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When were the Constitutions of Clarendon issued?
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St. Thomas Becket
Murder of St. Thomas Becket, illustration from an English psalter, c. 1200; in the British Library.
The Constitutions of Clarendon were issued in January 1164 by King Henry II. These 16 articles were designed to define church-state relations in England by restricting ecclesiastical privileges and limiting the power of church courts, which ultimately triggered a significant conflict with Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury.1