The clergy, during the former reign, had been ad vancing, with rapid strides, to independence; and such was the height which they had gained, that it was dif ficult to determine whether the king or the primate was the first man in the kingdom. They had extorted from Stephen new privileges, and immunities wholly incon sistent with the liberty of the subject, or the welfare of the kingdom. They had renounced all immediate sub ordination to the civil magistrate. They claimed ex emption, not only from the usual taxes of the state, but also from its punishments, and pretended that ecclesias tical penalties alone could be inflicted on their offences. Innumerable crimes were the effects of these privileges, and murders, robberies, and rapes, were daily perpetra ted with impunity by the lower orders of the church. No less than one hundred murders are said to have been committed, since the king's accession, by ; and holy orders were considered as a sufficient protec tion for every species of guilt. The first abuse, hom ever, which Henry attempted to remedy, was the com mutation of money for penances, which had been inflict ed as an atonement for sins. To such an extent had this imposition grown, that more money was drawn from the people in that way, than was produced by all the funck and taxes in the kingdom ; and to relieve his subjects, in sonic degree, from such a heavy and arbitrary bur den, Henry required that a civil officer should, for the future, be present in all ecclesiastical courts, to give his consent in every case of a composition for spiritual offences. He next proceeded to the correction of more heinous irregularities, and he soon had an opportunity afforded him of exerting his abilities to the utmost. A clerk in the diocese of Sarum, having debauched a gen tleman's daughter, afterwards murdered the father ; for which crime he was tried in the archbishop's court, and was punished only with degradation. This circum stance had excited such general indignation, that the. king commanded the murderer to be delivered up to the civil magistrate, to receive the punishment of the law. But Becket., who, since his exaltation to the primacy, had broken off all personal intercourse with Henry, and opposed him in all his plans of remedying clerical abuses, (see insisted upon the privileges of their or der. He asserted that no ecclesiastic could be punished with death; and even hinted to the king, that it did not become him to intermeddle in the affairs of the church.
Henry was not of a disposition to submit, either to insolence or injustice. Ile considered this case as a suf ficient pretence for bringing, at once, to a decision, those controversies which were daily arising between the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdictions, and to define precisely what were the powers of the civil magistrate. For this purpose he convoked all the prelates of the realm, and demanded of them, whether or not they would submit to the ancient laws and customs of the kingdom : they replied, that they would, saving their own order. Hen ry, indignant at this evasion, left the assembly ; and the bishops were so terrified by his threats, that they all complied except Becket, who for a time was inflexible, but who also was induced to yield at the request of the pope's legate.
The king then summoned a general council of the' nobility and prelates, at Clarendon, to whom he sub mitted sixteen propositions, which were immediately agreed to, and which are well known tinder the title of the Constitutions of Clarendon. Among others, it was
enacted, that all suits respecting the advowson and pre sentation of churches, should be determined in the civil courts; that clergymen, accused of any crime, should be tried by the temporal judges; that no person, parti cularly no bishop, should leave the kingdom, without the king's license; that no officer of the crown should be excommunicated or suspended, without the sove reign's consent ; that no appeal should be carried to the holy see, except with the permission of the king ; that all prelates should be regarded as barons of the realm, should possess the privileges, and be subject to the bur dens in,e sed upon tl at N.nk , that goods forfeited to toe king should not be protected in churches and t Imre i-‘ards; and that the sons of villeins should not rt ecive holy order.., without the consent of their lord. To these, all the bishops, and even Becket himself, after some entreaty, set their seals, and also took an oath to obsen e the constitutions of Clarendon, legally, with fai h, and without fraud or reserve. The sanction of Pope Alexander ill. would now have completed Hen rv's triumph ; but that pontiff, perceiving the tendency of these laws to establish the independence of the civil power on the clergy, rejected them all but six, which were (•I the least importance, and which he was willing to ratify for the sake of peace. 'When Becket was in. formed of Alexander's decision, he expressed the deep eA sorrow for his compliance ; and even suspended him self from the exercise of all ecclesiastical functions, un til he should receive absolution from the pope.
Henry, roused to indignation by the insolence and obstinacy of the pi imate, resolved to make him feel the weight of his vengeance. lie desired the pope to grant a legantine commission to the Archbishop of York. This was sent, but a clause was annexed, forbidding him to execute any act in prejudice of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The king, disappointed in his purpose, returned the commission by the same messenger that brought it. Ile then instituted an action against him, for some lands which he held in his primacy. Becket excused himself for not appearing personally in court, on account of sickness, but sent four knights to plead his cause. This was construed into a disrespect for the king's court ; and for this offence, the primate, in a great council held at Northampton, was punished with the confiscation of all his goods and chattels ; and Hen ry, bishop of Winchester, was compelled, by oi der of the court, to pronounce the sentence against him. He was next day prosecuted for various small sums, which had passed between him and the king, which he was obliged to pay ; and then, as if to crush him at once, Henry demanded of him to give an account of his ad ministration while chancellor, and estimated his defi ciencies, while in that office, at 40,00G marks. To answer such a demand, of even to find sureties for so great a sum, was impracticable. In this emergency, he was advised, by the Bishop of Winchester, to offer 2000 marks in lieu of all demands; but this was rejected by the king. Some exhorted him to resign his sec, on con dition of receiving an acquittal ; while others thought that he should submit himself entirely to the king's mercy. But Becket saw that Henry was determined upon his ruin, which would only be hastened by sub mission, rejected these timid counsels, and resolved to brave the utmost efforts of royal indignation.