The reign of Henry II represents a reversion in power back from the barony to the monarchical state in England; it is also to see a similar redistribution of legislative power from the Church, again to the monarchical state.

This period also presages a properly constituted legislation and a radical shift away from feudalism.

In his reign new Anglo-Angevin and Anglo-Aquitanian aristocracies develop, though not to the same point as the Anglo-Norman once had, and the Norman nobles interact with their French peers.