CHAPTER IV THE FUSION OF RACES Books for Consultation SOURCES Benedict of Peterborough (Richard Fitz-Nigel and Roger of Howden). William of Newburgh. Gerald de Barri. Herbert Bosham. William Fitz-Stephen. SPECIAL AUTHORITIES Norgate, England under the Angevin Kings. Green, A. S., Henry the Second. Stubbs, Constitutional History, Early Plantagenets, Literature and Gross, Gild Merchant. Henry of Anjou (1154-1189).'- Henry II was only twenty-one when he came to the throne of England, but already 1 The Plantagenets: Henry II, 1154-1189, m. Eleanor of Guienne, divorced wife of Louis VII John, m. Isabella Henry, Richard I, Geoffrey, m. Constance Arthur, d. 1203 Eleanor, m. king Louis VIII of France Green, Henry the Second, pp. 15-20. Source-Book, pp. 56-58. Green, Henry the Second, PP. 39-43. men had learned "to bear him great love and fear." Born of two remarkable races, he inherited the strong qualities of each. His instinct of government, his untiring industry, and his practical wisdom were Norman, but he was Angevin in his patience, his craftiness, and his tenacity. The contrasts of his character were as marked as was its power. He was passionately fond of the chase, but he was the most learned ruler of his time, and he delighted in the society of scholars. His irreverence was equalled only by his superstition. He would scheme long and patiently, only to spoil all his work by a moment's savage, uncontrolled rage. His energy and vitality were extraordinary. In all England there was no harder worker than the king. Condition of England. - All Henry's power and energy were needed for the task before him. In England order was to be restored, a rebellious baronage to be curbed, and the Church, menacingly strong and conscious of its strength, to be brought within bounds. There were, moreover, new problems to be faced. The England over which Henry of Anjou was called to rule was not the England of his grandfather's time. The twelfth century was marked by a great intellectual and industrial awakening of western Europe, and in spite of anarchy and misrule, England felt the influence of the spirit of the age. The new zeal for learning showed itself in the communities of scholars springing up under the protection of the Church, and the one hundred and fifteen monasteries built during Stephen's reign bore splendid testimony to the revival of religious interest. Industrial development kept pace with the expanding intellectual and spiritual life. Trade and commerce took a fresh start, the towns were growing in size and importance, and a strong middle class was coming into existence. Outside the towns, the Cistercian monks, the model farmers of the age, were at work changing the face of the country. Planting their settlements on the dreary moorlands, or in remote valleys, they drained swamps, built roads, and reclaimed new lands. Under their influence England was fast becoming the chief wool-growing centre of western Europe. It was an age of movement and change, and the rules and systems suited to the needs of a simpler society were beginning to break down under the more complex conditions of national life. A new order demanded new laws. Plantagenets, Henry's Position on the Continent. The full measure Stubbs, of Henry's great task cannot be realized, however, unless Early one keeps in mind that his interests were not bounded by pp. 47-49. England. Henry was a continental ruler before he was an English king, and the guiding principle in the policy of the early part of his reign was his ambition to found a great AngloAngevin empire. But his position on the Continent as well as in England was full of difficulty. To his inherited territories he had added Aquitaine by his marriage with its duchess in 1152, and later he acquired. the overlordship of Brittany. His great possessions were held together by no common tie, except that of subjection to himself, and in many of them his title was disputed. Moreover, he stood between two foes on the one hand were his vassals jealous of the interference of one who was to them almost a foreigner, on the other was his suzerain lord, the king of France, eagerly watching for a chance to make trouble. BYLAND ABBEY, WEST END Pacification of England. - Henry's first work was to Stubbs, carry out the provisions of the treaty of Wallingford. The Early Plantagenets, Flemish mercenaries were sent home, the adulterine castles pp. 40-44, 46. were destroyed, the courts of justice reëstablished. |