Henry s legislative activity, which was great and constant, deserves special notice. His aim was the consolidation of royal power by means of a centralized system of justice and administration. The Constitutions of Clarendon were an essential part of this scheme, designed to bring the clergy, as well as other classes of the nation, under the rule of law, and to prevent an ecclesiastical " imperium in imperio." Other enactments, as the Assize of Clarendon (1166), were intended to perfect the judicial system and to supersede the baronial by the royal courts. The system of recognition by jury took the place of trial by battle. The grand jury was organized for the presentment of criminals for trial. The jury system was further employed for the inquiry into the conduct of the sheriffs (1170), and for the assessment of the Saladin tithe (1188). The circuits of the justices itinerant were, after repeated experiments, brought to some thing like perfection, and a high court of justice formed out of the Curia Regis, which was the origin of the Court of King s Bench. By the commutation of feudal service for scutage, and by the Assize of Arms (1181), which revived the national militia, Henry made himself independent of the baronage, and formed that alliance between king and people which was the surest basis of his power. Whatever may be said against his private character, the wisdom and steadiness with which he pursued these aims, and the permanence of the mark that he left upon the constitution, secure him the title of a great king.
Original authorities.—William of Newbury, Historic/, Berum Antjlicarum ; Ralph de Diceto, Imagines Historiarum; Gervase of Canterbury, Chronica, &c. ; Chronicle of Benedict of Peterborough (so called); Roger of Hoveden, Annales Angliac ; Jordan Fantosme, Histoire de la Guerre, &c. ; Giraldus Cambrensis, Expuynatio Hiber- nice, Itinerarium Cambrice, &c. ; Ralph Glanvill, Tractatus de Ligibus, &c.; Walter Map, De Nugis Curialium, &c. ; Letters and Lives of Becket (ed. Giles); Robert du Mont, Chronica; Dialogusde Scaccario ; the Pipe-Rolls.
Modern Authorities.—Stubbs, Prefaces to Benedict of Peter borough and Roger of Hoveden ; Robertson s Life of Beclect; Eyton s Itinerary of Henry II.
HENRY III. (1207–1272), king of England, eldest son of John and Isabella, was born on October 1, 1207, and was just nine years old on his father s death. Ten days after that event he was crowned at Gloucester (October 28, 1216). His long reign falls into four periods, that of the regency, ending with the fall of De Burg ; that of government by favourites, which led to the Mad Parliament ; the period of the Barons War ; and the short period between the close of the war and Henry s death. At his accession the whole country was in rebellion, and Louis with his Frenchmen hell the east and south. In this crisis it was fortunate that the government fell into the hands of such a man as William Marshall, and that the pope gave him all the assist ance in his power. The acceptance of the charter at once recalled many to their allegiance, and the defeat and retire ment of Louis broke up the opposition. The charter was confirmed (1217) and order rapidly restored. The legate Gualo aided the earl marshal and Archbishop Langton in the work. On Marshall s death (1219) Pandulf took Gualo s place, and asserted the papal authority in a way which obliged Langton to make a personal protest at Rome. Pandulf was recalled, and Hubert de Burg, the justiciar, ruled with Langton till the latter s death (1228), and alone afterwards. Tbe influence of Peter des Roches, bishop of Winchester, the head of the foreign party and guardian of the king s person, was successfully resisted. Meanwhile a last outbreak of pure feudalism under Falkes de Breaute" was put down, and the charter again issued in its final shape (1227). But the worst plague of the reign, the influence of foreign favourites, had already made itself felt, while another great evil, the financial exactions of Rome, was causing much discontent. An expedition to Poitou, opposed by De Burg, caused the first quarrel between him and the king. Shortly afterwards Peter des Roches re turned from a temporary banishment, and gained such influence over Henry that he dismissed De Burg with insult and ingratitude (1232). From this point his real reign may be said to have begun.