§ 32. THE ARCHBISHOP AND THE KING. 131
Becket opposed the enrolment of the decree on the ground that the tax was voluntary, not of right. Henry protested, in a fit of passion, " By the eyes of God, it shall be enrolled ! " Becket replied, " By the eyes of God, by which you swear, it shall never be levied on my lands while I live ! "
Another cause of dispute was the jurisdiction of the eccle siastical courts. The king demanded that all clerics accused of gross misdemeanors be tried by the civil court. A cer tain clerk, Philip of Broi, had been acquitted of murder in the bishop's court. The king was indignant, but Philip re fused to plead in the civil court. The matter was taken up by the archbishop, but a light sentence imposed.
The king summoned a Parliament at Westminster, and demanded in the name of equal justice, and in accordance with " ancient customs " (of the Norman kings), that all clerks accused of heinous crimes should be immediately de graded, and be dealt with according to law, instead of being shielded by their office. This was contrary to the right of the priest to be tried only in the court of his bishop, where flagellation, imprisonment, and degradation might be awarded, but not capital punishment.
Becket and the bishops agreed that the king's demand was an infringement of the canon law and argued the case from Scripture. Joab, and Abiathar the priest, were guilty of putting Adonijah to death. Joab was punished, but the priest suffered no other punishment than deposition from office. Nahum 1:9 was quoted as against a double tribunal for clerks. According to the Septuagint version, this pas sage declares that God does not give two judgments in the same case.
The king hastily broke up the Parliament, deprived Becket of the custody of the royal castles, and of the education of his son. The bishops advised the archbishop to yield ; at first he refused, though an angel from heaven should counsel such weakness ; but at last he made a concession to the king
132 THE MIDDLE AGES. A.D. 1123-1198.
at Woodstock, and promised to obey in good faith the cus toms of the realm. He yielded at the persuasion of the pope's almoner, Philip de Eleeomosyna, who was bribed by English gold.1
The king summoned a great council of the realm to Clar endon, a royal palace a few miles from Salisbury, for the ratification of the concession (Jan. 25, 1164). The two archbishops, twelve bishops, and thirty-nine lay-barons were present. Sixteen famous statutes were enacted, under the name of The Clarendon Constitutions, as laws of England. They are as follows : 2 —
THE CONSTITUTIONS OF CLARENDON.
I. Of the advowson and presentation (de advocationc, et presentation^) to churches : if any dispute shall arise between laics, or between clerks and laics, or between clerks, let it be tried and decided in the court of our lord the king.
II. Churches in the king's fee (de feudo domini Regis') shall not be given in perpetuity without his consent and license.
III. Clerks accused of any crime shall be summoned by the king's jus ticiaries into the king's court to answer there for whatever the king's court shall determine they ought to answer there ; and in the ecclesiastical court, for whatever it shall be determined that they ought to answer there ; yet so that the king's justiciaries shall send into the court of holy Church to see in what way the matter shall there be handled ; and if the clerk shall confess or be convicted, the Church for the future shall not protect him.3
1 Tennyson makes Becket say : —
" This Almoner hath tasted Henry's gold. The cardinals have fingered Henry's gold. And Rome is venal even to rottenness."
2 They are found in Matthew Paris, ad ann. 1164; Mansi, XXL 1187; Wilkins, Concilia M. Britanniw, vol. I. ; Gieseler, II. 89 sqq. (Am. ed. II. 289 sq.) ; Reuter, I. 371-375, 573-577 ; Hefele-Knopfler, V. 623-628 (in German) ; Stubbs, 135-140 (in Latin) ; Gee and Hardy, 68-73.
3 Maitland, p. 135 sqq., has thrown light upon this article, and interprets it to mean that a clerk is first to be accused and plead in the temporal court, then to be taken to the ecclesiastical court, and if found guilty and degraded he is to be returned to the temporal court and receive sentence to the lay man's punishment. This procedure was for civil crimes, such as robbery, rape, murder.