body flung it on their cart, and in this tragic manner the Red King was borne to his grave. He had failed to recover Maine (in 1099) but he had extended English dominions by the settlements in South Wales, and by the conquest of Cumberland after one of Malcolm's many raids in support of Edgar Atheling. Barons and people alike hated the King. But the people hated the Barons still more than the King. Barons and people accordingly could not unite, and each was too weak by itself to succeed in opposition. William's tyranny and extortions had increased the weakness of the Barons; and the people were weakened by the decline of the local Courts, over which the Sheriffs had been encouraged to usurp great power. Flambard's work had strengthened the government, and the King was possessed of immense energy and real ability. Thus, although there was bitter resentment, there was no successful opposition and order was maintained. 1092. c. Flambard imprisoned d. Charter of Liberties iii. Baronial opposition a. Robert of Normandy b. Robert of Belesme c. The two Roberts-Tinchebrai-Conquest of Normandy iv. Administrative Reforms a. Official nobility-the Justiciar b. Curia Regis v. Quarrel with Clergy (Anselm) vi. Henry's death and work. 1. His title and character. (Stubbs i, 341.) II. Early measures ance. Henry I. was the third son of William I. His brother had shown what the power which the Conquest had placed in the King's hands could become in the case of a rude and godless tyrant. Henry showed what it was when exercised by a statesman. He was a strong ruler, cautious and self-controlled, if it were only because of the power which caution and self-control gave him. Methodical, wise, and far-sighted, a distinct policy runs through all his actions. In maintaining and strengthening his own position he maintained and strengthened justice and orderly rule for his people. In weakening his own enemies he weakened theirs. Thus the rule of order which he enforced, principally for the sake of his own advantage, paved the way for the rule of law, for the advantage of the whole people. His turbulent eldest brother, Robert, was fighting far away to secure accept-in the First Crusade when William II. died. Henry was on the spot and at once obtained the crown. He was elected by a small body of Barons and Bishops, but the public opinion of the country confirmed the choice. a, election. b, marriage. c, Flambard imprisoned. d, Charter of Liberties, 1100. His earliest measures were directed towards winning general support. He invited Anselm to return. He married Maud, the daughter of Malcolm of Scotland and Margaret of England grand-daughter of Edmund Ironside. He threw the hated Flambard into prison. He issued a Charter of Liberties by which he promised that 1. the clergy should be freed from exactions, and bad customs should cease; 2. the Barons should see the abolition of the recent feudal 3. the People should have justice and peace. Its importance however is far greater than arises from the reforms it promised or brought about. (1) It was a distinct recognition of the principle that the King had duties as well as rights towards his people; and (2) it served in years to come as the model upon which Magna Carta was framed. opposition. It soon appeared that Henry needed the general support he III. Baronial had set himself to gain. His worthless brother Robert hurried back and came with a strong force to claim the crown. Many Barons, especially those in Normandy, supported him but Henry rallied the National Fyrd and forced him to agree to a compromise. Henry was to retain England and Robert was to keep Normandy: the survivor was to inherit both. a, Robert of Nor mandy. (Stubbs, 332.) II00. Soon the dangerous and powerful Robert of Belesme, who b, Robert of Belesme had built strong castles on the Welsh Border, allied himself with the Welsh and made a bold bid for independence. Again Henry was successful. The Castles of Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth were taken. Robert of Belesme was banished and his power destroyed on the Border. Henry had the hearty support of the English who are said to have hailed his victory with the shout " rejoice King Henry, and thank God, for you became a free king on the day you drove Robert of Belesme from your realm.' The Welsh were punished by having a colony of Flemish mercenaries planted in Pembrokeshire. Belesme soon stirred up Robert of Normandy to break the c, The two Roberts. agreement of 1100. With an army, of which his English footsoldiers formed the main strength, Henry crossed the Channel, thoroughly defeated his opponents at Tenchebrai and captured his faithless brother. He was prevented from doing further mischief by being held a prisoner in Cardiff Castle till the day of his death, and Normandy was taken over by Henry. spent most of the rest of his reign there. Tenchebrai, He Conquest of The French King helped Robert's son, William Clito, to contest Henry's rule, and many Norman barons tried to struggle against the union. Desultory fighting went on for many years, but Henry seized the English estates of the Barons riage. (Green 97.) who were disloyal to him in Normandy, and detached William d, The Angevin marClito's most powerful supporter, Fulk of Anjou, by agreeing to accept his daughter as the wife of Prince William, William was drowned in the" white ship "while returning from Normandy in 1120. Henry's own daughter Matilda married Fulk's son and heir, Geoffrey Plantagenet, in 1128. Their son became Henry II. of England. (Green 98-101.) Reforms. Henry was by no means content to confine his abilities to the IV. Administrative mere repression of baronial attempts at independence. He