severity of the law. In ten years we hear of more than one hundred unpunished cases of murder among them. It was to put a stop to such lawlessness that Henry caused the constitutions of Clarendon to be drawn up by two of his justiciars. They contain nothing new, no right that did not belong by precedent to the crown. It was the way in which the struggle with Becket was carried on, not the weakness of the King's standpoint that caused the latter to fail in his endeavours. Public sympathy turned against him and, in 1174, he was obliged to expressly permit appeals to Rome. Papal influence was to increase in England until it reached its zenith under Innocent III.—liege lord and collector of tribute. Of No. IV., the Assize of Clarendon, Stubbs says (Charters, p. 141): "It is a document of the greatest importance to our legal history, and must be regarded as introducing changes into the administration of justice which were to lead the way to self government at no distant time."
It is interesting to note (in § 21) the comparative mildness of the measures against heretics. Half a century later heresy and apostasy were alike punished with death. No. v., the Dialogue concerning the Exchequer, is one
of the few actual treatises of the middle ages. It is a most learned essay concerning all that went on at the bi-yearly meetings of the exchequer officials, and branches out into a description of all the sources of revenue of the English crown, and of the methods of collecting them. The value of this essay for early English history cannot be over-estimated; in every direction it throws light upon the existing state of affairs.
According to Brunner, Gneist, Pauli, and P. Liebermann[1] the Dialogue was completed in the winter of 1178-9.
- ↑ "Einleitung in den Dialogus cle Scaccario." Gottingen. 1875.
