Chapter 9: The High Middle Ages(1050-1450)
Section 1: Growth of Royal Power England and France
Objective:
Describe how monarchy in England and France
increased royal power
Pgs 208-214
Strong Monarchy in England:
 During the Middle Ages, Angles, Saxons and the
Vikings invading and settled on England.
 Feudalism developed, England rulers kept their
kingdoms united.
Norman conquests:
 In 1066, the Anglo-Saxon king Edwards died without
an heir.
 His death triggers a power struggle.
 A council of the nobles chose Edwards brother-inlaw Harold to rule.
 Duke William of the Normans claimed the English
throne.
 Duke William raised an army and won the backing of
the pope.
 At the battle of Hastings, William and his Normans
knights triumph over Harold.
 On Christmas day 1066, William assumed the throne.
William takes control:
 William exerted his control over England.
 He granted fief, to the Church and his Normans
lords, or barons.
 He required every vassal to swear first allegiance to
him rather to the feudal lords.
 William had a complete census taken in 1086.
 The Domesday Book, which listed every castle, field,
in England.
 Information in the Domesday Book helped William
and his successors build an efficient system of tax
collections.
Increasing royal authority:
 In 1154 king Henry II, inherited the throne and
broadened the system of the royal justice.
 He then sent out travelling justices to enforce the
royal laws.
 The decisions of the royal courts became the basis
for English common laws for all people.
 People chose royal courts over those nobles or the
Church.
Early juries:
 Under Henry II, England developed early jury
systems.
 When travelling justice visited an area, local officials
collected a jury, or group of men sworn to speak the
truth.
A tragic clash:
 Henry’s efforts to extend royal power to lead to
bitter dispute with the Church.
 Henry claimed the right to try the clergy in royal
courts.
 Thomas Becker, the archbishop of Canterbury and
once a close friend of Henry’s fiercely oppose the
king’s move.
 In 1170, four of Henry’s knights, believe they were
doing Henry’s bidding, murdered the archbishop in
his own cathedral.
 Henry’s denied any part in the attack.
Evolving Tradition of Government:
 Later English rulers repeatedly clashing with the
nobles and the Church.
 Most battles developed as a result of efforts by the
monarchy to raising taxes or to impose royal
authority over traditional feudal rights.
John’s troubles:
 John’s reigns, faced three powerful enemies, King
Philip II of France, Pope Innocent III and the English
nobles.
 He lost his struggles with each.
 Ever since William the Conqueror, Norman rulers of
England had held vast lands in France.
 In 1205, John suffered his first setback when he lost
a war with Philip II and had to give up English held
lands in Anjou and Normandy.
 Next, John battled with Pope Innocent III over
selecting the new archbishop of Canterbury.
 When John attacked the Church, the Pope
responded by excommunicate him.
 He also placed England under the interdict, a papal
order that forbade Church service in an entire
England.
 To save himself and his crown, John had to accept
England as a fief of the papacy and pay a yearly fee
to Rome.
Observation
Summaries the idea about government and law that
emerges in England
The Magna Carta:
 John angered his own nobles with heavy taxes and
other abuse of power.
 In 1215, a group of rebellions barons cornered John
and forced him to sign the Magna Carta or Charter.
 In this document, the king affirmed a long list of
feudal rights.
 Protecting their own privileges, the barons including
a few clauses recognising the rights of townspeople
and their Church.
 The Magna Carta contains two basic ideas that in the
long run would shape government tradition in
England.
 First, it asserted that the nobles had certain rights.
 Granted to nobles were extended to all English
citizens.
 Second, the Magna Carta made clear that the
monarchy must obey the laws.
 The most significant clauses were those that
protected the legal rights of the people.
 The king also agreed not to raise new taxes without
first consulting his Great Council of lords and clergy.
Growth of Royal Power in England and France
Observation
Describe how monarchy in France increased Royal
Power.
The Capetians:
 In 987, these feudal nobles elected Hugh Capt, the
count Paris, to fill the vacant throne.
 They probably chose him because he was too weak
to pose a threat to them.
 Hugh’s has his own lands, the Ile de France around
Paris.
 Hugh and his heirs slowly increased royal power.
 First, they made the throne hereditary, passing from
father to son.
 The Capetians enjoyed an unbroken succession for
300 years.
 Next, they added their lands by playing rival nobles
against each other.
 They also won the support of the Church.
 Most important, the Capetians built an effective
bureaucracy.
 Governments collected taxes and imposed royal law
over king’s domain.
 By establishing orders, they added to their prestige
and gained the barking of the new middle class of
townspeople.
Philip Augustus:
 An out speaking French of this period was Philip II,
called Philip Augustus.
 Philip was shrewd able ruler.
 He strengthened royal government in many ways.
 Instead of appointing the nobles to the government
position, he paid the middle class officials who
would owe their loyalty to him.
 He granted charters too many new towns, organizing
a standing army and introduced a new national tax.
 Philip also quadrupled royal land holdings.
 Through trickery, diplomacy and war, he brought
English rules land in Normandy and Anjou under his
control.
 He then began to take over southern France.
 Informed by pope that the Albigensian, heresy had
sprung up in the south, he sent his knights to
suppress it and add this vast area to his domain.
 Before his death in 1223, Philip had become the
most powerful ruler in Europe.
A model monarchy:
 Louis IX was the grandson of Philip II.
 Louis ascended to the throne 1226 and devoted to
justice and rule.
 He expanding the royal courts, outlawed private
wars and ended serfdom in his lands.
Clash with the Pope:
 Louis’s grandson of Philip IV, ruthless expended royal
power.
 He tied to collect new taxes from the French clergy.
 These effects led to a head-on clash with Pope
Boniface VIII.
 The pope forbad Philip to tax the clergy without
Papal consent.
 Philip counted by threatening to arrest the clergy
who did not pay up.
 As their quarrel escalated Philip sent troops to sized
Boniface.
 The pope escaped but he was badly beaten and died
soon afterwards.
 The new pope moved the papal courts to the town
of Avignon on the border of south France, to escape.
