英國史第三集：Dynasty（1087——1216）

[00:10.70]England, 1154, nearly a century after the Battle of Hastings. [00:16.85] [00:17.78]The country has been torn apart by a savage civil war. [00:22.13] [00:25.70]William the Conqueror was long dead. [00:28.97] [00:29.14]For 30 years, his grandchildren had been locked [00:32.21] [00:32.38]in a life or death struggle for the crown of England. [00:36.61] [00:39.62]The realm was in ruins. [00:42.49] [00:53.70]And then there appeared a young king, brave and charismatic, [00:58.37] [00:58.54]who stopped the anarchy. His name was Henry, [01:02.05] [01:02.22]and he would become the greatest of all our medieval kings. [01:06.05] [01:09.10]He should be as well-known to us as Henry VIII or Elizabeth I, [01:13.61] [01:13.78]but if he is remembered at all today [01:16.21] [01:16.38]it is as the king who ordered the Murder in the Cathedral [01:19.65] [01:19.82]or as the father of the much more famous, impossibly bad King John [01:23.65] [01:23.82]and the impossibly glamorous Richard the Lionheart. [01:27.81] [01:32.46]Henry II has no great monument to his name. [01:35.93] [01:36.26]No horseback statue of him stands outside Westminster, [01:40.29] [01:40.46]yet he made an indelible mark on our country. [01:43.77] [01:43.94]The father of the Common Law. The godfather of the English state. [01:49.09] [01:50.38]But Henry was cursed, brought down by the Church, his children, [01:55.09] [01:55.26]and most of all by his queen, the older, beautiful, [01:58.61] [01:58.78]all-powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine. [02:01.85] [02:02.02]This is the story of Henry II and his family. [02:05.69] [02:05.86]In all of British history, there has never been anything quite like it. [02:11.17] [02:56.86]Henry II, his wife Eleanor and their children Richard and John [03:01.09] [03:01.26]were the most astonishing of all the family firms [03:04.33] [03:04.50]to have run the enterprise of Britain. [03:07.45] [03:07.62]They did so with a furious energy [03:09.69] [03:09.86]that either entranced or appalled their subjects. [03:13.40] [03:13.58]Like many family firms, they had a capacity [03:16.29] [03:16.46]for both creation and self-destruction. [03:19.65] [03:19.82]What their intelligence built, their passions destroyed. [03:24.09] [03:26.26]They were called the Angevins, after the French-speaking province of Anjou. [03:31.61] [03:31.78]At the height of their power, [03:33.77] [03:33.94]they were masters of all that counted in Christendom. [03:37.41] [03:37.58]Their England was the linchpin of an empire that stretched [03:40.65] [03:40.82]from the Scottish borders to the Pyrenees. [03:43.17] [03:43.34]Much bigger than France itself. [03:45.85] [03:46.02]Not since the Romans, and never again, [03:48.65] [03:48.82]has England been quite so European. [03:51.65] [03:53.90]The dynasty had its roots in the civil war [03:56.81] [03:56.98]that was being fought between two cousins, Stephen and Matilda, [04:00.97] [04:01.14]the grandchildren of William the Conqueror. [04:03.65] [04:03.82]Stephen seized the crown, but that wasn't the end of it, [04:07.89] [04:08.06]for if Matilda couldn't beat him with an army, [04:10.69] [04:10.86]she could beat him with a wedding, [04:12.89] [04:13.06]a wedding that would found a dynasty [04:15.21] [04:15.38]and reduce Stephen's ambitions to dust. [04:17.84] [04:26.26]In 1128, Matilda married Geoffrey of Anjou, [04:30.13] [04:30.30]nicknamed "Plantagenet", because he wore [04:32.97] [04:33.14]a sprig of yellow broom or Planta Genista in his hat. [04:37.45] [04:37.62]His family emblem was three lions. [04:40.61] [04:41.90]Along with his money, power and territory [04:45.01] [04:45.18]Geoffrey gave Matilda something even more important - a son, Henry. [04:50.77] [05:00.18]As the boy Henry grew up, it became apparent [05:03.72] [05:03.82]that from his mother he'd inherited steely single-mindedness, [05:07.69] [05:07.86]lots of physical courage and a phenomenally foul temper. [05:13.17] [05:13.34]From his father he'd got instinctive charm [05:16.25] [05:16.42]and knife-sharp political and military intelligence. [05:20.73] [05:20.90]But the quality that anyone who ever met Henry [05:23.73] [05:23.90]most vividly remembered about him, [05:26.25] [05:26.42]the overflowing tank of energy [05:28.98] [05:29.06]that made him the most hyperactive king in British history, [05:32.33] [05:32.50]this was all his own. [05:34.93] [05:38.86]This was the age of chivalry, when the myth of Arthur and Camelot [05:42.81] [05:42.98]was at its most popular. [05:44.73] [05:45.90]Right from the start, he was being groomed by his ambitious parents [05:49.89] [05:50.06]to take England away from Stephen, to become a new King Arthur. [05:55.05] [05:55.22]And to do this, of course, he would need a Guinevere. [05:58.97] [05:59.14]As it happened, the perfect candidate had just become available - [06:03.13] [06:03.30]Eleanor of Aquitaine. [06:05.86] [06:12.70]But the match was a gamble. He was 19, she was pushing 30. [06:17.53] [06:17.70]He was relatively inexperienced, [06:19.97] [06:20.14]Eleanor had seen as much of the ways of the world as it could offer. [06:24.85] [06:26.98]And yet something rather surprising happened [06:30.17] [06:30.34]between the teenage Arthur and the mercurial Guinevere, [06:34.29] [06:34.46]something that wasn't supposed to happen in a marriage of political convenience. [06:38.93] [06:39.02]The parties actually fancied each other. [06:41.97] [06:47.86]Henry found himself at the altar in 1152, beside an older woman [06:52.25] [06:52.42]described as a graceful, dark-eyed beauty, [06:55.85] [06:56.02]disconcertingly articulate, strong-minded and jocular. [07:00.49] [07:00.66]Hardly the veiled damsel in the tower. [07:03.61] [07:03.78]One likes to think that Eleanor saw [07:06.37] [07:06.54]not just the usual spur-clanking bonehead, [07:09.45] [07:09.62]but beyond a stocky frame and barrel chest, an intriguing peculiarity; [07:16.05] [07:16.22]the rare prince who looked right with a falcon on one hand [07:20.45] [07:20.62]and a book in the other. [07:22.97] [07:26.26]It was Eleanor's homeland, Aquitaine, that was the greatest prize. [07:30.77] [07:30.94]A vast stretch of land between Anjou and the Pyrenees. [07:34.33] [07:34.50]A place where wine-steeped Latin culture [07:37.49] [07:37.66]had been polished anew by Provencal sensuality. [07:40.93] [07:42.30]Its capital, here in Poitiers, the home of troubadours and courtly love. [07:47.89] [07:53.58]No wonder Eleanor grew up, as her contemporaries put it... [07:57.81] [07:57.98](MEDIEVAL