? Disputes over land were important in this agricultural society. Traditionally, they have been determined by trial by battle in which the opponents exchanged blows to resolve the issue. Only the king could summon?a body of men to give a verdict on oath.

? So royal justice could offer a new,?nonviolent, alternative something not available in the baronial courts - trial by jury（陪審團(tuán)）.

? Every free man can retain his right in his tenement and avoid the doubtful outcome of a duel.

tenement: a large building divided into apartments, usually in a poor area of a city

? When the 12 knights have been chosen, they are to be summoned to come to court, to swear on oath which party has the greater right.

? This legal revolution was motivated by henry's royal and dynastic ambitions, but it laid the foundations for the common law（普通法）, the system that still governs legal practice and procedure in England and in the United States to this day.

? Henry's imposition of Plantagenet control（金雀花王朝統(tǒng)治稅）?alienated many English barons. It also provoked a power struggle between crown and church. It came to a head in a?bitter conflict between Henry and one of his most loyal friends - Thomas Beckett.

come to a head: 達(dá)到緊急關(guān)頭

? Beckett was the son of a London merchant who'd enjoyed an extraordinary rise to power. Henry had made him his chancellor（大臣，大法官）, in charge of the day to day running of the government on the king's behalf, and he'd?acquired enormous wealth. While Henry disdained luxury and pageantry, his chancellor revelled in it.

disdain: the feeling of not liking someone or something and thinking that they do not deserve your interest or respect

pageantry: impressive and colourful ceremonies

revel: to dance, drink, sing etc. at a party or in public, especially in a noisy way

? But the two were close friends. William Fitzsstephen, who later served as Beckett's clerk, says that the two of them hunted, joked and played together like boys.

? The unexpected reverse in the friendship came in 1162, following the death of the Archbishop（大主教）?of Canterbury.

? The King was convinced that Beckett would make an ideal replacement, someone who would support him in curtailing the judicial powers of the church.?

curtail: to stop something before it is finished, or to reduce or limit something

? Once Beckett was in office, he immediately resigned as chancellor and devoted himself to the interests of the church. The two of them soon clashed over the proper limits of priestly power. Beckett supported the church's?views that the clergy should not be subject to King Henry's royal courts, but should be tried in special church courts, where the worst punishment, even for rape or murder, was expulsion from the clergy.

clash: to fight or argue

expulsion: (the act of) forcing someone, or being forced, to leave a school, organization, or country

clergy: religious leaders, especially Christian priests, ministers, etc.

? Beckett?refused to compromise.

? In fear of?the king's?wrath, he spent?6 years?exiled?in France. In 1170, he reached a form of reconciliation with the King and came home.

wrath: extreme anger

? But from the pulpit in Canterbury, he immediately began to excommunicate all who had crossed him.

pulpit: a raised place in a church, with steps leading up to it, from which the priest or minister speaks to the people during a religious ceremony

excommunicate: When the Christian Church, especially the Roman Catholic Church, excommunicates someone, it refuses to give that person communion and does not allow when to be involved in the Church

cross: to annoy someone by not doing or saying what they want

? This news provoked an outburst of demonic Plantagenet fury.

provoke: to cause a reaction, especially a negative one

outburst: a sudden forceful expression of emotion, especially anger

? I have brought up and raised some feeble and wretched men in my kingdom, who are not loyal to their Lord, whom?they allow?to be mocked so shamefully by some lowborn clergyman.

? Legend has simplified King Henry's words into,

? ?who will rid me of this turbulent priest?

turbulent（此處）: causing unrest, violence, or disturbance

? Four knights decided they understood the King's wish. In Canterbury, they found Beckett?eating in the Bishop's palace.

? Harsh words were exchanged.

? The Archbishop then made his way through these cloisters and into the cathedral.

cloister:（學(xué)校、修道院、教堂等建筑的）走廊，回廊

? The four found Beckett?here, in the north transept. They attempted to drag him back outside, but the Archbishop clung to a pillar, calling them pimps and madmen. They struck out.

transept: 教堂的十字型翼部

? The first blows fell Beckett. Then one of the knights hit him with such force that he sliced off the top of his head. The sword itself shattered on the paving stones.

? The knights spread Beckett's brains on the floor, and ran off, one of them calling out, "This one won't rise again."

? Within days, stories began to circulate that?Beckett's blood had miraculous powers.

? Soon people with fevers, tumours, swollen legs, were being cured by a single drop.

? The pope（羅馬教皇）?declared Beckett a saint.

