Page:The history of medieval Europe.djvu/344

296 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE its clergy, and its courts under the royal jurisdiction, and to shut off all appeals to the papal court at Rome. To ac- complish this, the busy Henry in 1162 secured the election, as Archbishop of Canterbury or Primate of the Church in England, of his friend Thomas Becket, on whose devotion he thought that he could rely and who was already serving him faithfully in political matters as his chancellor. Becket protested, however, against being made archbishop, and, as soon as he was elected, resigned the chancellorship and devoted himself henceforth solely to the interests of the Church and the Papacy. Instead of cooperating with the king in the latter's effort to check the growing independ- ence of the Church and the clergy, Thomas now opposed him at every point. A crucial instance was the question of the treatment of clergymen who had committed crimes such as murder and The question robbery, or at least were accused of such deeds, of "crimi- ^ The ecclesiastical courts would not shed blood and were apt to let such "criminous clerks" off with a light sentence, if they found them guilty at all. Henry was very dissatisfied with this state of affairs and felt that he could not keep due order in his realm unless all criminals, whether clergy or laymen, were alike severely punished. He therefore demanded that his own judges should be present at the trial in the ecclesiastical court to see that the accused was not unduly favored, and that if the accused clergyman was found guilty, he should be turned over to the royal officials for condign punishment. But Becket held that this "would be bringing Christ again before Pontius Pilate," and carried the other bishops with him in opposition to the king. Henry, however, finally induced them to agree to obey the customs of the realm, and then called a meeting of his The "Con- barons and appointed a committee of the old- aa?endon° f est to °* raw up a ** st °* t ^ ie customs bearing upon the relations of Church and State from the reign of Henry I. These are known as the "Constitutions of Clarendon," They upheld the king in the matter of