FRENCH) ...welcoming, vivacious, [08:01.33] [08:01.50]her head perhaps turned by all those lovelorn lyrics [08:05.41] [08:05.58]of knights enslaved by beauties and bent on besieging their virtue. [08:09.97] [08:12.46]So this is what Eleanor brought to the match: [08:15.29] [08:15.46]Grandeur, territory, wealth - a lot of wealth - [08:20.13] [08:20.30]and the glamour of Aquitaine. [08:22.93] [08:23.10]No wonder Henry thought that with this marriage he'd got, [08:25.66] [08:25.82]well, pretty much everything. [08:28.05] [08:28.22]Everything that is, except the crown of England. [08:31.92] [08:34.62]In 1153, Henry Plantagenet crossed the Channel. [08:39.25] [08:39.42]His father, Geoffrey, had already taken Normandy from Stephen, [08:42.77] [08:42.94]so now it was up to Henry to take England. [08:45.77] [08:48.46]Faced with an exhausted nation and defecting barons, Stephen caved in. [08:53.69] [08:53.86]A deal was struck. Stephen would be allowed to die on the throne [08:58.21] [08:58.38]on condition he named Henry as his heir. [09:02.25] [09:03.22]Within a year, Stephen was dead [09:06.01] [09:06.18]and Eleanor and Henry were crowned at Westminster Abbey, [09:09.88] [09:10.06]King and Queen of England. [09:12.33] [09:13.18]When they emerged from the vivats and incense, [09:16.61] [09:16.78]they were the French-speaking sovereigns of an enormous realm [09:20.05] [09:20.22]which stretched from the Pyrenees through to the vineyards of Gascony, [09:23.37] [09:23.54]along the cod-fish run coastal waters of Brittany, [09:27.01] [09:27.18]over the Channel to England, along the length and breadth [09:30.29] [09:30.46]of the country to the Welsh borders and the windy moors [09:33.33] [09:33.50]of Cumbria and Northumbria. [09:36.21] [09:37.90]And it was a perfect time to come into this colossal inheritance. [09:41.49] [09:41.66]For the mid-12th century really was the springtime of the Middle Ages. [09:46.21] [09:46.38]Literacy and learning were spreading [09:48.37] [09:48.54]from the cathedral schools in Paris and Canterbury. [09:50.92] [09:51.10]Monasteries were being founded at a record pace, [09:54.77] [09:54.94]and although they were supposed to be purged of worldliness, [09:58.33] [09:58.50]before long they were the engines of economic power, [10:01.41] [10:01.58]producers of wool, master of the mills and rivers. [10:05.57] [10:05.74]So if this was indeed springtime, Henry and Eleanor [10:09.49] [10:09.66]had just got themselves the fattest and the ripest fruit. [10:14.01] [10:16.42]It's unlikely they ever thought of it as a true empire [10:19.96] [10:20.14]in the Roman sense of a single realm. [10:22.77] [10:22.94]Its many regions were treated separately, according to their customs. [10:27.25] [10:27.42]While Westminster was increasingly at the heart of administration, [10:31.04] [10:31.22]Rouen in Normandy, Chinon in Anjou [10:33.85] [10:34.02]and Poitiers in Aquitaine were just as important. [10:37.13] [10:39.06]It was the greatest and grandest family estate in all Christendom. [10:44.61] [10:44.78]That surely was enough to be going on with. [10:48.29] [10:52.18]It was one thing to stand around counting off one's possessions. [10:56.25] [10:56.42]It was quite another to know what to do about being king. [10:59.65] [10:59.82]Especially king of a country so promising but peculiar as England, [11:04.37] [11:04.54]with all its Anglo-Saxon names and institutions [11:07.73] [11:07.90]like shire, courts, writs and sheriffs. [11:11.09] [11:11.26]What did Henry Plantagenet know of Huntingdonshire, [11:15.49] [11:15.66]or what did Huntingdonshire know of Henry Plantagenet? [11:19.49] [11:21.66]Henry of course spoke virtually no English at all. [11:25.17] [11:25.34]What he would have grasped, if only from his coronation oaths, [11:28.65] [11:28.82]was that kings of England were supposed to be both judge and warlord. [11:34.81] [11:34.98]In fact, the coronation oath, preserved intact from Edward the Confessor, [11:39.92] [11:40.10]who was increasingly being held up as some sort of ideal monarch, [11:43.93] [11:44.10]pretty much spelled out the job description of the king of England. [11:47.77] [11:47.94]One - protect the Church. [11:49.93] [11:50.10]Two - preserve intact the lands of your ancestors. [11:53.88] [11:54.06]Three - do justice. [11:56.21] [11:56.38]Four - most sweeping of all, [11:58.37] [11:58.54]suppress evil laws and customs. [12:01.85] [12:06.82]Fulfilling one and two went without saying. [12:09.81] [12:09.98]But what was surprising about Henry was he took [12:12.33] [12:12.50]vows three and four just as seriously. [12:15.93] [12:17.18]Before Henry, justice was, "Do what I want, I'm the king." [12:20.72] [12:20.90]By the end of Henry's reign, getting the king's justice [12:24.21] [12:24.38]didn't depend on the king being there in person. [12:27.37] [12:27.54]Henry had established permanent, professional courts, [12:30.57] [12:30.74]sitting at Westminster or touring the counties, [12:33.73] [12:33.90]acting reliably in his name. [12:36.61] [12:37.74]Now law became, "Listen to what my judges have to say." [12:42.60] [12:45.02]By 1180, those judges could consult England's first legal textbook [12:50.29] [12:50.46]full of precedents on which to base their decisions. [12:53.77] [12:53.94]The law now had its own kind of majesty. [12:57.48] [13:03.30]It was vow number one though, the protection of the Church, [13:08.21] [13:08.38]which quite unpredictably would cause Henry II the greatest grief. [13:12.81] [13:12.98]It was to provoke a kind of spiritual civil war, [13:17.25] [13:17.42]in its way every bit as unsettling as the feudal civil war, [13:21.77] [13:21.94]and which in its most dreadful hour [13:24.73] [13:24.90]would end with bloodshed in the Cathedral. [13:28.05] [13:30.94]This was especially ironic since at the outset it seemed to be the Church [13:35.88] [13:36.06]that was the strongest pillar of Henry's administration. [13:38.97] [13:39.14]Its literate clerics initiated him into the mysteries of governing England. [13:43.97] [13:44.94]When the Archbishop of Canterbury offered one of his brightest proteges, [13:48.77] [13:48.94]Thomas Becket, for the office of Chancellor, [13:51.45] [13:51.62]Henry listened, looked and gave him the job. [13:55.05] [14:00.62]So who exactly was this Becket? [14:03.97] [14:05.66]He was the first commoner of any kind [14:07.77] [14:07.94]to make a mark on British history. [14:10.37] [14:10.54]The possibility that someone like Becket, a merchant's son, [14:14.08] [14:14.26]with an impoverished Norman knight