The Compromise of Avranches in 1172 marked the reconciliation of

Henry II of England Henry II () was King of England The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the form of government used by the United Kingdom by which a hereditary monarch reigns as the head of state, with the ...

with the Catholic Church after the

Becket controversy The Becket controversy or Becket dispute was the quarrel between Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket and King Henry II of England from 1163 to 1170.Bartlett ''England Under the Norman and Angevin Kings'' pp. 401–402 The controversy culminated ...

from 1163, which culminated with the murder in 1170 of

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then as Archbishop of Canterbury fr ...

. Henry was purged of any guilt in Becket's murder, and swore to go on crusade. He agreed to allow appeals to the papacy in Rome, and to eliminate all customs to which the Church objected. He also agreed that the secular courts had no jurisdiction over the clergy, with the exceptions of high treason, highway robbery and arson: the

benefit of clergy In English law, the benefit of clergy ( Law Latin: ''privilegium clericale'') was originally a provision by which clergymen accused of a crime could claim that they were outside the jurisdiction of the secular courts and be tried instead in an ec ...

provision in English law.A. Dugaan, ‘Henry II, the English Church and the Papacy’, in C. Harper-Bill and N. Vincent (eds.), ''Henry II New Interpretations'' (Woodbridge, 2007), pp. 175-176. In return, the king managed to secure good relations with the papacy at a time when he faced rebellions from his sons.

References

1172 in England Christianity in medieval England Henry II of England Political compromises in Europe {{England-hist-stub