Henry II 

After the Civil War Henry II, the great-grandchild of William the Conqueror, got on the throne. With Henry II the royal dynasty changed in England and became the Plantagenet dyansty. The dynasty changed because Henry II was half French and half Anglosaxon. Henry II’s father was French and the name Plantagenet came from their emblem, the broom sprig( in latin Planta Ginestra).

Henry II reformed England with his reform of the army and the new taxes.

First he reformed the army, instead of accepting the soldiers the barons sent he asked them for a tax called SCUTAGE, then he used this money to pay for mercenaries. This way barons and knights stayed at home and took care of their lands and Henry II went to war alongside the mercenaries, he felt safer fighting with them because they would not turn on him like the barons and knights would.

Second he reformed the justice system, at the time people were not judged by trial, instead they were processed by ordeal as in they would torture you and if your wound healed itself you were innocent. To change this he sent around the reign travelling judges who enforced the law by trials. England type of law is called Common law because it was based on previous cases, as in they would search for a previous case similar to theirs and then they would apply the same punishment.

Third he reformed the Church by signing a law called Constitutions of Claredon in 1164 which established that the king and only the king could nominate the bishops and also that the clergymen who committed crimes would be judged by a jury formed by clergymen and laymen to prevent the jury to acquit someone guilty. Henry’s best friend Thomas Becket was the Archbishop of Cantebury at the time and he opposed profoundly to this law so he was exiled to France for five years. When he returned Henry II had him killed by four knights in the Cantebury Cathedral, because of this Thomas Becket became a saint and a martyr for the population and the catholics.