n in 1133, was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count Of Anjou, and Matilda, the daughter of Henry I. Henry II, the first and the greatest of three Angevin kings of England, succeeded Stephen in 1154. Aged 21, he already possessed a reputation for restless energy and decisive actions. He was to inherit vast lands. As their heir to his mother and his father he held Anjou (hence Angevin) , Maine, and Touraine; as the heir to his brother Geoffrey he obtained Brittany; as the husband of Eleanor, the divorced wife of Louis VII of France, he held Aquitaine, the major part of southwestern France. Altogether his holdings in France were far larger than those of the French king. They have become known as the Angevin empire, although Henry II never in fact claimed any imperial rights or used the title of the emperor. "(2) From the beginning Henry showed himself determined to assert and maintain his rights in all his lands. p> In the first decade of his reign Henry II was largely concerned with continental affairs, though he made sure that the forged castles in England were destroyed. Many of the earldoms created in the anarchy of Stephen's reign were allowed to lapse. Major change in England began in the mid 1160s. The Assize of Clarendon of 1166. , And that Northampton 10 years later, promoted public order. Juries were used to provide evidence of what crimes had been committed and to bring accusations. New forms of legal actions were introduced, notably the so-called prossessory assizes, which determined who had the right to immediate possession of land, not who had the best fundamental right. That could be decided by the grand assize, by means of which a jury of 12 knights would decide the case. The use of standardized forms of edict greatly simplified judicial administration. "Returnable" edicts, which had to be sent back by the head to the central administration, enabled the crown to check that its instruction were obeyed. An increasing number of cases came before royal court rather than private feudal courts. Henry I's practice of sending out itinerant justices was extended and systematized. In 1170 a major inquiry into local administration, the Inquest of Sheriffs, was held, and many sheriffs were dismissed.
There were important changes to the military system. In 1166 the tenants in chief commandment to disclose the number of knights enfeoffed on their lands so that Henry could take proper financial advantage of changes that had taken place since his grandfather's days. Scutage (tax which dismissed of military service) was an important source of funds, and Henry preferred scutage to service because mercenaries were more efficient than feudal contingents. In the Assize of Arms of 1181 Henry determined the arms and equipment appropriate to every free man, based on his income from land. This measure, which could be seen as a revival of the principles of the Anglo-Saxon fyrd, was intended to provide for a local militia, which could be used against invasion, rebellion, or for peacekeeping.
"Henry attempted to restore the close relationship between Church and State that had existed under the Norman kings. His first move was the appointment in 1162 of Thomas Becket as archbishop of Canterbury. Henry assumed that Becket, who had served efficiently as chancellor since 1155 and been a close companion to him, would continue to do so as archbishop. Becket, however, disappointed him. Once appointed archbishop, he became a militant defender of Church against royal encroachment and a champion of the papal ideology of ecclesiastical supremacy over the lay world. The struggle between Henry and Becket reached a crisis at the Council of Clarendon in 1164. In the constitution of Clarendon Henry tried to set down in writing the ancient customs of the land. The most controversial issue proved to be that of jurisdiction over "criminous clerks" (clerics who had committed crimes); the king demanded that such men should, after trial in church courts, be sent for punishment in royal courts. "(3)
"Becket initially accepted the Constitution but would not set his seal to it. Shortly thereafter, however, he suspended himself from office for the sin of yielding to the royal will in the matter. Although he failed to obtain full papal support at this stage, Alexander III ultimately came to his aid over the Constitutions. Later in 1164 Becket was charged with peculation of royal funds when chancellor. After Becket had taken flight for France, the king confiscated the revenues of his province, exiled his friends, and confiscated their revenues. In 1170 Henry had his eldest son crowned king by the archbishop of York, not Canterbury, as was traditional. Becket, in exile, appealed to Rome and excommunicated the clergy who had taken part in the ceremony. A reconciliation between Becket and Henry at the end of the same year settled none of the points at issue. "(4) When Becket ...
