A Struggle between Church and Crown?
The National Curriculum calls it the ‘struggle between Church and Crown’ – but that’s over-simplistic, and rather unhelpful. The king needed a sort of civil service, and this was populated by churchmen: they were literate and they had independent incomes (their church lands/ benefices), so he didn’t have to pay them. The king was also a good Christian, and kings saw themselves as protectors of the Church. Similarly, churchmen felt themselves defenders of the kingdom – Archbishop Stephen Langton helped write Magna Carta; Edmund of Abingdon reconciled Henry III with his barons; Anthony Bek, Bishop of Durham, led an army for Edward I!
Here’s a suggested Church and Crown scheme of work to cover five or six lessons. It’s editable, so you can tweak it.
Here are the accompanying resources.
- Thomas Becket cartoon strip
- Henry’s Story cartoon strip
- Rogues’ gallery
- Essay examples
- Essay guide
And here’s the relevant Horrible Histories sketch.