n his predecessors
had done. In this way even the greater barons got the habit of sharing
in the government of England as a whole, instead of seeking to split
up the country, as France was split up, into different districts, each
of which might be governed by one of themselves. It was in consequence
of the increasing habit of consulting with the king that the Great
Council, after many changes, ultimately grew into the modern
Parliament. It was of no less importance that Henry II. strengthened
the _Curia Regis_, which had been established in the reign of Henry I.
(see p. 127) to collect the king's revenue, to give him political
advice, and to judge as many questions as it could possibly get hold
of. It was especially by doing justice that the _Curia Regis_ was
likely to acquire strength, and the strength of the _Curia Regis_ was
in reality the strength of the king.

5. =Scutage.=--If Henry was to carry out justice everywhere it would
be necessary for him to weaken still further the power of the barons.
He reintroduced a plan which had been first adopted by his
grandfather, which had the double merit of strengthening the king upon
the Continent and of weakening the barons in England. Henry needed an
army to defend his Continental possessions against the king of France.
The fyrd, or general levy of Englishmen, was not bound to fight except
at home, and though the feudal vassals were liable to serve abroad,
they could only be made to serve for forty days in the year, which
was too short a time for Henry's purposes. He accordingly came to an
agreement with his vassals. The owner of every knight's fee was to pay
a sum of money known as scutage (_shield-money_) in lieu of service.
Both parties gained by the arrangement. The king got money with which
he paid mercenaries abroad, who would fight for him all the year
round, and the vassal escaped the onerous duty of fighting in quarrels
in which he took no interest. Indirectly the change weakened the
feudal vassals, because they had now less opportunity than before of
acquiring a military training in actual war.

[Illustration: Ecclesiastical costume in the twelfth century.]

6. =Archbishop Thomas. 1162.=--Henry, who meditated great judicial
reforms, foresaw that the clergy would be an obstacle in his way. He
was eager to establish one law for his whole kingdom, and the clergy,
having been exempted by the Conqueror from the jurisdiction of the
ordinary law courts in all ecclesi