VII.

Eustace, required the archbishop of Canterbury to anoint that CHAP. prince as his fucceffor, the primate refused compliance, and made his escape beyond fea, to avoid the violence and revenge of Stephen'.

1153.

HENRY, informed of thefe difpofitions in the people, made an invasion on England; and having gained fome advantage over Stephen at Malmesbury, and having taken that place, he proceeded thence to throw fuccours into Wallingford, which the King had advanced with a fuperior army to befiege. A decisive action was every day expected; when the great men on both fides, terrified with the prospect of farther bloodshed and confufion, interpofed with their good offices, and fet on foot a negotiation between these rival princes. The death of Eustace, during the course of the treaty, facilitated its conclufion; and an accommodation was at laft concluded, by which Compromife it was agreed, that Stephen fhould poffefs the crown during between the his lifetime, that juftice fhould be administered in his name, princeHenry. even in the provinces which had fubmitted to Henry, and that this latter prince fhould, on Stephen's death, fucceed to the kingdom, and William, Stephen's fon, to Boulogne, and his patrimonial estate. After all the barons had fworn to the obfervance of this treaty, and done homage to Henry, as to the heir of the crown, that prince evacuated the kingdom; and the death of Stephen, which happened next year, after a fhort illness, prevented all those quarrels and jealoufies, which were likely to have enfued in fo delicate a fituation.

• H. Hunt. p. 395. Epift. St. Thom. p. 225.
· Trivet, p. 22. Gul. Neubr. p. 379. Chron. Heming. p. 488.
• Chron. Sax. p. 243. Chron. Norm. p. 989. M. Paris, p. 61.

1038. Rymer, vol. i. p. 13.

Fff 2

Gervafe, p. 1367.
Brompton, p. 1037.
Brompton, p. 103 ́,

ENGLAND

King and

Death of the

King.

1154.

October 25.

CHAP.
VII.

1154.

ENGLAND fuffered great miferies during the reign of this prince; but his perfonal character, allowing for the temerity and injustice of his ufurpation, appears not liable to any great exception; and he seems to have been well qualified, had he fucceeded by a just title, to have promoted the happiness and profperity of his fubjects. He was poffeffed of industry, activity, and courage, to a great degree; was not deficient in ability; had the talent of gaining mens affections; and notwithstanding his precarious fituation, never indulged himself in the exercife of any cruelty or revenge". His advancement to the throne procured him neither tranquillity nor happiness; and though the fituation of England prevented the neighbouring states from taking any durable advantage of her confufions, her inteftine wars and disorders were to the laft degree ruinous and deftructive. The court of Rome alfo was permitted, during these disorders, to make farther advances in her ufurpations; and appeals to the Pope, which had been always ftrictly prohibited by the English laws, became now common in every ecclefiaftical controversy 2.

CHA P. VIII.

State of Europe

government

Difputes between the civil and ecclefiaftical

powers Thomas a Becket, archbishop of Canterbury
Quarrel between the King and Becket
Clarendon Banishment of Becket
him His return from banishment

*

Grief — and fubmiffion of the King.

T

Conftitutions of
Compromife with
His murder

HE extenfive confederacies, by which the European
potentates are now at once united and fet in opposition

CHA P.

VIII.

to each other, and which, though they diffuse the leaft fpark State of Eu--
of diffention through the whole, are at least attended with this rope.
advantage, that they prevent any violent revolutions or con-
quefts in particular ftates, were totally unknown in antient
ages; and the theory of foreign politics, in each kingdom,
formed a fpeculation much lefs complicate and involved than at
present. Commerce had not yet bound the most distant nations
together in so close a chain: Wars, finished in one campaign :
and often in one battle, were little affected by the movements
of remote states: The imperfect communication among the
kingdoms, and their ignorance of each other's fituation, made
it practicable for a great number of them to combine in one
project or effort: And above all, the turbulent fpirit and inde-

CHA P.

Vii.

1154.

State of
France.

pendant fituation of the barons or great vaffals in each state
gave fo much occupation to the fovereign, that he was obliged
to confine his attention chiefly to his own fyftem of govern-
ment, and was more indifferent about what paffed among
his neighbours. Religion alone, not politics, carried abroad
the views of princes; and either fixed their thoughts on the
Holy Land, whose conqueft and defence was deemed a point
of common honour and intereft, or engaged them in intrigues
with the court of Rome, to whom they had yielded the direc-
tion of ecclefiaftical affairs, and who was every day affuming
more authority than they were willing to allow her.

BEFORE the conqueft of England by the duke of Normandy, this island was as much separated from the rest of the world in politics as in fituation; and except from the inroads of the Danish pirates, the English, happily confined at home, had neither enemies nor allies on the continent. The foreign dominions of William connected them with the Kings and great vaffals of France; and while the opposite pretenfions of the Pope and Emperor in Italy produced a continual intercourfe between Germany and that country, the two great monarchs of France and England formed, in another part of Europe, a separate system, and carried on their wars and negotiations, without inceting either with oppofition or fupport from the others.

On the decline of the Carlovingian race, the nobles, in every province of France, taking advantage of the fovereign's weakness, and obliged to provide, each for his own defence, against the ravages of the Norman free-booters, had affumed, both in civil and military affairs, an authority almoft independant, and had reduced, within very narrow limits, the prerogative of

2

their princes. The acceffion of Hugh Capet, by annexing a great fief to the crown, had brought fome addition of power to the royal dignity; but this fief, though confiderable for a subject, appeared a narrow basis of force in a prince who was placed at the head of fo great a community. The royal demefnes confifted only of Paris, Orleans, Eftampes, Compiegne, and a few places, scattered over the northern provinces: In all the rest of the kingdom, the prince's authority was more nominal than real: The vaffals were accustomed, nay intitled to make war, without his permiffion, on each other: They were even entitled, if they conceived themselves injured, to turn their arms against their fovereign: They exercifed all civil jurifdiction, without appeal, over their tenants and inferior vaffals: Their common jealousy of the crown easily united them against any attempt on their exorbitant privileges; and as fome of them had attained the power and authority of great princes, even the smallest baron was fure of immediate and effectual protection. Besides fix ecclefiaftical peerages, which, with the other immunities of the church, cramped extremely the general execution of juftice; there were fix lay-peerages, Burgundy, Normandy, Guienne, Flanders, Tholouse, and Champagne, which formed very extenfive and puiffant fovereignties. And though the combination of all these princes and barons could, on occafion, mufter a mighty power: Yet was it very difficult to fet that great machine in movement; it was almost impoffible to preserve harmony in its parts; a fenfe of common interest alone could, for a time, unite them under their fovereign against a common enemy; but if the King attempted to turn the force of the community against any mutinous vaffal, the fame fenfe of common intereft made the others oppofe themselves to the fuccefs of his pretenfions. Lewis the Grofs, the last sovereign, marched, at one time, to his frontiers against the Germans at

the

CHA P.

VIII.

1154.