Constitutions of Clarendon

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The Constitutions of Clarendon were a series of regulations that Henry II of England issued in Clarendon Palace in 1164 to enforce secular jurisdiction in the spiritual realm.

They consisted of 16 articles and concerned the punishment of criminal offenses committed by clerics who had previously only been dealt with by clerical courts. The ecclesiastical courts usually recognized lower penalties than the royal courts. Murderers were condemned to execution or mutilation by secular courts, while expulsion from the clergy was the main punishment for clergy. The Constitutions assumed that such an outcast cleric was no longer subject to spiritual jurisdiction and was therefore to be judged by a royal court. Thomas Becket , the former Chancellor of Henry, who had become Archbishop of Canterbury (1162-1170) at his request , opposed these regulations with reference to the legal principle ne bis in idem that no one may be punished twice for the same offense.

The English bishops had originally agreed to the provisions, but when the Pope rejected them, Thomas Becket also rejected them. Then Thomas had to go into exile. The negotiations between the king on the one hand and the Pope and Archbishop Thomas on the other dragged on for many years without any progress being made in the dispute over jurisdiction over the clergy. But Thomas believed he could return to Canterbury in December 1170. But when there were again differences of opinion with the king over the coronation of a son of Henry II, Thomas was murdered on December 29, 1170 in Canterbury Cathedral . Heinrich for his part withdrew two provisions that contradicted canon law in the further negotiations . The rest remained in place.

The Constitutions of Clarendon were part of Henry II's strategy, which aimed to expand the royal sphere of power and was a characteristic of his reign.

literature

Web links

Wikisource: Constitutions of Clarendon  - Sources and full texts (English)