Page 262 - Western Civilization A Brief History, Volume I To 1715 9th - Jackson J. Spielvogel

Becket: “Who will free me of this priest?” he screamed. Four knights took the challenge, went to Canterbury, and murdered the archbishop in the cathedral. Faced with public outrage, Henry was forced to allow the right of appeal from English church courts to the papal court.
KING JOHN AND MAGNA CARTA Many English nobles came to resent the continuing growth of the king’s power and rose in rebellion during the reign of Henry’s son, King John (1199–1216). Following in his father’s foot- steps, John continued the effort to strengthen royal power and proved particularly ingenious at finding novel ways to levy taxes. The barons of England came to resent him deeply. By 1205, John had lost Nor- mandy, Maine, Anjou (AHN-zhoo), and Touraine to the French king, Philip Augustus; when John’s attempt to reconquer the duchy ended in a devastating defeat, many of the English barons rose in rebellion. At Run- nymede in 1215, John was forced to assent to Magna Carta, the “great charter” of feudal liberties. Much of Magna Carta was aimed at limiting government prac- tices that affected the relations between the king and his vassals on the one hand and between the king and the church on the other (see the box on p. 225).
Despite later interpretations and efforts to broaden its principles, Magna Carta remains, above all, a feudal document. Feudal custom had always recognized that the relationship between king and vassals was based on mutual rights and obligations. Magna Carta gave writ- ten recognition to that fact and was used in subsequent years to underscore the concept that the monarch’s power was limited rather than absolute.
EDWARD I AND THE EMERGENCE OF PARLIAMENT During the reign of Edward I (1272–1307), an institution of great importance in the development of representative government—the English Parliament—emerged. Origi- nally, the word parliament was applied to meetings of the king’s Great Council in which the greater barons and chief prelates of the church met with the king’s judges and principal advisers to deal with judicial affairs. But in 1295, in need of money, Edward invited two knights from every county and two residents (“burgesses”) from each town to meet with the Great Council to consent to new taxes. This was the first Parliament.
The English Parliament, then, came to be composed of two knights from every county and two burgesses from every town as well as the barons and ecclesiastical lords. Eventually, the barons and church lords formed the House of Lords; the knights and burgesses, the
House of Commons. The Parliaments of Edward I granted taxes, discussed politics, passed laws, and handled judicial business. By the end of the thirteenth century, the law of the realm was being determined not by the king alone but by the king in consultation with representatives of various groups that constituted the community.
The Growth of the French Kingdom
In 843, the Carolingian Empire had been divided into three major sections. The west Frankish lands formed the core of the eventual kingdom of France. In 987, after the death of the last Carolingian king, the west Frankish nobles chose Hugh Capet (YOO ka-PAY) (987–996) as the new king, thus establishing the Capetian (kuh-PEE-shun) dynasty of French kings. Although they carried the title of kings, the Capetians had little real power. They controlled as the royal do- main (the lands of the king) only the lands around Paris known as the ^Ile-de-France (EEL-de-fronhss). As kings of France, the Capetians were formally the overlords of the great lords of France, such as the dukes of Normandy, Brittany, Burgundy, and Aqui- taine. In reality, however, many of the dukes were considerably more powerful than the Capetian kings. It would take the Capetian dynasty hundreds of years to create a truly centralized monarchical authority in France.
The reign of King Philip II Augustus (1180–1223) was an important turning point. Philip II waged war against the Plantagenet rulers of England, who also ruled the French territories of Normandy, Maine, Anjou, and Aquitaine, and was successful in gaining control of most of these territories (see Map 10.1). Through these conquests, Philip quadrupled the income of the French monarchy and greatly enlarged its power. To administer justice and collect royal revenues in his new territories, Philip appointed new royal officials, thus inaugurating a French royal bureaucracy.
Capetian rulers after Philip II continued to add lands to the royal domain. Although Philip had used military force, other kings used both purchase and marriage to achieve the same end. Much of the thirteenth century was dominated by Louis IX (1226–1270), one of the most celebrated of the medieval French kings. A deeply religious man, he was later canonized as a saint by the church, an unusual action regardless of the century. Louis was known for his attempts to bring justice to his people and ensure their rights. Sharing in the religious sentiments of his age, Louis played a major role in two
224 Chapter 10 The Rise of Kingdoms and the Growth of Church Power
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