ABSTRACT
Henry II was one of England's most ambitious kings. Henry II amassed enormous territories on the European continent, enacted far-reaching legal reforms, and waged a daring struggle against the privileges of the clergy. Henry pursued ambitious policies that yielded very mixed results. The greatest disappointment of Henry's reign was not Becket's victory from beyond the grave, however, but the treachery of his own family. Henry II had a great impact upon the development of English diplomacy and law in later centuries. England's legal tradition, on the other hand, benefited greatly from Henry's rule. Juries brought a higher standard of justice to the realm; when trial by ordeal was banned by the Church in the thirteenth century, the role of juries was expanded even further. Henry's struggle to subordinate the Church to royal power lived on in memory of both the clergy and the laity of Europe. The papacy was able to prevent Henry's successors from undertaking similar measures for centuries.
