LATER HISTORY OF THE CHARTER 109 remained a possession of the Angevin kings; but the connection with this distant duchy was never so close as with the nearer Normandy. In this same reign it became apparent that, although the papacy had reached the culmination of its power and had become what Hildebrand and Anselm and Saint Bernard had hoped that it would become, its weapons, when directed against a resolute nation led by a capable king, would be of little service. But most important of all, in this reign it was asserted in the Great Charter, at least by implication, that the king is subject to law and that there are forces in the nation that have a right to share below the law. in the control of the government. The separate provisions of the Charter were easily broken or evaded; but the central principle has remained in the English political system to this day. The king is King John was suc For the next decade repre Great Charter. 91. Later History of the Charter. ceeded by his nine year old son Henry III. the country was governed by a regency, a small Reissues of the committee in which the papal legate, as the sentative of Henry's recognized overlord, held a prominent position. The regency once more issued the Charter though in a mutilated form, some of the more significant provisions being omitted. During the thirteenth century the document was reissued or confirmed more than thirty times, but always in a mutilated form: the original document was never carried out in full. After the feudal system had fallen into decay, the provisions of the Charter became obsolete, and the document was forgotten. Not till the seventeenth century did it again become an object of national interest. 92. Summary. Henry II and his two sons governed England for nearly two generations. It was a period of great disturbances in the Christian world and of much interest Chief lines of 1154-1216. in foreign affairs; still, it was a period of great development, importance for the internal history of England. Four lines of development can be distinctly traced. (1) There was an evident effort on the part of the king to strengthen his position in the kingdom and to give a new meaning to kingship by resuming some of the powers that the monarchy had lost to the church and the nobility. This is particularly true of Henry II. (2) This purpose led to a great conflict with the church which was renewed in the reign of John. There was also an attempt to reduce the importance of the barons; this led to opposition and rebellion and to the demand for a "Charter of Liberties." (3) An important step was taken toward the unification of the British kingdoms by the annexation of Ireland. (4) A great series of reforms in the local government was initiated: the system of itinerant justices was developed; the local courts were strengthened; and the jury came into being. The real achievements of the period belong to Henry II. In the conflict with the church and with the baronage the king lost; but the victorious parties gained very little. The church learned that it was unwise to fight the king; and the barons found that it was difficult to control the ruler after they had defeated him. THE QUARREL WITH BECKET. Bateson, Medieval England, 194-200; Oman, History of England, 100-106; Ransome, Advanced History of England, 139-144; Tout, Advanced History of Great Britain, 117-122. REFORMS OF HENRY II. Cheyney, Short History of England, 147–156; Fletcher, Introductory History of England, I, i, 140-148; Green, cc. iv-vi. THE ANNEXATION OF IRELAND. Barnard, Strongbow, 7-16, 28-40; Green, c. viii; Innes, History of England, 88-91; Johnston and Spencer, Ireland's Story, c. xii; Lawless, Ireland, 76–97. PERSECUTION OF THE JEWS. — Jacobs, Jews of Angevin England, 112–136. THE THIRD CRUSADE. Archer and Kingsford, Crusades, 324-328; Oman, 116-120. THE GREAT CHARTER. - Fletcher, I, i, 182-188; Innes, 98-100. PROGRESS IN THE TWELFTH CENTURY. - Bateson, 70-95; Cross, History of England, 125-132; Gardiner, Student's History of England, 167-171; Tout, 146-156. CHAPTER V THE BEGINNINGS OF NATIONALISM Medieval ideas and institutions. 93. The Medieval Ideas of Universality. Throughout the middle ages the human mind was haunted by the idea that all great institutions should be universal. From the ancient world came the magnificent idea of the Empire, a universal monarchy like that built up by the armies of Rome, which for several centuries governed all the lands that were then regarded as lying within the limits of civilization. It was this idea that inspired Charlemagne with his mighty purpose to unite all the Germanic peoples and tribes into one Christian Germanic Empire with the Franks as the guiding element. In the tenth century and later the kings of Germany strove to realize the same idea but with little success. All through the later middle ages the Christian kings of Europe looked upon the emperor as a ruler of higher rank than. themselves; but he could not command their obedience. From Christianity came the idea of a universal Church which in the middle ages came very near realization in the ecclesiastical empire of the Roman papacy. The institutions of the church were all of the universal type: its language, its form of government, its doctrines, and its ritual were practically identical everywhere. Universal, too, were the monastic orders, and especially the newer orders of friars, each of which was controlled by a general who resided at Rome. The middle ages also developed a typical social system, one that was, at least, widely diffused: feudalism with its basis in villeinage. 