February 1166. This was the beginning of a long process to transform English law. During the civil war the system of local justice had broken down, crimes had gone unpunished, properties had been seized by force or occupied by squatters. The Assize of Clarendon supplied the machinery for settling disputes and establishing the supremacy of royal courts over those held by barons and bishops. Sheriffs were empowered to empanel juries in all communities to make enquiry into alleged crimes. The accused were to be presented in the king’s court, and their guilt or innocence was to be established by local juries. This was not the beginning of the jury system, but it was the beginning of the ousting of all other methods of determining guilt, such as compurgation, whereby an accused was acquitted if he could persuade (or bribe) enough neighbours to testify to his innocence, and trial by ordeal.
    The legal reform established three types of assize courts: novel disseisin explored cases of alleged dispossession of property, mort d’ancestor considered issues of inheritance, and darrein presentment established who had the right to present clergy to vacant benefices. The increased activities of the royal law courts would have dwindled over the years were it not for a new impetus given to the keeping of written records. Sheriffs and other law officers sent in their reports (pipe rolls), which were logged and stored by the Exchequer. Royal letters and other important documents were similarly filed, thus building up an archive of documentary evidence, which could be referred to in subsequent cases.
    Henry wasted no time in enforcing the Assize of Clarendon. Within weeks officials were sent out to conduct a general survey of England, county by county. Hundreds of offenders were brought to book and their misdemeanours entered in the pipe rolls together with their punishments – usually fines.
    The sheriffs did not escape