The Evolution of an Empire | Page 9

his father's administrative genius to
complete the details of government which he had outlined. He
organized the beginning of a judicial system, creating out of his
secretaries and Royal Ministers a Supreme Court, whose head bore the
title of Chancellor. He created also another tribunal, which represented
the body of royal vassals who had all hitherto been summoned together
three times a year. This "King's Court," as it was called, considered

everything relating to the revenues of the state. Its meetings were about
a table with a top like a chessboard, which led to calling the members
who sat, "Barons of the Exchequer." He also wisely created a class of
lesser nobles, upon whom the old barons looked down with scorn, but
who served as a counterbalancing force against the arrogance of an old
nobility, and bridged the distance between them and the people.
So, while the thirty-five years of Henry's reign advanced and developed
the purposes of his father, his marriage with a Saxon Princess did much
to efface the memory of foreign conquest, in restoring the old Saxon
blood to the royal line. But the young Prince who embodied this hope,
went down with 140 young nobles in the "White Ship," while returning
from Normandy. It is said that his father never smiled again, and upon
his death, his nephew Stephen was king during twenty unfruitful years.
But the succession returned through Matilda, daughter of Henry I and
the Saxon princess. She married Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. This
Geoffrey, called "the handsome," always wore in his helmet a sprig of
the broom-plant of Anjou (_Planta genista_), hence their son, Henry II.
of England, was known as Henry _Plante-à-genêt_.
[Sidenote: Henry II., 1154-1189. House of Plantagenet, 1154-1399.
Thomas à Becket's Death 1170.]
This first Plantagenet was a strong, coarse-fibred man; a practical
reformer, without sentiment, but really having good government
profoundly at heart.
He took the reins into his great, rough hands with a determination first
of all to curb the growing power of the clergy, by bringing it under the
jurisdiction of the civil courts. To this end he created his friend and
chancellor, Thomas à Becket, a primate of the Church to aid the
accomplishment of his purpose. But from the moment Becket became
Archbishop of Canterbury, he was transformed into the defender of the
organization he was intended to subdue. Henry was furious when he
found himself resisted and confronted by the very man he had created
as an instrument of his will. These were years of conflict. At last, in a
moment of exasperation, the king exclaimed, "Is there none brave
enough to rid me of this low-born priest!" This was construed into a
command. Four knights sped swiftly to Canterbury Cathedral, and
murdered the Archbishop at the altar. Henry was stricken with remorse,
and caused himself to be beaten with rods like the vilest criminal,

kneeling upon the spot stained with the blood of his friend. It was a
brutal murder, which caused a thrill of horror throughout Christendom.
Becket was canonized; miracles were performed at his tomb, and for
hundreds of years a stream of bruised humanity flowed into Canterbury,
seeking surcease of sorrow, and cure for sickness and disease, by
contact with the bones of the murdered saint.
But Henry had accomplished his end. The clergy was under the
jurisdiction of the King's Court during his reign. He also continued the
judicial reorganization commenced by Henry I. He divided the
kingdom into judicial districts. This completely effaced the legal
jurisdiction of the nobles. The Circuits thus defined correspond roughly
with those existing to-day; and from the Court of Appeals, which was
also his creation, came into existence tribunal after tribunal in the
future, including the "Star Chamber" and "Privy Council."
But of all the blows aimed at the barons none told more effectually than
the restoration of a national militia, which freed the crown from
dependence upon feudal retainers for military service.
In a fierce quarrel between two Irish chieftains, Henry was called upon
to interfere; and when the quarrel was adjusted, Ireland found herself
annexed to the English crown, and ruled by a viceroy appointed by the
king. The drama of the Saxons defending the Britons from the Picts and
Scots, was repeated.
This first Plantagenet, with fiery face, bull-neck, bowed legs, keen,
rough, obstinate, passionate, left England greater and freer, and yet
with more of a personal despotism than he had found her. The trouble
with such triumphs is that they presuppose the wisdom and goodness of
succeeding tyrants.
Henry's heart broke when he learned that his favorite son, John, was
conspiring against him. He turned his face to the wall and died (1189),
the practical hard-headed old king leaving his throne to a romantic
dreamer, who could not even speak the