Clarendon, Constitutions

Clarendon, Constitutions of

(1164) Sixteen articles issued by King Henry II defining church-state relations in England. Designed to restrict ecclesiastical privileges and curb the power of the church courts, the constitutions provoked the famous quarrel between Henry and St. Thomas Becket. Among their controversial measures were the provisions that all revenues from vacant sees and monasteries reverted to the king, who had discretion in filling the vacant offices, and that clerics charged with serious crimes were to be tried in secular courts. Becket's martyrdom in 1170 forced Henry to moderate his attack on the clergy, but he did not repudiate the constitutions.