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Henry II, began the period as arguably the most powerful monarch in Europe, with lands stretching from the Scottish borders to the Pyrenees.
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Henry had restored to the Crown some of the lands and royal power.
Locally chosen sheriffs were changed into royally appointed agents charged with enforcing the law and collecting taxes in the counties. -
Personally interested in government and law, Henry made use of juries and re-introduced the sending of justices (judges) on regular tours of the country to try cases for the Crown.
His legal reforms have led him to be seen as the founder of English Common Law. -
Henry's disagreements with the Archbishop of Canterbury (the king's former chief adviser), Thomas à Becket, over Church-State relations ended in Becket's murder in December 29th of 1170 and a papal interdict on England.
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Richard spent only 10 months in England of his 10 year reign. Meanwhilw he was riding the 3rd Crusade (a series of nine religious wars waged from 1095 to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Islamic rule)
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Henry died in France in 1189, at war with his son Richard.
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Henry's elder son, Richard I (reigned 1189-99), fulfilled his main ambition by going on crusade in 1190, leaving the ruling of England to others.
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Richard and Saladin finalized a treaty granting Muslim control over Jerusalem but allowing unarmed Christian pilgrims and merchants to visit the city.
Richard departed the Holy Land on 2 October, and was captured in Austria. -
In England, Richard's brother John occupied Windsor Castle and prepared an invasion of England by Flemish mercenaries, accompanied by armed uprisings.
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John's subversive activities were ended by the payment of a crushing ransom of 150,000 marks of silver to the emperor, for Richard's release in 1194.
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Richard was recrowned at Winchester in 1194. Five years later he died in France during a minor siege against a rebellious baron.
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Richard's brother, John, became king and Philip successfully invaded Normandy.
By 1203, John had retreated to England, losing his French lands of Normandy and Anjou by 1205 -
John was an able administrator interested in law and government but he neither trusted others nor was trusted by them
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An argument with Pope Innocent III led to John's excommunication in 1209, a dispute finally settled by the king in 1213; heavy taxes, and unsuccessful attempts to recover his French possessions made him unpopular.
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Many of his barons rebelled, and in June 1215 they forced King John to sign a peace treaty accepting their reforms.
This treaty, later known as Magna Carta, limited royal powers, defined feudal obligations between the King and the barons, and guaranteed a number of rights. -
Magna Carta was the first formal document insisting that the Sovereign was as much under the rule of law as his people.
Came to be seen as an important definition of aspects of English law, and in later centuries as the basis of the liberties of the English people. -
Most influential clauses:- Freedom of the Church
-The need to consult the Great Council of the Realm so as to prevent unjust taxation.
- Regulation of the machinery of justice so that justice be denied to no one.
- The requirement to control the behaviour of royal officials. -
As a peace treaty Magna Carta was a failure and the rebels invited Louis of France to become their king.
When John died in 1216 England was in the grip of civil war.
