1160s in England

Updated on Dec 07, 2024

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Events from the 1160s in England.

Incumbents

Monarch - Henry II

Events

1160

2 November - Marriage of Henry the Young King and Marguerite, daughter of Louis VII of France; King Henry II takes control of Norman Vexin.

The island of Lundy is granted to the Knights Templar by Henry II.

Approximate date - Derby School is founded by Walkelin de Derby in Derby; it will survive until 1989.

1161

5 January - Canonisation of Edward the Confessor.

c. April - Bartholomew becomes Bishop of Exeter.

1162

3 June - Thomas Becket consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury and resigns as Lord Chancellor.

Becket decrees that Trinity Sunday should henceforth be celebrated in England.

King Henry II raises the Danegeld (by now, merely a royal tax) for the last time.

1163

January - Henry II suppresses a revolt in Wales, and captures Prince Rhys ap Gruffydd.

6 March - Gilbert Foliot is translated from Hereford to become Bishop of London, an office which he will hold until his death in 1187.

1 July - Henry calls the Welsh princes and King Malcolm IV of Scotland to do homage at Woodstock Palace; the Welsh rebel.

1 October - Becket resists Henry II's demands to extend the jurisdiction of secular courts to the clergy.

13 October - The bones of Edward the Confessor are translated to Westminster Abbey.

John of Salisbury completes his Life of Anselm.

1164

January - Henry II enacts the Constitutions of Clarendon (at Clarendon Palace in Wiltshire) in an attempt to restore royal jurisdiction over the Church.

2 November - Becket found guilty of contempt of court and exiled to France.

1165

July - Henry II fails to quell a rebellion in Wales.

1166

July - Henry II conquers Brittany, granting the territory to his son Geoffrey.

Henry enacts the Assize of Clarendon, reforming the law, underpinning the importance of jury trial and defining the legal duties of sheriffs.

William Marshal is knighted.

1167

The exiled King of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, having paid homage to Henry, begins to recruit Norman knights for an invasion of Ireland.

Increased enrolment at the University of Oxford after English students are barred from attending Paris University.

1168

1 February - Henry II's daughter, Matilda, marries Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony.

1169

January - Treaty of Montmirail: Henry II agrees to divide his French territories amongst his sons; Aquitaine to Richard, Brittany to Geoffrey, and the remainder to Henry.

1 May - Norman barons land an invasion force at Wexford in support of Dermot.