clanking around in the family closet, [14:18.45] [14:18.58]could end up as the king's best friend, [14:21.33] [14:21.50]said something about the possibility of the great swarming city itself. [14:26.89] [14:28.58]At the heart of the emerging capital was the great church of St Paul, [14:32.81] [14:32.98]and around it, upriver from the grim pile of the Conqueror's Tower, [14:36.97] [14:37.14]were wharves thick with ships loaded with wool going out, [14:40.61] [14:40.78]wines, furs or silks coming in. [14:43.37] [14:43.54]In this teeming world, Becket's father strutted, [14:47.21] [14:47.38]owner of one of the grandest houses in Cheapside. [14:50.73] [14:52.26]The truth is Becket was a real Londoner, [14:54.77] [14:54.94]with a natural flair for doing what Londoners like doing most - [14:59.01] [14:59.18]the getting and spending of money, [15:01.25] [15:01.42]spectacle, costume and, despite his notoriously delicate gut, [15:05.81] [15:05.98]Becket seems to have enjoyed good food and drink. [15:09.52] [15:09.70]He was street smart and he was book smart. [15:12.81] [15:12.98]In short, from the get go, Becket was a big league performer. [15:17.13] [15:17.30]He was a player. [15:19.57] [15:20.34]They were in a way, a match of opposites. [15:23.33] [15:23.50]Becket was older by a decade and, as Chancellor, [15:26.45] [15:26.62]willing to deal with the administrative detail that bored the king. [15:30.45] [15:30.62]Becket was tall, self-contained, his forehead creased with frown lines. [15:35.89] [15:36.06]The king was square-shaped, packed with hectic passion, [15:41.00] [15:41.18]a real Plantagenet powerhouse. [15:44.17] [15:48.38]Becket was able to keep up with the relentless pace set by Henry. [15:54.53] [15:55.66]Medieval courts were itinerant affairs, [15:58.49] [15:58.66]travelling 20 - 30 miles a day, [16:01.37] [16:01.54]eating in a royal forest or by the roadside. [16:04.41] [16:04.58]But Henry, who made a fetish of exercise [16:07.04] [16:07.22]out of a fear of growing fat, never seemed to slow down, [16:11.57] [16:11.74]barely arriving at one of his palaces before chasing off again. [16:15.69] [16:18.82]Clarendon Palace was the most magnificent hunting lodge in England. [16:23.33] [16:23.50]All that's left now is this raw, ivy-covered stump of stone. [16:28.97] [16:29.14]In Henry's time, it would have been full [16:31.17] [16:31.34]of courtiers and dogs and hawks and horses. [16:35.45] [16:35.62]That's the way the king liked it - [16:38.57] [16:38.74]a kind of scruffy power to his entertainment. [16:41.81] [16:46.30]Becket saw right through Henry's game of studied informality, [16:51.77] [16:51.94]his avoidance of wearing the crown, his ordinary riding clothes. [16:56.69] [16:56.86]Becket knew that when Henry extended the hand of friendship, [17:00.29] [17:00.46]he was capable of following it by frosty withdrawals of affection, [17:04.97] [17:05.14]unpredictable explosions of carpet biting, incendiary fury. [17:11.32] [17:16.26]It was this pseudo-sibling relationship [17:19.41] [17:19.58]that gave Becket the confidence later on [17:22.25] [17:22.42]to treat the king as a virtual equal [17:26.12] [17:26.30]with catastrophic results for all concerned. [17:29.49] [17:29.66]Time and again he would tell his dwindling band of followers, [17:33.44] [17:33.62]"I know this looks bad but trust me. [17:36.49] [17:36.66]"I know the way this man operates." [17:40.13] [17:48.50]Even in the early days, beneath the jesting, there was, [17:52.45] [17:52.62]if Thomas looked for it, a kind of ominous tension. [17:55.89] [17:56.06]When, for example, the king and Chancellor rode through London, [17:59.45] [17:59.62]Henry pointed to the countless destitute, [18:02.41] [18:02.58]and, eyeing Thomas's gorgeous scarlet and grey minever-edged cloak, [18:06.57] [18:06.74]let it be known "How charitable it would be [18:09.73] [18:09.90]"to clothe the poor man's nakedness." [18:12.89] [18:13.06]"Well, yes," said Becket, "You should attend to it right away." [18:16.45] [18:16.62]"Oh, no, no, no, you should have the credit," insisted the king, [18:20.01] [18:20.18]pulling at Becket's cape. [18:22.56] [18:22.74]An undignified tug of war then followed, [18:25.73] [18:25.90]with both men trying to pull the capes off each other. [18:28.28] [18:28.46]At last the Chancellor had no alternative [18:31.33] [18:31.50]but to allow the king to overcome him and give his cape to the poor man. [18:36.69] [18:49.54]If Henry suspected Thomas of getting above himself - [18:53.61] [18:53.70]and if he did, he wasn't alone - [18:56.00] [18:56.14]it didn't get in the way of Becket coming to mind [18:58.97] [18:59.14]for the top job in the country, [19:01.33] [19:01.42]the newly-vacated post of Archbishop of Canterbury. [19:06.01] [19:06.10]Becket's worldliness must have made him seem precisely the right man [19:10.89] [19:10.98]for the job Henry wanted to do - to put the Church in its place. [19:15.61] [19:18.70]Monarchs had long taken it for granted [19:21.41] [19:21.58]that they were directly anointed by God, safely above the Church. [19:26.57] [19:26.74]But the Popes of this period begged to differ. [19:29.49] [19:29.66]Kings, they said, reported to Popes, not the other way round. [19:33.93] [19:34.10]This wasn't just an academic quibble. [19:36.93] [19:37.10]This was a fight to the death. [19:39.09] [19:42.78]There were two flashpoints. [19:45.29] [19:45.46]The first was whether law-breaking clergymen [19:48.21] [19:48.38]could be judged in the king's courts like everyone else. [19:52.25] [19:52.42]The second was whether bishops had the power [19:56.33] [19:56.50]to excommunicate royal officials. [19:59.57] [19:59.74]By making Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, [20:02.73] [20:02.90]Henry believed he could depend on someone who shared his view [20:06.52] [20:06.70]of the subordinate relationship of Church to State. [20:10.89] [20:11.06]The king was in for a shock. [20:14.25] [20:18.02]At the beginning at least, there seemed to be [20:20.85] [20:21.02]a good deal of the old Becket about the new Becket. [20:24.21] [20:24.38]The array of fancy foods [20:26.68] [20:26.86]and company of young cosmopolitan scholars remained. [20:30.37] [20:30.54]But all was not how it appeared. [20:33.10] [20:33.18]Becket ate none of the feast [20:35.77] [20:35.94]and beneath his grand garments he may well have begun to wear [20:39.09] [20:39.26]the hair shirt found later on his murdered body. [20:42.96] [20:45.94]When the king began to realise a mysterious transformation [20:49.72] [20:49.90]had taken