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"To what extent was the period one of increasing papal intervention in English affairs?" Model Essay
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To what extent was the period 1066-1216 one of increasing papal intervention in Englishaffairs?
It is evident that overall, the period 1066-1216 saw a steady increase in papal intervention. Whilst the beginning of
the reign saw very limited papal intervention, as seen in the reigns of William I and William II where the papacy was
only involved when the king wanted it to be, there was a steady increase towards John’s reign in which papal
involvement reached its height with the 1213 Settlement, making England a papal fief. Even though sometimes
during the time period papal involvement was limited as seen in the reigns of William I, William II and Richard, it
steadily increased.
To a lesser extent, it may be argued that papal involvement was limited, particularly during the beginning of the time
period under William I and William II. The Papal Reform Movement, which was the movement towards greater papal
intervention and control of the church, was relatively new and was not yet fully established in England in contrast to
the end of the period. Whilst there was some papal intervention, it was heavily limited and the papacy was only
really involved when it suited the monarch and when they wanted them to be involved. For example, William I
introduced the Customs of the Realm preventing papal legates and letters from entering the country without his
permission as well as refusing to allow England to become a papal fief. However, he did allow the papacy to become
involved occasionally when it suited him, for example allowing papal legate Erminfrid into England at the 1072
Accord of Winchester where Lanfranc, William’s right-hand man, was supported as primate. Similarly, the papacy
had very limited involvement during William II’s reign. At the council of Rockingham for example, archbishop of
Canterbury Anselm introduced the idea of the papal reform movement but this was quickly shut down, showing
limited papal intervention. Moreover, some historians may argue that papal involvement was also limited later
during the time period not just during the beginning, particularly in the reigns of Henry II and Richard. For example,
in Henry II’s reign, Pope Alexander III was unable to excommunicate Henry despite wanting to as he was in a weak
political position, showing the limitations of papal involvement. Also, the papacy was hardly involved during
Richard’s reign and Hubert Walter, Richard’s right-hand man and archbishop of Canterbury, was even appointed
papal legate so he could have more control of the church in England. However, despite some example of papal
intervention being limited, these are few as mainly occur near the beginning of the period. Even during Henry II’s
reign, despite papal influence being limited, it still increased compared to William I and II’s reign, for example with
the pope putting an interdict on Henry’s continental lands, thus showing how even when papal involvement was
limited later on, it had still increased overall. Therefore, despite some examples of papal intervention being limited,
these tend to occur towards the beginning of the reign which help to demonstrate how papal influence did in fact
increase.
To a greater extent, it is evident that papal intervention steadily increased over the time period. Whilst it was
occasionally still limited, this merely demonstrates that this change was gradual. Comparing the beginning of the
period where William I refused to become a papal vassal and England a papal fief to the end of the period where
John allowed this to happen, we can see an evident increase in papal involvement. During the period, there were
some significant turning points in the increase of papal involvement including the 1107 Compromise under Henry I,
the Charter of Liberties in Stephen’s reign, the 1170s Settlement under Henry II and the 1213 Settlement under John.
For example, in the 1107 Compromise, it was agreed that the papacy had the right of investiture which previously
belonged to the king and whilst in reality kings still elected senior church men, it lay the foundations for greater
church involvement and was one of the reasons for the 1213 Settlement as John refused to accept Pope Innocent’s
choice of archbishop of Canterbury. Moreover, the Charter of Liberties allowed for greater church freedom and this
is evident later in the reign where the archbishop of Canterbury Theobald directly disobeyed Stephen’s orders not to
attend the 11448 Council of Rheims which would usually be classed as treason but due to growing church freedom
and papal influence, was not. The most evident example of papal intervention as previously mentioned was during
John’s reign where there were a lot of firsts regarding papal involvement. For example, John was the first king to be
excommunicated though this had been threatened during Stephen and Henry II’s reign, showing how much papal
influence had increased. It was also the first time that England had been put under interdict as despite Henry II’s
French lands being put under interdict, the papacy’s influence was too limited to do the same to England but had
since increased. Therefore, this clearly demonstrates that overall, papal intervention in England increased.
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