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The English Quarrel Of Crown And Mitre: Ecclesiastical Liberties From Thomas Becket To Thomas More, 1170-1535, Matthew Flanders

Master's Theses

Two rival sets of law, canon and common, warred for supremacy in England from 1170-1535. Just as with any battle, casualties followed. Where Becket and Henry II fought the first battle in this clash of legal systems, More and Henry VIII would end it. The deaths of Thomas Becket in the twelfth century and Thomas More in the sixteenth century bear a striking resemblance, but while this superficially indicates a consistency of outcome, it also probes further into a consistency of conditions which made such an outcome likely. The difference between common and canon law, and the feud born therein, …