place in Becket - when, for instance, [20:52.49] [20:52.66]the Archbishop stood up in public and opposed, in most militant language, [20:57.78] [20:57.94]the king's demand for a new tax on the Church - [21:01.13] [21:01.30]Henry Plantagenet went altogether ballistic. [21:04.97] [21:05.14]Nothing made him more enraged than a friendship, as he saw it, betrayed. [21:11.24] [21:15.18]It all came to a head here at Clarendon, early in 1164, [21:19.61] [21:19.78]when Henry summoned a special council of the princes of the Church [21:23.56] [21:23.74]and the most important nobles of the realm. [21:26.77] [21:26.94]There he asked - well, actually, he demanded - [21:30.72] [21:30.90]they assent unconditionally to what he called the "customs of the realm." [21:36.61] [21:40.38]Becket was no idiot. He knew exactly what this meant - [21:44.97] [21:45.14]royal control over the clergy. [21:47.93] [21:48.10]He'd seen it coming for months and had been urging his bishops [21:51.09] [21:51.26]to resist it at all costs. [21:54.13] [21:54.30]After endless prevarication, in the end Becket refused the king's demands, [21:59.05] [21:59.22]ordering total resistance, [22:02.17] [22:02.34]a position from which he'd never budge. [22:05.25] [22:08.98]The king now moved the way he liked best, through the law. [22:13.09] [22:13.26]In October, 1164, Becket was brought to trial at Northampton, [22:18.05] [22:18.22]accused - and this was the killer - [22:20.09] [22:20.26]of improper use of funds when he'd been Chancellor. [22:23.57] [22:23.74]So all those half-joking comments about fancy clothes [22:26.61] [22:26.78]that Henry had thrown Becket's way now stopped being funny. [22:31.17] [22:31.34]They'd become a deadly criminal accusation. [22:34.49] [22:39.26]When Thomas decided to dress up for the trial [22:42.13] [22:42.30]in his full Archbishop's rig and carry a huge silver cross, [22:46.41] [22:46.58]Jesus-like, his greatest rival, the Bishop of London, [22:49.89] [22:50.06]tried to seize it from him, but Becket's grip was like iron. [22:54.37] [22:54.54]"A fool he was, a fool he'll always be," [22:57.53] [22:57.70]was the Bishop's comment on this performance. [23:00.61] [23:08.46]The trial broke up with Becket storming out. [23:12.41] [23:12.58]"Perjurer, traitor!" Yelled Henry's barons. [23:16.12] [23:16.30]"Whoremongers, bastards!" Replied the Archbishop. [23:19.84] [23:20.02]Convicted on the charges, Becket knew he was in dire peril [23:23.85] [23:24.02]and fled on the nearest horse. [23:26.17] [23:26.34]He must have thought he was running for his life. [23:30.53] [23:40.22]Becket and a small group of diehard followers [23:43.17] [23:43.34]landed on the Flemish coast. [23:45.97] [23:46.14]They were broke, demoralised, prostrate with exhaustion [23:50.17] [23:50.34]and flooded with the grim realisation of what they'd done. [23:53.88] [23:55.26]They'd made themselves outlaws for Christ. [23:58.80] [24:01.54]This is where Becket's little family of God ended up, [24:04.73] [24:04.90]the Cistercian Abbey at Pontigny, about 100 miles south east of Paris. [24:10.29] [24:10.46]Built in sparkling white limestone, [24:13.37] [24:13.54]it seemed a stunning advertisement for purity, [24:17.16] [24:17.34]a perfect match for Thomas's temperament. [24:20.73] [24:31.90]But this was no monkish retreat. [24:34.77] [24:34.94]It pretty soon became apparent that what Becket had established here [24:38.56] [24:38.74]was a real government-in-exile. [24:41.49] [24:41.66]He had his own pan-European intelligence network. [24:45.17] [24:45.34]He had his own letter smugglers with the know-how [24:48.09] [24:48.26]to get through the blockade Henry imposed on communication. [24:51.49] [24:51.66]And he had his own versatile propaganda department. [24:56.01] [24:56.18]But most of all, Becket had his own unwavering sense of self-righteousness. [25:02.97] [25:10.82]Pretty soon, though, Henry began to use his own formidable power [25:15.33] [25:15.50]to turn the screws on Becket's supporters. [25:18.37] [25:18.54]There were arraignments and arrests, [25:21.33] [25:21.50]terrifyingly sudden summary evictions, [25:24.37] [25:24.54]the seizure of land and property. [25:27.00] [25:27.18]Anyone who so much as thought about saying a good word for the traitor Archbishop [25:32.65] [25:32.82]risked, at the very least, deportation. [25:36.13] [25:36.30]Messengers caught carrying his mail were thrown into prison. [25:39.77] [25:39.94]Innocent relatives, incriminated by family association, [25:44.41] [25:44.58]were turned into exiles themselves. [25:47.65] [25:55.82]It took two painful years of back and forth diplomacy [25:59.25] [25:59.42]and increasingly impatient signals from the Pope [26:02.29] [26:02.46]to arrange even talks about talks. [26:04.61] [26:07.26]After a series of abortive reconciliations in 1170, [26:11.45] [26:11.62]it looked as though peace might finally break out. [26:15.61] [26:16.62]The location was to be a meadow surrounded by woods [26:19.81] [26:19.98]near the village of Freteval - "A beautiful place," remarked one observer. [26:25.73] [26:25.90]Only later did he find out that the locals called it "Traitors Meadow." [26:30.69] [26:35.82]Henry and Thomas rode out to each other [26:38.65] [26:38.82]and the king took off his hat in salutation. [26:42.52] [26:42.70]The two of them then embraced and sat for hours talking, [26:46.81] [26:46.98]the Archbishop's posterior mortified by the chaffing [26:50.17] [26:50.34]of his secret goat-hair underwear. [26:53.09] [26:54.02]For once, the king was in no mood to quarrel, [26:57.21] [26:57.38]and agreed to restore Thomas to all his powers and authority, [27:01.21] [27:01.38]and also to treat those who were Becket's enemies as his own. [27:05.85] [27:09.26]When it was all over and Becket had got everything he wanted, [27:13.29] [27:13.46]a dam broke and a tearful wave of emotion swept through him. [27:18.45] [27:18.62]Becket dismounted and flung himself in front of the king's horse. [27:23.21] [27:23.38]The king got off his mount and walked over to his old friend, [27:27.57] [27:27.74]who'd become his bitterest enemy, and bodily lifted him up, [27:33.09] [27:33.26]put one foot in the stirrup and hoisted Becket back into the saddle. [27:37.65] [27:37.82]They then rode over together to the end of the field to the royal tent, [27:42.25] [27:42.42]where the king announced that henceforth they were finally reconciled [27:47.65] [27:47.82]and that he would now be a most kind and generous lord. [27:52.49] [27:55.38]After the peace was publicly announced, [27:58.25] [27:58.42]Henry