Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/656

 642 HENRY II. (ENGLAND) Saxon but disaffected the Norman portion of his subjects. Robert, returned from the East, landed at Portsmouth (1101) with a consider- able force, -and summoned Henry to surrender to him possession of England. A negotiation ensued, and Robert, having been guaranteed the undisturbed possession of Normandy, re- signed his pretensions to the English throne. But Henry occupied himself for several years in strengthening his position in England, and in 1105 called upon Robert to yield up Nor- mandy also. Robert indignantly refused, whereupon Henry invaded Normandy and captured several places of importance. The next year he renewed his invasion and laid siege to the castle of Tinchebrai. Robert has- tened to its relief, and a severe battle was fought beneath its walls. Henry was victo- rious and took Robert prisoner. The latter having attempted to escape, Henry, according to some authorities, put out his eyes ; it is cer- tain that he kept him in prison 28 years. Hen- ry's right to the throne was disputed by Rob- ert's son, whose claims were supported by the counts of Flanders and Anjou and the king of France. Peace was made with France in 1113, and tranquillity was maintained for some years. The question of investiture led to trouble with Rome, which was aggravated by the papal claim to send legates to England. In conse- quence of the continued troubles in Normandy, and the renewal of the war with the French king, Henry passed much of his time in France, to the discontent of the English. In 1114 he married his daughter Matilda to Henry V., emperor of Germany. The victory of Brenne- ville decided the war with France favorably for Henry (1119), and peace was made, so that in 1120 his power was established. The same year his son William was lost while sailing from France to England, and the king never recovered from the shock. Queen Matilda had died in 1118, and Henry married Adelicia, daughter of the count of Lou vain ; no children followed from this union. New difficulties on the continent caused Henry to return there in 1123 ; success again attended him, and peace was restored. The death of his nephew Wil- liam in 1128 relieved him from an active enemy. His daughter Matilda returned to England on the emperor's death, and in 1126 her father prevailed on a numerous assemblage of the clergy and laity to swear that, in the event of his death without male issue, she should be recognized as queen and duchess. In 1127 Ma- tilda was privately married to Geoffrey Planta- genet, count of Anjou, and the quarrels between them caused the king much annoyance. The nobility, too, declared that the marriage had absolved them from their oath. The Welsh having given him much trouble throughout his reign, he was about to attempt their conquest when he died. His death was attributed to over-indulgence in his favorite dish, lampreys. HENRY II., founder of the Plantagenet dy- nasty, grandson of the preceding, and son of Geoffrey Plantagenet and the ex-empress Matil- da, born in Le Mans in March, 1133, died at the castle of Chinon, July 6, 1189. On the death of Henry I., his nephew Stephen, count of Blois, usurped the thrones of England and Normandy. A long series of contests followed, in the latter part of which Prince Henry much distinguished himself. These were terminated by an arrangement in 1153, by which it was settled that Henry should succeed to the Eng- lish throne on Stephen's death, which event took place Oct.. 25, 1154. Henry had become duke of Normandy in 1150, and count of Anjou and Maine in 1151 ; and by marrying Eleanor, duchess of Aquitaine, who had been divorced from Louis VII. of France, he obtained in 1152 possession of nearly the whole of southern France. He was his wife's junior by upward of ten years. They were crowned at Westmin- ster, Dec. 19, 1154. Henry's continental pos- sessions comprised more than a third of France, including Normandy, Maine, Touraine, An- jou, Poitou, Guienne, and other provinces; and in a few years he made himself master of Brittany. He brought to the throne a high reputation for talent and courage. He restored the coinage, revoked improper grants, dis- missed mercenaries, suppressed lawlessness, and destroyed many of the feudal castles which had been erected in Stephen's reign. But for his troubles with the church, he would have been the greatest, as he was one of the ablest, of English monarchs. These disputes began in 1162. Henry had resolved to curb the clergy, and made Thomas a Becket, upon whom he thought he could rely for assistance, arch- bishop of Canterbury, he having held the chancellorship since 1158. But Becket be- came the most austere of churchmen and the most vehement champion of the independence of his order, and placed himself in direct op- position to the king. The first open collision between them occurred at an assembly of bish- ops called by the king at Westminster in 1163, in which the prelates, following Becket's lead, refused to yield to Henry the customary juris- diction of the ecclesiastical courts. This led to an attempt to overthrow the whole system of clerical immunities, and for that purpose a convocation of bishops and barons was held at Clarendon, Jan. 25, 1164. The primate, who since the former assembly had been induced to promise unconditional acquiescence, now de- manded of the king to make known what these "customs" were, which he and his brother bishops were to observe. A committee of in- quiry was thereupon appointed, and the six- teen constitutions or " customs" of Clarendon were drawn up. By these it was enacted that clerks charged with crime should be tried in the civil courts; that no appeals in spiritual causes should be carried beyond the king without his consent; that if, in any lawsuit between a clergyman and a layman concerning a tenant, it was disputed whether 'the land were a lay or an ecclesiastical fee, this should