It was rather, the greatest and grandest family estate in all Christendom. That surely was enough to be going on with. After all, it's one thing to stand around counting off one's possessions. It was quite another thing to know what almost supposed to do about being king. Especially king of a country so promising but so peculiar as England, with all its Anglo-Saxon names and institutions like shire, courts, writs and sheriffs. After all, what did Henry Plantagenet know of Huntingdonshire, or after that what did Huntingdonshire know of Henry Plantagenet? Henry of course spoke virtually no English at all. What he would have grasped, if only from his coronation oaths, was that kings of England were supposed to be both judge and warlord. In fact, the coronation oath, preserved intact from Edward the Confessor, who was increasingly being held up as some sort of ideal monarch, pretty much spelled out the job description of the king of England. One was protect the Church. Two was preserve intact the lands of your ancestors. Three do justice. And Four most sweeping of all, suppress evil laws and customs.


这些不过是基督教国家中，最雄厚无匹的家族财产罢了。当然也就足以应付一时，坐在家里数钱是一回事，学习如何做国王则完全是另一回事。尤其是在英格兰这个充满希望却又情况独特的地方做国王，很多国家体系的名字都来自盎格鲁撒克逊语。比如郡，法院，令状和郡长，毕竟亨利二世对亨廷顿郡了解多少，而亨廷顿郡又对亨利二世了解多少。亨利几乎不会说英语，他所会的只有加冕时的宣誓，即英格兰的国王，应同时领导法律和军队。事实上，加冕宣言，完全是忏悔者爱德华时期的拷贝。后者越来越受到推崇，甚至举为君主典范。该宣言可以说详细叙述了英格兰国王的所有职责，第一 保护教会，第二 保卫祖辈领土的完整，第三 司法审判，第四 彻底地扫除和禁止有害的律法与风俗。