From Law to‘Anarchy’ to

Anjou

StephenHenry II

Henry I and the Church

• Obtained revenue from vacancies

• Established new monasteries

• Fostered new orders

OrdersCistercian Benedictine Augustinian

Cistercians – White Monks

• Cîteaux (1098) Alberic , Stephen Harding– L’Aumône, Normandy

• Waverley (1128) 13 daughters• Tintern, Wales (1131)

• Claivaux (1115) St. Bernard– Rievaulx, Yorkshire (1132)

• Melrose, Scotland (1136)

– Fountains, Yorkshire (1132)

Stephen Harding

Spread of Cistercians

Clairvaux

L’Aumone

Savigny

Waverley

Tintern Abbey

Spread of Cistercians - Yorkshire

Fountains

Scotland

Roche Abbey-1147,1170

Roche Abbey

Roche Abbey

William’s Legacy

Henry I: Coronation OathCharter of Liberties

• Overturn excesses of William Rufus:Limitations on what the King may do relative to his barons– Inheritance, marriage of daughters, remarriage of

widows• Tax exemption of knights in military service• “I impose a strict peace upon my whole

kingdom and command that it be maintained henceforth.”

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/hcoronation.asp

Legal DifferencesAnglo-Saxon Norman

Proof Oaths and ordeals Add trial by battle

Punishment Wergild Imprisonment, forfeiture, mutilation, death

Role of Church

Involved in lay justice

Ecclesiastical and spiritual matters. The latter included marriage, legitimacy

Towards a ‘Common’ Law

• ~1088 Foundation of Bologna University• Focus

– Newly rediscovered Roman law– A universal Canon Law

• Ultimate appeal to the Pope

(Great) Curia regis

• Successor to witan

Functions• Legislative• Judicial• Advisory

Legitimate DiplomacyMatilda and Emperor Henry V

White Ship

Legitimate Diplomacy II(Matilda) and Geoffrey of Anjou

Normandy and Angevin territory

King Stephen

• Arguments for Stephen– Support of London– Report of deathbed designation– Reluctant support of Robert of Gloucester

in turn for maintenance of position.• Possession of treasury

Empress Matilda

Matilda• Arguments against

– Oath of allegiance forced & subsequent marriage

– ♀– Brought up in German court– Personality

• Argument for– primogeniture– Stephen had been first to sign oath.

"Mathildis Imperatrix Henrici regis filia et Anglorum domina."

Robert of Gloucester

• Arguments for– Wisdom– Integrity

• Argument against– Bastards no longer accepted as having the

same inheritance rights.

Matilda vs. Stephen

• 1139 With Robert of Gloucester goes to Bristol

• England divided on local level between Stephen, Matilda and barons.

Matilda

• Empress• Queen of the

Romans• Lady of the English

(Winchester 1141)• Countess of Anjou

(used by Stephen supporter)

Debasement of Money

• “The king himself was reported to have ordered the weight of the penny, as established in King Henry's time, to be reduced, because, having exhausted the vast treasures of his predecessor, he was unable to provide for the expense of so many soldiers.”

Debasement of Money

• “All things, then, became venal in England; and churches and abbeys were no longer secretly, but even publicly exposed to sale”

Official coin of Stephen

Coin issued by a baron

Matilda vs. Matilda

• Matilda of Boulogne, wife of Stephen attacked Matilda's forces.

• Matilda demands money from London• Rift with Henry of Blois• Robert of Gloucester captured • Prisoners exchanged

Peace (Stephen & Henry) - 1153

• Summer of battles• Steven’s son Eustace dies• Mediation by bishops• Treaty of Wallingford (Westminster) -

November– Henry, son of Geoffrey and Matilda, granted

succession– Stephen accorded life possession– Adulterine castles to be destroyed

1154 Stephen dies

"A reign which was no reign, when none could sitBy his own hearth in peace; when murder commonAs nature’death, like Egypt’s plague, had filledAll things with blood.“

Tennyson

“He was soft and easy going and there was no justice”

Anglo-Saxon Chronicle