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Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216

Depth study: The Civil War 1139–1154 — central government, the earldoms and the Church

  • 2 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on coinage and royal authority, the survival of central government, Stephen’s earldoms, Henry of Blois, Theobald and canon law, relations with the papacy, monasticism and the legacy of the reign.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Why did Stephen create so many earldoms, and how is the policy interpreted?

Key term

What was the legacy of Stephen's reign, and how do historians assess it?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    What does the coinage of the period reveal about political authority?

    Model answer

    Stephen's early issue was struck nationwide, but later types were regional, and coins were also struck in the names of Matilda, Henry of Anjou, individual magnates and the Scottish king, mapping out the zones where royal control had lapsed.

  2. 2

    Did central government survive the civil war?

    Model answer

    In reduced form: the chancery continued to issue writs and charters for both sides, royal justices still heard pleas in the areas each side controlled, and the Exchequer appears to have gone on auditing what it could reach, but royal income and the geographical scope of both justice and audit shrank drastically.

  3. 3

    Why did Stephen create so many earldoms, and how is the policy interpreted?

    Model answer

    R. H. C. Davis argued that Stephen was creating military commands to organise the defence of counties; others see the grants as ordinary rewards for loyalty that ended up entrenching regional magnate power at the Crown's expense.

  4. 4

    What role did Henry of Blois play?

    Model answer

    As bishop of Winchester, Stephen's brother and papal legate, he was the kingmaker of the war: he secured Stephen's recognition, transferred his support to Matilda in 1141 and then back again, and used legatine councils to arbitrate the succession.

  5. 5

    How did Theobald become archbishop, and why was that significant?

    Model answer

    He was elected in 1138 in preference to Henry of Blois, which left the king's brother resentful and split the leadership of the English Church between the primate and the legate.

  6. 6

    What did Theobald contribute to canon law in England?

    Model answer

    He brought the study of Roman and canon law into his household, encouraged trained canonists, and presided over a period when litigants increasingly took cases to Rome, so that papal jurisdiction in England became routine.

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