asked Thomas to ride with the court awhile, [28:01.33] [28:01.50]but Becket declined. [28:03.88] [28:04.06]This turned out to be mistake number one. [28:06.89] [28:07.06]The king had wanted to catch the moment, hold it a little longer. [28:11.69] [28:11.86]His good mood could vanish as quickly as his bad temper could reappear. [28:17.41] [28:20.94]Mistake number two was much worse. [28:24.72] [28:24.90]As the king had pardoned Becket's closest followers, [28:27.85] [28:28.02]someone suggested that Thomas might like to forgive those [28:32.05] [28:32.18]who had stayed loyal to the king. [28:34.17] [28:34.34]"It's not the same," said Becket. [28:37.49] [28:37.66]And it was this fanatical inability to meet half way, [28:41.81] [28:41.98]to let bygones be bygones, [28:44.17] [28:44.34]that proved to be Becket's fatal error. [28:47.57] [28:54.82]The last meeting between the king and Becket [28:57.41] [28:57.58]took place on the banks of the River Loire. [29:00.73] [29:00.90]And in a mood of sad friendliness the king says to Becket, [29:05.17] [29:05.34]"You know, if only you could do what I tell you to do, [29:08.93] [29:09.10]"I'd entrust you with everything." [29:11.97] [29:12.14]No reply and one imagines a long pause, a sigh, [29:16.61] [29:16.78]a shrug of the shoulders and the king goes on, [29:19.49] [29:19.66]"Well, go in peace and we shall meet in Rouen or in England." [29:25.61] [29:25.78]Then another pause and Becket comes out with something absolutely amazing. [29:31.88] [29:32.06]He says, "My Lord, if we part on these terms, [29:35.93] [29:36.10]"we shall not meet again in this life." [29:39.45] [29:39.62]And the royal temper flares up and Henry says, [29:42.81] [29:42.98]"Why, do you take me for a traitor?" [29:45.44] [29:45.62]Meaning, "Do you suppose I'll abandon you [29:48.69] [29:48.86]"when I've given you my protection?" [29:50.85] [29:51.02]And Becket looks at the king and says, "Heaven forbid." [29:55.09] [29:59.14]And I think, as he allowed that parting shot, [30:02.09] [30:02.26]so full of pained sincerity and wiseguy irony, [30:06.13] [30:06.30]Becket must have made the sign of the cross. [30:10.08] [30:17.38]Thomas Becket's ship came into the harbour at Sandwich, [30:20.92] [30:21.10]probably on the morning of December 1st, 1170, [30:24.64] [30:24.82]and was greeted not only by a throng of poor people [30:27.85] [30:28.02]but by three royal officials armed to the teeth. [30:32.53] [30:36.06]As the stones of Canterbury came into sight, [30:38.85] [30:39.02]he got off his horse, took off his boots and walked barefoot [30:43.13] [30:43.30]the rest of the way through anthem-singing crowds of devotees. [30:48.09] [30:50.26]When he arrived home, Becket did what he said he would do [30:53.93] [30:54.10]to all those who had opposed him during his six years of exile. [30:58.25] [30:59.10]Shouting the dreaded curse, "May they be damned by Jesus Christ," [31:04.17] [31:04.34]he excommunicated them. [31:06.64] [31:10.30]But the bishops were not in hell. [31:12.76] [31:12.94]They were at Henry's court near Bayeux, [31:15.50] [31:15.66]pouring venomous reports in the king's ear [31:18.65] [31:18.82]about Becket's impossible, virtually treasonous arrogance. [31:22.49] [31:22.66]Henry, who typically seemed to have forgotten about the promises at Freteval, [31:27.65] [31:27.82]raised his head from his pillow and let out a roar [31:31.41] [31:31.58]of Plantagenet anathema. [31:34.41] [31:40.38]It was not, "Will no one rid me of this turbulent priest?" [31:43.81] [31:43.98]But a much more alarming outcry. [31:47.33] [31:47.50]"What miserable drones and traitors have I nourished in my household, [31:52.29] [31:52.46]"who let their Lord be treated with such shameful contempt by a low-born cleric?" [31:58.97] [32:07.18]To anyone who had witnessed Henry's terrible meltdown, [32:10.53] [32:10.70]or had even heard about it, his words could only mean one thing: [32:15.25] [32:15.42]That he wanted the interminable, insufferable Becket problem to go away. [32:21.37] [32:21.54]Not go away as in six feet under perhaps, [32:24.81] [32:24.98]but if that's what it took, then so be it. [32:28.93] [32:29.10]He was after all a traitor and, well, what happens to traitors? [32:34.85] [32:43.18]The four knights who would kill Becket had no doubt what Henry had in mind, [32:48.33] [32:48.50]and rushed to Normandy to take a ship to Kent. [32:51.81] [32:56.66]Dawn the next day, December 29th, 1170, Becket's last. [33:02.61] [33:02.78]Reginald fitzUrse, William de Tracy, Robert le Bret and Hugh de Morville [33:07.17] [33:07.34]arrived in England and set off for Canterbury. [33:11.21] [33:16.02]At around three, they burst into the Archbishop's palace [33:19.45] [33:19.62]and found Thomas with his advisors. [33:22.05] [33:22.22]When the knights came in, he studiously ignored them. [33:25.89] [33:26.06]FitzUrse broke the silence, saying he'd an important message from the king [33:31.00] [33:31.18]that Becket should go to Winchester and give an account of his conduct. [33:35.53] [33:35.70]Becket said he'd no intention of being treated like a criminal. [33:39.53] [33:39.70]Things rapidly got ugly, [33:42.49] [33:42.66]fitzUrse ominously declaring that Becket was no longer [33:46.20] [33:46.42]under the king's peace. [33:49.01] [33:51.66]Ought Becket to have temporised, [33:54.53] [33:54.70]to have made an escape while there was still time? [33:57.81] [33:57.98]"My mind is made up," he told his follower John of Salisbury, [34:02.29] [34:02.46]"I know exactly what I have to do." [34:05.61] [34:05.78]"Please God, you have chosen well," replied John. [34:10.17] [34:12.70]Instead of bolting, Thomas proceeded to the Cathedral for vespers. [34:18.21] [34:18.38]He made sure the door was open to receive the congregation. [34:21.61] [34:21.78]He had chosen his place. He had written in his mind [34:24.97] [34:25.14]his last and greatest performance. [34:27.60] [34:37.82]They caught up with him in the north transept of the Cathedral. [34:41.97] [34:42.14]Becket must have seen right away that they meant business, [34:45.89] [34:46.06]because they were got up in the standard kit of terrorist thugs - [34:49.60] [34:49.78]face and head covered, chain mail, of course. [34:53.53] [34:53.70]Carrying naked swords, they were shouting, "Where is the traitor?" [34:58.17] [34:58.34]Becket replied, "Here I am, [35:01.01] [35:01.18]"no traitor to the king, but a priest of God." [35:04.53] [35:06.82]The Archbishop seemed calm, but no one else was. [35:10.49] [35:10.66]His attendants, all except