blood to the royal line. But the young Prince
who embodied this hope, went down with 140 young nobles in the "White
Ship," while returning from Normandy. It is said that his father never
smiled again, and upon his death, his nephew Stephen was king during
twenty unfruitful years.

But the succession returned through Matilda, daughter of Henry I. and
the Saxon princess. She married Geoffrey, Count of Anjou. This
Geoffrey, called "the handsome," always wore in his helmet a sprig of
{44} the broom-plant of Anjou (_Planta genista_), hence their son,
Henry II. of England, was known as Henry _Plante-a-genet_.

This first Plantagenet was a strong, coarse-fibred man; a practical
reformer, without sentiment, but really having good government
profoundly at heart.

He took the reins into his great, rough hands with a determination
first of all to curb the growing power of the clergy, by bringing it
under the jurisdiction of the civil courts. To this end he created his
friend and chancellor, Thomas a Becket, a primate of the Church to aid
the accomplishment of his purpose. But from the moment Becket became
Archbishop of Canterbury, he was transformed into the defender of the
organization he was intended to subdue. Henry was furious when he
found himself resisted and confronted by the very man he had created as
an instrument of his will. These were years of conflict. At last, in
a moment of exasperation, the king exclaimed, "Is there none brave
enough to rid me of this low-born priest!" This was construed into a
command. Four knights sped swiftly {45} to Canterbury Cathedral, and
murdered the Archbishop at the altar. Henry was stricken with remorse,
and caused himself to be beaten with rods like the vilest criminal,
kneeling upon the spot stained with the blood of his friend. It was a
brutal murder, which caused a thrill of horror throughout Christendom.
Becket was canonized; miracles were performed at his tomb, and for
hundreds of years a stream of bruised humanity flowed into Canterbury,
seeking surcease of sorrow, and cure for sickness and disease, by
contact with the bones of the murdered saint.

But Henry had accomplished his end. The clergy was under the
jurisdiction of the King's Court during his reign. He also continued
the judicial reorganization commenced by Henry I. He divided the
kingdom into judicial districts. This completely effaced the legal
jurisdiction of the nobles. The Circuits thus defined