The 12th century was very much under the influence of the Norman Conquest (1066). This event changed many aspects of English life - not only were Norman kings ruling but it also had an enormous impact on the literary and social culture of the English people. The Conquest resulted in the supplanting of an English-speaking upper class by a French-speaking one. Furthermore, the Conquest eliminated upper-class patronage of Old English secular poetry and prose and gradually replaced it with a new literary culture, responsive to wider influence and international in outlook. Latin and Anglo-Norman writings form an important background to the period and many works in these languages were composed in England. The 12th century also saw a flowering of Histories and Chronicles, above all William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum (1120), Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (1130-38) and Layamon's Brut (1155).

In the 12th century great Military Orders were founded, e.g. The Templars (c.1119). These orders of celibate soldiers were originally formed to protect the pilgrim routes to Jerusalem, and their great wealth and prestige they acquired allowed them to exercise considerable authority throughout Western Christendom.

The Gregorian reform movement, where the reformers wished to purify the moral and spiritual life of the clergy and therefore needed to free the church from secular control, threatened the royal rights over the Church.

Despite the quarrel with the Church, there was also a fight for power between the House of Anjou and the House of Blois. After Henry I had died in 1135, Stephen of Blois usurped the English throne. Geoffrey of Anjou, married to Mathilde (daughter of Henry I), tried to destroy Stephen's position and in the following Civil War (1139-1153) Stephen was defeated at Lincoln and temporarily taken prisoner (1141).

With the succession of Henry II England became a part of the Angevin Empire. Another important event was the murder of Thomas Becket. Becket, who was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury (1162), received strong support from Henry II. At the council in Westminster in October 1163, Henry demanded that criminous clerks should be unfrocked and handed over to the lay courts for punishment. Becket was at first against this, but later he gave in, which he repented. Henry now decided to destroy him. Becket was summoned and found guilty. He fled to France but returned to England after five years of exile (1170). In December 1170, Becket was murdered in his own cathedral while preparing mass.

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