Beginnings
In the Middle Ages secular authority clashed with Church power over benefit of clergy. The Church claimed that its clergy were answerable only to it and were not subject to the law of the land like ordinary citizens. Henry II tried to extend the jurisdiction of the secular courts to include clergy, but he was opposed by Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury and his attempt failed after Beckett was murdered. Henry VII clashed with Papal power after a priest who was accused of rape claimed the privilege of benefit of clergy. The priest was tried in the secular courts despite Papal objections. In 1512 Henry VII declared that certain crimes were "felonies without benefit of clergy." His challenge to Papal authority was continued by his son, Henry VIII.
Read more about this topic: Anti-Catholicism In The United Kingdom
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“Those newspapers of the nation which most loudly cried dictatorship against me would have been the first to justify the beginnings of dictatorship by somebody else.”
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“These beginnings of commerce on a lake in the wilderness are very interesting,—these larger white birds that come to keep company with the gulls.”
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“When the beginnings of self-destruction enter the heart it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.”
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