? Pilgrims（朝圣者） came here in their thousands. They purchased little badges or tokens, like this one, and they would take these home and wear them on their clothes on their hats.

? Or they might acquire flasks, like this, containing a tiny drop of Beckett's?blood diluted in water. And they would wear them around their necks for protection or even drink the water in the hopes of a miraculous cure.

flask: a special container that keeps drinks hot or cold

? These objects show that?Buckett was more successful in death than?he had been in life.

? Henry's expansion of?Plantagenet power had turned many nobles against him, and Beckett's murder shattered his reputation in France.

? Henry struggled to hold his sprawling empire together. He had limitless energy and was never in the same place for long. King Louis of France once said of him,

sprawling: (of a city) covered with buildings across a large area, often ones that have been added gradually over a period of time

? Now in England.?Now in?Normandy.?He must fly rather than travel by boat or horse.

? The French king was always eager to stir up dissension in the Plantagenet family. He was still furious about Eleanor's marriage to Henry.

dissension: arguments and disagreement, especially in an organization, group, political party, etc

furious: extremely angry

? Complicating matters was Eleanor?herself. She may have been Henry's queen, but she was not always his ally.

? In fact, the greatest threat to Henry came from his own wife and children, Henry and Eleanor had three daughters and five sons together. Four of the boys lived to adulthood.

? Henry,

? Richard,

? Geoffrey,

? and the youngest and the King's favorite, John.

? After John's birth, Eleanor moved back to Aquitane. She insisted her favorite son, Richard, be made Duke. Her?scheme was to rule her homeland in his name. But Henry frustrated Eleanor and his teenage son.

? Plantagenet sons were impatient to exercise real power. They have been brought up to command, trained in deadly warfare, their political marriages often arranged in infancy.

? At the age of 20,?Henry himself ruled half of France and had?been promised the throne of England. His sons were equally ambitious.

? Henry and Eleanor's eldest son, Henry the younger, sparked the first great Plantagenet family implosion.

implosion: the act of falling towards the inside with force

? His father had agreed to let him be crowned joint king of England, but refused to trust him with any authority or independent income. Encouraged by Louis of?France, young Henry raised a rebellion against his father.

? His younger brothers, Richard and Geoffrey, also joined the revolt. They were supported by disaffected?French counts and some of England's most powerful barons.

revolt: If a large number of people revolt, they refuse to be controlled or ruled, and take action against authority, often violent action

disaffected: no longer supporting or being satisfied with an organization or idea

? Then Eleanor joined the fray.

the fray(n.): an energetic and often not well-organized effort, activity, fight, or disagreement

? Medieval kings often face rebellious sons. A rebellious queen was less common and more shocking. So, when Eleanor?was caught attempting to cross France to join her sons, Henry regarded this as the greatest betrayal of all. Perhaps even more shocking was the fact that she was disguised as a man.

? This is the ancient chapel of St Radegund, carved into the cliffs, below the Plantagenet fortress of Chinon in Anjou. It's been a place of worship since Roman times.

chapel: a room that is part of a larger building and is used for Christian worship

? In 1964, this 12th-century fresco was discovered under centuries of grime.

grime: a layer of dirt on skin or on a building

? It's widely agreed that they are the Plantagenets. It could be significant that their clocks have the same blue-and-white lining as we find on Geoffrey Plantagenet's funerary plaque.But it's not quite certain who they are. It could be Henry Ⅱ?and his four sons.

? The first?crowned?figure being Henry Ⅱ, and the other crowned figure being Henry,?the young king, who was the only son of an English king to be crowned in his father's lifetime. But one scholar claims to see Eleanor of Aquitaine being led off into captivity in?England, where she was in fact held a prisoner by her husband for the next 16 years.

? With his formidable wife imprisoned in England, Henry did battle with the French King, the rebel barons and his own sons for 18 months.

? The rebels claimed that Thomas?Becket, the new martyr, was on their side. And Henry sought to ward off the martyr's anger by a remarkable act of public atonement for the murder. At the height of the rebellion, the proud Plantagenet king came to Canterbury. Here, at the westgate, he dismounted, removed his shoes and walked barefoot through the crowded streets.

martyr: a pereson who suffers very much or is killed because of their religious or political beliefs, and is ofen admired because of?it

ward off: 防止，避開

at the height of:在…頂點(diǎn)，在…的頂峰或鼎盛時(shí)期

? Henry made his way to the shrine of his murdered friend. He removed his cloak to reveal a hair shirt and submitted to being beaten bloody by the bishops and monks.

hair shirt: 剛毛襯衣，苦行者所穿

? He spent the night prostrate on the bare stone floor.

prostrate: lying with face down and arms stretched out, especially as a sigh of respect or worship

? Henry's salvation came quickly. The very next day, his troops won a stunning victory over his enemies and soon they were all brought to submission. But Henry had been forced to abase himself before the clergy and recognize the authority of the church.

salvation: In the Christian religion, salvation of a person or their spirit is the state of being saved from evil and its effects by the death of Jesus on a cross

abase yourself: to make yourself seem to be less important or to not deserve respect

? Tension between monarchy and church was never fully resolved. But the Plantagenet settlement with the pope held for the next 350 years.

