Constitutions of Clarendon as a Cause of Conflict

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CONSTITUTIONS

OF CLARENDON AS A CAUSE OF CONFLICT

CONSTITUTION OF

CLARENDON: 1164

Legislation

passed in England by Henry II

They

were made up of 16 articles or constitutions and was Henry’s attempt to

restrict the Church’s power and increase his

They

were to restore the power balance and relationship that was present in Henry

I’s reign

The

main point was to confront the issue of criminous clerks and bring them back

under secular law and punishment

Thomas

Becket resisted the constitutions viewing them as a personal insult and an

infringements on both his rights and the rights of the Church

Henry

II then exiled Becket and his family, arguments still continued and so he

altered two of the constitutions that affected canon law but left the rest as

state law

The constitutions

of Clarendon were a cause of conflict between Henry II and Thomas Becket?

When

Henry became King of England in 1154 after Stephen, the country was in

disarray. Stephen had let both the Church and the aristocracy run wild without

curbing their power. Illegal castles were all over the country and the power

balance that had worked well during his grandfather’s reign (Henry I) had been

destroyed. So Henry called for the constitutions of Clarendon, he with some of

his advisors drew up a list of declarations or constitutions that would dictate

the church/state relationship before presenting it to Becket for his signature.

Becket declined, knowing that if he signed the declaration his power and

influence within the Church would weaken as the secular drew more omnipresence

in everyday life. The constitutions were to lay out in writing what each party

expected of the other, for Henry this meant that criminal clerks would be

handed over to his secular courts to be judged either instead of or after the

ecclesiastical courts. This was because Henry felt that the Church’s punishment

by humiliation was not severe enough and wished them to be tried as if they

were an ordinary man who had committed the same crime. Becket was scared not

because he was being asked to agree to them, but because he had to sign a paper

copy, the codifying of the constitutions meant that Henry was taking sure steps

to make sure the Church bowed to him, he threatened a much more strict

observance of these constitutions. The Pope did not like the constitutions and

the limitations this would bring to the Church’s ability to operate in England

and so forbade Thomas to sign it. The conflict came between Becket continually

having to decide between which “master” he was going to serve – his God or his

King. Unfortunately for Henry, Becket chose his God.

CONSTITUTIONS

1.

If a controversy

concerning advowson and presentation of churches arise between laymen, or

between laymen and clerks, or between clerks, it shall be treated of and

terminated in the court of the lord king.

2.

Churches of the

fee of the lord king cannot, unto all time, be given without his assent and

concession.

3.

Clerks

charged and accused of anything, being summoned by the Justice of the king,

shall come into his court, about to respond there for what it seems to the

king's court that he should respond there; and in the ecclesiastical court for

what it seems he should respond there; so that the Justice of the king shall

send to the court of the holy church to see in what manner the affair will

there be carried on. And if the clerk shall be convicted, or shall confess, the

church ought not to protect him further.

4.

It is not lawful

for archbishops, bishops, and persons of the kingdom to go out of the kingdom

without the permission of the lord king. And if it please the king and they go

out, they shall give assurance that neither in going, nor in making a stay, nor

in returning, will they seek the hurt or harm of king or kingdom.

5.

The

excommunicated shall not give a pledge as a permanency, nor take an oath, but

only a pledge and surety of presenting themselves before the tribunal of the

church, that they may be absolved.

6.

Laymen ought not

to be accused unless through reliable and legal accusers and witnesses in the

presence of the bishop, in such wise that the archdean do not lose his right,

nor any thing which he ought to have from it. And if those who are inculpated

are such that no one wishes or dares to accuse them, the sheriff, being

requested by the bishop, shall cause twelve lawful men of the neigh bourhood or

town to swear in the presence of the bishop that they will make manifest the

truth in this matter, according to their conscience.

7.

No one who holds

of the king in chief, and no one of his demesne servitors, shall be

excommunicated, nor shall the lands of any one of them be placed under an

interdict, unless first the lord king, if he be in the land, or his Justice, if

he be without the kingdom, be asked to do justice concerning him: and in such

way that what shall pertain to the king's court shall there be terminated; and

with regard to that which concerns the ecclesiastical court, he shall be sent

thither in order that it may there be treated of.

8.

Concerning

appeals, if they shall arise, from the archdean they shall proceed to the

bishop, from the bishop to the archbishop. And if the archbishop shall fail to

render justice, they must come finally to the lord king, in order that by his

command the controversy may be terminated in the court of the archbishop, so

that it shall not proceed further without the consent of the lord king.

9.

If a quarrel

arise between a clerk and a layman or between a layman and a clerk concerning

any tenement which the clerk wishes to attach to the church property but the

layman to a lay fee: by the inquest of twelve lawful men, through the judgment

of the chief Justice of the king, it shall be determined, in the presence of

the Justice himself, whether the tenement belongs to the church property, or to

the lay fee. And if it be recognized as belonging to the church property, the

case shall be pleaded in the ecclesiastical court; but if to the lay fee,

unless both are holders from the same bishop or baron, the case shall be

pleaded in the king's court. But if both vouch to warranty for that fee before

the same bishop or baron, the case shall be pleaded in his court; in such way

that, on account of the inquest made, he who was first in possession shall not

lose his seisin, until, through the pleading, the case shall have been proven.

10. Whoever shall belong to the city or castle or

fortress or demesne manor of the lord king, if he be summoned by the archdean

or bishop for any offense for which he ought to respond to them, and he be

unwilling to answer their summonses, it is perfectly right to place him under

the interdict; but he ought not to be excommunicated until the chief servitor

of the lord king of that town shall be asked to compel him by law to answer the

summonses. And if the servitor of the king be negligent in this matter, he

himself shall be at the mercy of the lord king, and the bishop may thenceforth

visit the man who was accused with ecclesiastical justice.

11. Archbishops, bishops, and all persons of the

kingdom who hold of the king in chief have their possessions of the lord king

as a barony, and answer for them to the Justices and servitors of the king, and

follow and perform all the customs and duties as regards the king; and, like other

barons, they ought to be present with the barons at the judgments of the court

of the lord king, until it comes to a judgment to loss of life or limb.

12. When an archbishopric is vacant, or a bishopric,

or an abbey, or a priory of the demesne of the king, it ought to be in his

hand; and he ought to receive all the revenues and incomes from it, as demesne

ones. And, when it comes to providing for the church, the lord king should

summon the more important persons of the church, and, in the lord king's own chapel,

the election ought to take place with the assent of the lord king and with the

counsel of the persons of the kingdom whom he had called for this purpose. And

there, before he is consecrated, the person elected shall do homage and fealty

to the lord king as to his liege lord, for his life and his members and his

earthly honours, saving his order.

13. If any of the nobles of the kingdom shall have

dispossessed an archbishop or bishop or archdean, the lord king should compel

them personally or through their families to do justice. And if by chance any

one shall have dispossessed the lord king of his right, the archbishops and

bishops and archdeans ought to compel him to render satisfaction to the lord

king.

14. A church or cemetery shall not, contrary to the

king's justice, detain the chattels of those who are under penalty of

forfeiture to the king, for they (the chattels) are the king's, whether they

are found within the churches or without them.

15. Pleas concerning debts which are due through the

giving of a bond, or without the giving of a bond, shall be in the jurisdiction

of the king.

16. The sons of rustics may not be ordained without

the consent of the lord on whose land they are known to have been born.

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