Western Civilization

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 wordparliamentwas 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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