? There was no settlement between the Plantagenets?and the French monarchy, despite a new king, Philip, taking the throne.

? He encouraged Henry the younger, and his brother Geoffrey, to rebel again.

? This time they attacked their brother Richard's?Duchy of Aquitaine and occupied the city of Limoges.

? Henry Ⅱ marched on the city and rode up to the walls,?hoping to reason with his sons.

reason(v.): to try to understand and to make judgments based on practical facts

? Henry the younger orderd?archers to fire on his own father.

? An arrow narrowly missed the king.

? A few months later, young henry was struck down with dysentery（痢疾）. To fight against your father,?and against the King, was a sin and Henry believed that his illness was divine retribution. As an act of penance, he gave away all his possessions. He lay on a bed of ashes, dressed in a hair shirt, with a noose（繩套）?around his neck like a common criminal. Young king Henry died with nothing but the sapphire（藍(lán)寶石）?ring, his father had sent him as a token of forgiveness.

penance: an act that shows that you feel sorry about something that you have done, sometimes for religious reasons

? When he heard of the death of his eldest son, old King Henry said,

? He cost me much, but I wish he lived to cost me more.

? Now, it was Richard's?turn to betray his father. And once again, the French king was the family traitor's ally.

? The two spent the summer pursuing the ageing Henry around France.

? They eventually besieged him here, in his birthplace,?Le Mans.

? In order to deny his assailant supplies and a base,?Henry ordered that the suburbs outside the city walls should be put to the torch, but the wind changed and the flames leapt?over these ancient Roman walls into the city itself.

assailiant: a person who attacks another person

? Henry was forced to abandon Le Mans. Ill?and exhausted, he had to submit to his treacherous son. But as he gave Richard the kiss of peace, he whispered in his ear,

treacherous: a person who is treacherous deceives someone who trusts them, or has no loyalty

kiss of peace: 接吻禮

God?grant that I do not die until I have avenged myself on you.

? Too sick to walk,?Henry was carried here to Chinon castle.

? He was shown a list of those who had rebelled against him. At its head was the name of his youngest and favorite son.

? "Is it true?" He said,?"That John, my heart, whom I've loved more than all my other sons,?has abandoned me?'

? On the 6th of july, 1189, betrayed by his wife and every son, Henry, the first?Plantagenet King of England, died. His last words are said to have been,?

? Shame, shame, on a conquered king.

? The King of England's body was buried here, in the Abbey（修道院） of Fontevraud?in Anjou.

? The Plantagenet's?future now lay in the hands of Richard, a dynamic and bloodthirsty warrior.

? One of Richard's?courtiers said he was furious in arms, rejoicing to travel only on bloodstained?roads. But when he arrived here, to stand vigil over his dead father's body, he is said to have wept bitterly over the king he had betrayed. As he did so, blood began to pour from the dead king's nostrils.

courtier: a companion of a queen, king, or other ruler in their official home, especially in the past

rejoice: to feel or show great happiness about something

vigil: an act of staying awake, especially at night, in order to be with a person who is very ill or dying, or to make a protest, or to pray

? According to medieval beliefs, this was sure sign of the presence of a murderer.

? The traitorous son would become the great English hero, Richard?the Lionheart. But he could speak barely a word of English. He visited his kingdom only briefly for his coronation（加冕禮） and, in the 10 years of his reign, spent only 6 months in the country.

? The moment he became king,?Richard had his mother,?Eleanor, released from captivity and made regent（攝政者，攝政王）?of England.

? Richard, the favourite son, bestowed on his mother the power of doing whatever she wished in the kingdom. He himself regarded England primarily as a source of money to fund his wars to assert Plantagenet power in France or to win glory and spiritual merit on Crusade（十字軍東征）. He once said,?

assert（此處）: to compel or demand acceptance or recognition of(something, such as one's authority)

I would sell London if I could find a buyer.