undertook great administrative reforms for the establishment of law and order. He made peace for man and deer." Official nobility. (Green 96.) The Justiciar. To counteract the hereditary baronage he created a ministerial nobility-men who had high dignity and great power not through birth but through the offices which they held from the King. They were therefore bound to uphold the King's authority for the sake of their own position. The head of these administrative officials was the Justiciar, and Roger of Salisbury who held this office from 1107 till the end of the (Sel. Chart, 16, 17.) reign was the prime mover in establishing the new order of things. b, Curia Regis. V. Quarrel with a, Investiture dis- It was, as we have seen (p 6), an accepted principle that the King should rule by the help and advice of the Commune Concilium. But this body was too large to be able to deal with details, and the personal concerns of its members of course prevented them from meeting very frequently and sitting very long. But the work of government went on continually, and was daily growing more complicated. Roger of Salisbury and Henry accordingly created the Curia Regis: this was a standing committee of the Commune Concilium. It was permanent, and it consisted largely of permanent officials. Its duties were of course entirely administrative. There was no progress yet even in the Commune Concilium towards powers of making laws: both it and its "Committee" were merely advisers. The Curia Regis touched all points of the executive government. It was a permanent Committee of Advice. It manag ed finance through its officials of the Exchequer, and received the accounts of the Sheriffs twice a year. It administered justice and sent Justices Itinerant round the country both for financial and judicial work. Its members, thus constantly employed, became skilled lawyers, financiers, and administrators. They strengthened the powers of the local Courts of the Shire and Hundred, over which they exercised effective control though the Sheriffs and the Justices Itinerant. The important position which the hereditary baron had formerly held was thus being destroyed at both ends. They were no longer the sole or even the chief men round the throne; they were no longer the sole or even the chief authorities in the counties and towns. Henry succeeded in establishing his royal authority over the Baronage, but failed to establish it over the Church. Anselm's quarrel with William II. had been one of honesty with brutal (Wakeman 103.) injustice. The one which broke out between Anselm and Henry I. was one of principle on both sides. Each recognised this, and the respect which each had for the other never wavered. The dispute was carried on with dignity and was finally settled in a statesmanlike way. The old method of episcopal appointment had been for the King, in token of the royal supremacy, to give the Bishop his ring and staff, (of course the Bishop was properly consecrated by other Bishops), and Anselm had naturally fallen in with the custom. But since then he had had experience of the dangers which underlay the royal supremacy. In the hands of a bad King like William II. it was fraught with the gravest perils to religion and morality. The experience of the whole of Christendom was of a similar kind, and during Anselm's stay at Rome the Lateran Council of 1099 had forbidden Bishops to 'Lay investiture.' receive from kings these outward emblems of their office. The object of the rule was to make it clear that the spiritual authority of a Bishop, and of the Church, came from a higher Authority than the King. Anselm accordingly refused to do Homage to Henry and forbade Bishops to receive lay investi ture. (G. & M. 53. Yet he could not but acknowledge that Henry too had b, The Compromise. principle on his side. It was the King's duty to see that all his subjects had justice, whether from Bishops or Barons. It was the King's right that all men, Bishops as well as Barons, should pay him his allegiance for the protection his rule gave them and for the lands they held under him. The Compromise which settled the question recognised the rights of both King and Church. 1. The King surrendered his claim to invest with ring and staff, thus acknowledging that the spiritual power of the Bishop did not come from him. 1107. 'Spiritualities.' 2. The Bishops in their capacity of landholders were to do 'Temporalities.' Homage to the King like the other Barons, for their lands and temporal powers. It was a dignified, honourable, and excellent arrangement. It strengthened the moral power of the Church: it strengthened the political power of the Monarchy. If it saved the Clergy on the one hand from becoming merely landholders, dependent on the secular power, it also saved them on the other hand from becoming an isolated caste. They remained a national class, in touch with the Baronage and in touch with the King; able therefore to play the part of mediators in the constitutional struggle which was soon to begin between these two powers. Henry succeeded in regard to the Baronage because his cause vi. Henry's death was right. It was needful for the national welfare and progress that the royal power should be supreme in material things. He failed in regard to the Church because his cause, as he originally stated it, was wrong. It was needful that even the royal power should realise that there was a higher Power than itself. Henry died suddenly in Normandy. He had maintained peace and good order, and so had made progress of all kinds possible. Trade increased. London and other towns grew in size and importance. A great religious revival in the Mon B and work. 1135. |