two, [35:13.01] [35:13.18]disappeared into the shadows of the church. [35:16.29] [35:17.86]But the 52-year old Becket was, remember, a cockney, [35:22.72] [35:22.90]a street fighter, as tough as old boots under the cowl. [35:25.97] [35:26.14]When he stood rooted to the spot, he became physically, [35:29.37] [35:29.54]as well as theologically, the immovable object. [35:33.24] [35:33.42]At such times the kind of talk he'd picked up in his Cheapside childhood [35:38.41] [35:38.50]came back to him - ripe and abusive. [35:40.93] [35:43.74]"Whoremonger," he yelled at fitzUrse, [35:46.85] [35:47.02]who must suddenly have felt ridiculous clanking around in all that armour. [35:51.33] [35:51.50]What do you do when you can't stand feeling ridiculous any longer? [35:54.85] [35:55.02]Whoosh goes the adrenaline, bang goes the gun - or in this case the sword. [35:59.17] [35:59.30]Down through Becket's attendant's arm, [36:01.37] [36:01.54]then slicing through the top of the Archbishop's head. [36:04.25] [36:04.42]The crown hung by a thread of flesh as Becket sank to the floor, [36:08.81] [36:08.98]murmuring, according to his chroniclers, [36:11.69] [36:11.86]"For the name of Jesus and the protection of the Church, [36:14.81] [36:14.98]"I'm ready to embrace death." [36:17.33] [36:19.66]Then, thank God, came the coup de grace. [36:22.65] [36:22.82]Another mailed arm, another downward slash to the head, [36:26.65] [36:26.82]so hard that the sword blade broke in two on the stones. [36:31.21] [36:33.14]To finish the job, a third warrior stood on the Archbishop's neck, [36:38.05] [36:38.22]stuck the end of his sword into the open cavity of his skull, [36:41.69] [36:41.86]scooped out the brains and spread them on the floor. [36:46.01] [36:46.18]"Let's be off," he said. "This fellow won't be getting up again." [36:51.30] [37:32.58](BELL CHIMES) [37:35.45] [37:37.90]It was around 4.30 in the afternoon. [37:40.89] [37:41.06]The door was open, frightened people who'd come for the service [37:44.97] [37:45.14]gathered round the body. [37:47.13] [37:47.30]It was by no means a flock who thought Becket a saint. [37:50.73] [37:50.90]"He wanted to be a king." Said one. "Now let him be one." [37:56.17] [37:57.58]But then it all changed. [38:00.29] [38:00.46]Becket's chamberlain reattached the bleeding scalp to his head [38:04.69] [38:04.86]with a strip of material torn from his own shirt [38:07.73] [38:07.90]and the monks began to prepare Becket's body for burial. [38:12.37] [38:12.54]Then they discovered what no one, till that moment, had known - [38:18.61] [38:18.78]the hair shirt, with lice crawling busily in it. [38:22.48] [38:23.30]Thomas the immovable had been Thomas the self-mortifier, [38:27.45] [38:27.62]Thomas the humble. [38:30.08] [38:34.82]They let him lie, washed in his own blood, [38:38.77] [38:38.94]and over the clotting body laid the archiepiscopal garments. [38:43.45] [38:43.62]By chance there was a marble sarcophagus [38:47.21] [38:47.38]ready for someone else's burial here in the crypt, [38:50.01] [38:50.18]and a space to lower it into. [38:52.61] [38:52.78]Down went Becket, arrayed in the full rig, [38:57.33] [38:57.50]the dalmatic, the pallium, the cope, the chasuble, the orb and the ring. [39:03.49] [39:03.66]He'd always thought kit mattered, had Thomas Becket. [39:08.25] [39:12.82]And for just what exactly had Becket laid down - [39:16.49] [39:16.66]some would say thrown away - his life? [39:19.69] [39:19.86]Some fantastic notion, already out of date, [39:23.21] [39:23.38]that the Church could lay down the law to the State? [39:26.97] [39:30.30]All our modern instincts seem to say, "Oh, come on! [39:34.25] [39:34.42]"Look at Henry and you find reality. [39:37.93] [39:38.10]"The guardian of the common law, the engineer of government, [39:41.97] [39:42.14]"the smasher of anarchy." [39:44.41] [39:44.50]And you'd be quite wrong. [39:46.93] [39:47.10]Becket, headstrong, infuriating, over the top, [39:51.65] [39:51.82]theatrical Becket, made a huge difference. [39:55.21] [39:55.38]His view of the Church lasted. The Angevin empire did not. [40:01.33] [40:07.78]The actual murderers got off pretty lightly, [40:11.01] [40:11.18]hiding out in Yorkshire, excommunicated, told to go on crusade. [40:16.04] [40:16.22]But the real judgement, Henry reserved for himself - [40:19.45] [40:19.62]and the verdict was guilty as charged. [40:23.32] [40:23.50]In 1174, he made a pilgrimage to Canterbury, [40:26.33] [40:26.50]where Becket's blood was said to work miracles. [40:29.37] [40:29.54]Over the last miles, Henry walked barefoot in a hair shirt, [40:33.24] [40:33.42]as Becket had done four years earlier. [40:36.21] [40:36.38]At the tomb, he confessed his sins and was whipped by the monks. [40:40.93] [40:41.10]However tough his punishment, though, the blood would never wash away. [40:46.85] [40:47.02]Henry, the hero of the Common Law, will always be remembered [40:50.09] [40:50.26]as the biggest of England's crowned criminals. [40:53.49] [40:53.66]The murderer in the Cathedral. [40:56.33] [41:05.58]Henry II would rule for another 20 years, [41:08.89] [41:09.06]long enough to see his embryonic legal system [41:11.77] [41:11.94]grow into a thriving network of courts. [41:14.85] [41:15.02]Up and down the land, these new courts were to settle [41:17.81] [41:17.98]not just the usual disputes of blood and mayhem [41:21.17] [41:21.34]but all manner of painful rows over inheritances, [41:24.33] [41:24.50]estates and properties. [41:27.13] [41:27.30]How ironic then that the only family [41:30.01] [41:30.18]who would not accept the king's justice was his own. [41:33.77] [41:33.94]If there was one person who was likely to think of the king [41:37.48] [41:37.66]not as judge but as transgressor, it was his wife. [41:42.33] [41:47.26]It had been 20 years since Henry and Eleanor had been partners, [41:51.45] [41:51.62]in bed and in government. [41:53.97] [41:54.14]Since then, Eleanor had had to suffer [41:56.33] [41:56.50]the humiliation of a string of mistresses. [41:59.41] [41:59.58]What tormented her was not Becket's shrine, [42:02.09] [42:02.26]but the shrine Henry built to his favourite mistress, Rosamund Clifford. [42:06.69] [42:08.38]Betrayed and alienated, Eleanor turned her formidable energy and intellect [42:13.57] [42:13.74]to the business of getting her just desserts through her children. [42:18.01] [42:18.18]She was now determined to do everything she could [42:21.01] [42:21.18]to make them feel their father was robbing them [42:23.53] [42:23.70]of their rightful power and