Henry II, 1154-1189
- first king of the “Plantagenet”
house, ruled over an “empire”, England and a large part of France (controlled more of France
than the French king did) - educated, vigorous, with a violent temper
- the big problem during his reign was
“benefit of clergy” - during Stephen’s reign, it became the custom that clergy (and anyone
who could read was entitled to be called clergy) could only be tried in church courts, not the
royal courts, regardless of the crime
- the king “fought” with his good
friend Thomas Becket over this matter - Tomas had been made archbishop of Canterbury by
Henry, and Henry was surprised to find that Thomas took the church’s side - one day when
Henry was really upset, he was overheard to ask why no one could get rid of this annoying
archbishop, and four knights who wanted to get in good with the king went and murdered Thomas Becket
in the church
- also during Henry’s reign, the
first permanent central court was established and English Common Law (good for the whole
realm) began to be developed (that’s the law system the US has), which included using juries to
decide the facts of cases, and the presumption of innocent until proven guilty
- in 1167, Oxford University was
founded
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