94. Nationalism in the Thirteenth Century. The argument must not be pushed too far, however, as there were always local institutions and local peculiarities in the various parts of Europe. In fact, the lack of easy communication tended to emphasize these. There had also been a constant interest in what we now call the nation: the Anglo-Saxon realized that he was an Englishman and that England was his home; and he fought fiercely for his country and his dynasty against the invading Danes and Normans. But the all-pervading passion of nationalism, the feeling that England should be for the England be- English, that all its institutions should bear a comes English. peculiarly English stamp, and that the external influences that to such a large extent directed the life and activity of the nation should be controlled from within the state, this feeling was a matter of slow growth. Nationalism is the product of a common history: not until the Saxon, the Mercian, the Northman, the Dane and the Norman had lost their interest in their individual pasts and had developed a new interest in their common historic experiences, could real nationalism become possible. When English history reaches the thirteenth century, this new feeling is evident in every important field of national life. 1 95. Opposition to Alien Officials. The first prominent fact is opposition to foreign influences and foreign control. One Foreigners in thing that John had to promise in the Great CharEngland. ter was "to remove from the kingdom all foreignborn soldiers, crossbowmen, servants, and mercenaries, who have come with horses and arms for the injury of the realm.” During the first half of the century alien influences in the administration were also gotten rid of to a considerable extent. So close had been the relations between England and the country in the valley of the Loire, that it was only natural that adventurers in search of offices should crowd into England, where the natives had been shut out of officialdom for a century and a half. A stream of such adventurers came into the country during the first decade after the granting of the Great Charter, when 1 Innes, I, 126–129. THE GASCON AND SICILIAN VENTURES 113 the bishop of Winchester, a native of Poitou, was the personal tutor and guardian of the young king, Henry III. Poitevins and In the following decade came a host of impoverished Provençals. noblemen from southeastern France, the old region of Provence, who arrived on the occasion of King Henry's marriage to Eleanor of Provence. Among these were four uncles of the royal bride, princes of no striking abilities, but 1236. eager for places of power and importance. One of them was even elevated to the office of archbishop. Ten years later, about 1246, came a third migration, this time again from Poitou. The king's mother, Isabella, was 1246. still a young woman when John died; soon after that event she returned to France and married the son of the Count Hugh to whom she had been betrothed before King John made his fateful journey into western France. By this second marriage Queen Isabella became the mother of a numerous family; but many of her children were finally forced to withdraw from France because of unsuccessful resistance to King Louis IX (Saint Louis), who was striving to extend the influence of the French crown into the Loire country. They sought refuge in England; and the king's half- The king's brothers, like the queen's uncles, were given places of profit and prominence in Henry's kingdom. They, like the other immigrant nobles, were utterly ignorant of English needs, and did little to help the amiable and kindly, but weak and incompetent king to govern the land. half-brothers. 96. The Gascon and Sicilian Ventures. It was only natural that these French relatives should be interested in the extension of Angevin influence on the Continent, especially in France. It was largely through their influence that Henry III was induced to look with favor upon two ventures, neither of which accorded with true English policy: he wanted to regain some of the French territories that his father had lost; and he wished to secure the Sicilian crown for his younger son, to whom it had been offered by the pope. In 1241 Henry made an effort to regain Poitou, which had |