dignity. [42:26.81] [42:26.98]The sons rose to the bait, and what a bunch they were, [42:30.68] [42:30.86]Henry and Eleanor's four sons. [42:33.45] [42:34.66]There was young Henry, officially the next king of England, [42:38.49] [42:38.66]but in reality still having to apply to his father for pocket money. [42:42.85] [42:43.02]He rebelled, only to end up dying of dysentery. [42:46.37] [42:47.14]Then there was Geoffrey, as bright and devious [42:49.60] [42:49.78]as his namesake grandfather, given Brittany, [42:52.24] [42:52.42]but then trampled to death by a horse. [42:55.17] [42:55.94]This left Richard Coeur de Lion, the Lionheart, [42:59.53] [42:59.70]physically brave, chivalrous and brutally ambitious. [43:03.77] [43:03.94]And the youngest, John. Vindictive, self-serving, [43:08.13] [43:08.30]but undoubtedly clever. [43:10.29] [43:10.46]Henry saw in him perhaps the only prince [43:12.65] [43:12.82]who could properly inherit the government. [43:15.65] [43:16.86]Between them they managed to undo, in their own spectacular ways, [43:22.25] [43:22.42]not only the prospects of the kingdom, but, in the space of 15 years, [43:26.57] [43:26.74]the entire empire their father had so skilfully constructed. [43:31.68] [43:37.86]It was on Richard that Eleanor pinned her hopes. [43:41.61] [43:41.78]She was even prepared to go as far as to encourage an alliance [43:45.05] [43:45.22]between Richard and Henry's bitterest enemy, the king of France. [43:49.85] [43:52.18]So, in 1189, Richard declared war on his father. [43:56.89] [44:01.46]This time, Henry faced defeat, [44:04.45] [44:04.62]forced to watch as his barons defected to Richard. [44:07.81] [44:07.98]The beleaguered Henry had no choice but to negotiate [44:10.93] [44:11.10]and agree terms which humbled him before his own son. [44:15.13] [44:19.90]To onlookers, he appeared to embrace Richard in a kiss of peace. [44:24.41] [44:24.58]What he really said was, "God spare me long enough [44:27.89] [44:28.06]"to take revenge on you." [44:30.05] [44:33.02]When the king asked to see the names of all those who had joined Richard, [44:37.53] [44:37.70]to his horror, the first on the list was his beloved son, John. [44:42.72] [44:43.38]Faced with this ultimate treachery, Henry read no more. [44:47.49] [44:50.78]He died two days later in his castle at Chinon, [44:54.73] [44:54.90]some chroniclers say of a broken heart. [44:57.81] [44:57.98]The only child at his deathbed was one of his illegitimate sons. [45:01.85] [45:02.02]"The others," he said, with Lear-like bitterness, [45:04.81] [45:04.98]"are the real bastards." [45:07.13] [45:12.70]A barge took his body downriver to Fontevrault Abbey. [45:17.09] [45:17.26]When Richard finally viewed the tomb, [45:19.56] [45:19.74]it is said that blood poured from the nostrils of the corpse. [45:23.73] [45:36.42]In fact, when Henry II died here at Chinon in 1189, [45:41.49] [45:41.66]hardly anyone mourned. [45:43.77] [45:43.94]It seems that most people were off breaking open bottles [45:46.69] [45:46.86]to celebrate the accession of his son, Richard, [45:49.49] [45:49.66]the darling of popular folklore and legend. [45:53.13] [45:53.30]From the very beginning, then, [45:55.57] [45:55.74]Coeur de Lion had won the public relations battle with his father. [45:59.28] [45:59.46]He was already the superstar of a dynasty. [46:02.69] [46:06.30]To prove it, to show that the old regime had passed, [46:09.77] [46:09.94]that a new glamour had arrived, [46:12.01] [46:12.18]Richard put on a show-stopping coronation. [46:15.21] [46:15.38]As if in a reverie of Camelot, he had himself dripping in gold - [46:19.81] [46:19.98]a golden sword, golden spurs, a golden canopy over his head. [46:24.81] [46:26.18]To celebrate, the Jews of London presented Richard with a special gift, [46:30.77] [46:30.94]a gesture that was immediately interpreted by the populace as a sinister plot, [46:36.21] [46:36.38]and which triggered a general massacre. [46:39.33] [46:41.50]Richard of Devizes in his chronicle was the first to use the word "holocaustum" [46:46.77] [46:46.94]to describe the mass murder of England's Jews. [46:51.01] [46:54.18]To his credit, King Richard made strong efforts [46:56.93] [46:57.10]to forbid this first wave of pogroms. [46:59.93] [47:00.10]The problem was he was never around to enforce things. [47:04.05] [47:04.22]Ironically, the king whose statue stands outside Parliament [47:07.97] [47:08.14]and who's therefore supposed to personify some sort of elemental Englishness, [47:12.65] [47:12.74]spent less time in his country than any other monarch. [47:15.97] [47:16.06]The three lions on his coat of arms were Plantagenet lions. [47:20.05] [47:20.22]The Cross of St George stood for Aquitaine, not England. [47:24.37] [47:31.34]Eager to do God's work, Richard vanished to the Holy Land. [47:35.53] [47:35.70]John immediately set himself up as a rival, [47:38.69] [47:38.86]creating a virtual state within a state, [47:41.73] [47:41.90]complete with his own court and mercenary army. [47:44.85] [47:46.58]In 1192, when news arrived of Richard's capture [47:50.45] [47:50.62]on his way back from the Crusade, John quickly declared [47:53.57] [47:53.74]his brother dead and himself king. [47:56.61] [47:58.38]Eleanor was torn to pieces by this fratricidal struggle. [48:02.81] [48:02.98]She'd been bred to do what Angevins do best, [48:05.65] [48:05.82]to preside over government, to manipulate politics. [48:09.89] [48:10.06]Now she was paralysed by the tragedy of her own family. [48:14.05] [48:14.22]In desperation, she turned to the Holy Father, [48:17.49] [48:17.66]to whom she wrote an extraordinary letter. [48:20.77] [48:23.26]I, Eleanor, Queen of England, unhappy mother, [48:27.45] [48:27.62]pitied by no one, have arrived at this miserable old age. [48:34.53] [48:34.70]Two sons lie in dust and their unhappy mother is tortured by their memory. [48:41.09] [48:42.54]King Richard is in irons. [48:45.13] [48:45.30]His brother John ravages the kingdom with fire and sword. [48:49.33] [48:50.22]I know not which side to take. [48:53.33] [48:53.50]If I leave England, I abandon the kingdom of my son John, [48:57.57] [48:57.74]torn by civil war. [48:59.73] [48:59.90]If I stay, I may never see the dearly beloved face [49:03.44] [49:03.62]of my son Richard again. [49:05.77] [49:10.98]There was nothing the Pope could do about her plight. [49:14.25] [49:14.42]Money, however, could do the trick. [49:17.96] [49:18.14]Two years and 34 tons of gold later, [49:21.05] [49:21.22]Richard was ransomed into freedom, but his kingdom was bankrupt. [49:26.65] [49:29.30]The cost of acting out heroic war games [49:32.29] [49:32.46]was measured in blood as well as money. [49:35.05] [49:35.22]Showing contempt for the defenders of the besieged castle [49:38.49] [49:38.66]by standing in front of them without armour, [49:41.17] [49:41.34]a lone archer's bolt found the join between Richard's neck and his shoulder. [49:46.69] [49:46.86]The wound turned gangrenous. Within ten days, the Lionheart was dead, [49:52.29] [49:52.46]a triumph of daredevil romance over common sense. [49:57.37] [50:00.94]His body was laid in a tomb at the foot of his father's, in Anjou. [50:05.65] [50:05.82]The heart of the Lionheart was taken to the great cathedral [50:09.33] [50:09.50]at Rouen in Normandy, which seems fitting, [50:12.06] [50:12.18]since this city was always more of a capital to Richard than London. [50:17.25] [50:20.38]John, who succeeded him, was buried in England, [50:23.09] [50:23.26]mostly in Worcester Cathedral, because the Monks of Craxton Abbey [50:27.04] [50:27.22]had taken care to steal away his entrails, [50:29.97] [50:30.14]making John in death, as he'd been in life, one could say, gutless. [50:34.89] [50:38.06]It was as a politician that John was most obviously a wretched failure. [50:44.16] [50:44.34]Under his father, the empire had been sustained [50:47.61] [50:47.78]by a shrewd combination of charisma and feudal loyalty. [50:51.56] [50:51.74]John's problem was his difficulty in believing that anyone [50:55.77] [50:55.94]would ever be more than a fair-weather friend. [50:59.05] [50:59.22]So he relied on blackmail and extortion, [51:02.33] [51:02.50]threats to the barons rather than promises. [51:05.21] [51:05.38]Assuming disloyalty, he ended up guaranteeing it. [51:10.01] [51:13.10]So when John needed the barons most, when Normandy was threatened [51:16.97] [51:17.14]by the French king, they weren't there for him. [51:19.70] [51:19.86]The result was a catastrophic defeat. [51:22.77] [51:24.42]The loss of Normandy ripped the heart out of Angevin power. [51:29.36] [51:32.66]Whether or not there was a secret meeting at Bury St Edmunds, [51:36.81] [51:36.98]with all the major nobles in England sworn to force John to accept reform, [51:41.73] [51:41.90]it's certainly true that from defeat sprang rebellion. [51:46.21] [51:51.90]At some point, the barons drafted a document [51:55.09] [51:55.26]that went well beyond forcing John to stop being vindictive, [51:59.89] [52:00.06]proposing a catalogue of things the king would not be allowed to do. [52:04.53] [52:05.38]It was called Magna Carta. [52:08.37] [52:12.66]Anyone expecting to find in it some sort of primitive constitution [52:17.01] [52:17.18]is going to be in for a bit of a shock when they read the details, [52:20.65] [52:20.82]because the liberties enumerated here boil down largely [52:24.97] [52:25.14]to tax relief for the armoured and landed classes. [52:28.33] [52:31.50]Even if the Magna Carta is filled with the belly-aching of the barons, [52:36.49] [52:36.66]that belly-aching turned out to have profound consequences [52:41.05] [52:41.22]for the future of England. [52:43.57] [52:43.74]For, by putting so much weight on the authority of a common law, [52:47.28] [52:47.46]the Angevins had stirred in the nobility [52:49.97] [52:50.14]a dawning realisation that this was their law too. [52:53.97] [52:54.14]A generation before, the barons couldn't have cared less [52:57.25] [52:57.42]about the rights of men held in prison for unstated causes. [53:01.65] [53:01.82]That was what happened to commoners. [53:03.89] [53:04.06]But under John, bad things had happened to them - [53:07.45] [53:07.62]land stolen, widows hounded, heirs made to disappear. [53:11.65] [53:14.42]Now was the time to use the weapons [53:16.72] [53:16.90]Henry II's revolution in justice had put into their hands, [53:20.77] [53:20.94]and, by an amazing irony, the Angevins became [53:24.72] [53:24.90]the schoolmasters of their own correction. [53:28.09] [53:28.86]Henry II's transformation of royal justice [53:32.29] [53:32.46]had come back to bite his own dynasty. [53:36.41] [53:38.02]So if it isn't exactly the birth certificate of democracy, [53:42.49] [53:42.66]it is the death certificate of despotism. [53:45.97] [53:46.14]It spells out, for the first time, the fundamental principle [53:50.17] [53:50.34]that the law is not simply the will or the whim of the king. [53:55.36] [53:55.54]The law is an independent power unto itself, [53:59.16] [53:59.34]and the king could be brought to book for violating it. [54:03.73] [54:08.10]None of this was apparent right away. [54:10.69] [54:10.86]Ten weeks after Magna Carta was signed, [54:13.61] [54:13.78]it was annulled by the Pope, [54:15.81] [54:15.98]and John went back to fighting his battles by the sword, [54:19.29] [54:19.46]against the rebel barons and against the first successful invasion by a king of France. [54:24.81] [54:25.98]For a few months in 1216, much of England was ruled by the Dauphin. [54:30.97] [54:36.22]John died on campaign in Norfolk, [54:39.13] [54:39.30]facing the windswept waters of the Wash. [54:42.05] [54:42.22]Fighting had quickened his appetite, and he ate a meal so hearty [54:46.05] [54:46.22]it paid him back with a fatal spasm of dysentery. [54:49.61] [54:49.78]As for the barons of England, they had no appetite for civil war, [54:54.37] [54:54.54]much less rule from France. [54:56.84] [54:57.02]So when John's nine-year-old son was proclaimed Henry III [55:00.80] [55:00.98]at Gloucester Cathedral, they rallied to him. [55:03.93] [55:05.98]What they were rallying to was not so much a person now as a contract, [55:10.73] [55:10.90]the understanding guaranteed by the reissue of the charter [55:14.89] [55:15.06]that, from now on, the government of England [55:17.49] [55:17.66]had to be accountable to the sovereignty of the law. [55:21.77] [55:26.22]The ramshackle conglomerate of the Angevin empire [55:29.21] [55:29.38]had fallen apart almost as quickly as it had risen, [55:32.85] [55:33.02]but in the England to which it was reduced something solid was left, [55:37.96] [55:38.14]something that's best measured not in masonry or mileage, [55:41.37] [55:41.54]but in magistrates. [55:43.61] [55:43.78]So the best thing that can be said for the Angevins [55:46.73] [55:46.90]was that they left behind a country that didn't need them any more. [55:51.29] [55:51.46]Why hunt for Excalibur [55:53.69] [55:53.86]when you had something much more potent - [55:56.85] [55:57.02]Magna Carta. [55:59.01]

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