Life of 
 
 Thomas a Becket. 
 
 ^ENRY HART MILMAN, d. d. 
 Dean of St, Paul's. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 SHELDON & COMPANY 
 
 i860. 
 
 ■^''-.. 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 Peehaps tlie chapter of English history 
 fullest of romantic interest, is that contain- 
 ing the life of Thomas a Becket. In fact, 
 the great struggle between Becket and 
 Henry II., — between individual genius and 
 sovereign power, between a subject and 
 his kiQg, between religion and the sword, 
 between the Chui'ch and the State, is 
 scarcely equaled in the annals of the 
 world. And nowhere do we find a paral- 
 lel to the strange story of Becket's life, 
 beginning in Oriental legend, ending in 
 heroic tragedy.' By an accident of posi- 
 tion, he questioned with the terrible power 
 of genius the divine right of kings, and 
 the grateful people of England, a hundred 
 thousand at a time, flocked as pilgrims to 
 his tomb. 
 
iv Editor^ s Preface. 
 
 The biography here presented has been 
 taken from Dean Milman's great history 
 of Latin Christianity. The style is at 
 once dignified, terse, and eloquent. The 
 learning of Milman is abundant and accu- 
 rate, his judgment singularly sound and 
 free from prejudice. One of the gems of 
 his history is this life of Becket. A bio- 
 graphy of the biographer is part of our 
 plan, and we gladly transfer to our pages, 
 from the English Cyclopedia, a sketch of 
 Milman's life. 
 
 The Rev. Heney Hart Milman, D. D., 
 Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, was born 
 February 10th, 1791, in London. He is 
 the youngest son of Sir Francis Milman, 
 first baronet, who was physician to George 
 IH., and is brother to Siu William George 
 Milman. He was educated at Dr. Bur- 
 ney's academy at Greenwich, at Eton 
 College, and at Brazenose College, Oxford, 
 where he took his degrees of B. A. and 
 M. A., and of which he was elected a Fel- 
 
Editor^ s Preface. 
 
 low. In 1812 he received the Newdegate 
 prize for his English poem on the Apollo 
 Belvidere. In 1815 he published "Fazio, 
 a Tragedy," which was performed with 
 success at Covent Garden Theatre, at a 
 period when .theatrical managers seized 
 upon a published play, and produced it 
 without an author's consent. Mr. Milman 
 could not even enforce the proper pronun- 
 ciation of the name of " Fazio." He took 
 holy orders in 1817, and was appointed 
 vicar of St. Mary's, Reading. In the early 
 part of 1818 he pubhshed "Samor, Lord 
 of the Bright City, an Heroic Poem," of 
 which a second edition was called for in 
 the course of the same year. The hero 
 of this poem is a personage of the legen- 
 dary history of Britain in the early part 
 of the Saxon invasions of England. The 
 fullest account of his exploits is given in 
 Dugdale's " Baronage," under his title of 
 Earl of Gloucester. Harrison, in the "De- 
 scription of Britain," prefixed to Holins- 
 
 hed's " Chronicle," calls him Eldulph de 
 1* 
 
vi Editor'^ s Preface. 
 
 Samor. The Bright City is Gloncester, 
 (Caer Gloew in British.) In 1820 Mr 
 Milman published "The Fall of Jerusalem," 
 a dramatic poem founded on Josephus's 
 narrative of the siege of the sacred city. 
 This, in some respects his most beautiful 
 poem, established his reputation. In 1821, 
 he was elected Professor of Poetry in the 
 University of Oxford, and published three 
 other dramatic poems, " The Martyr of 
 Antioch," " Balshazzar," and " Anne Bo- 
 leyn." In 1827 he published sermons at 
 the " Bampton Lecture," 8vo., and in 
 1829, without his name, "The History 
 of the Jews," 3 vols. 18mo. A collected 
 edition of his " Poetical Works," was pub- 
 lished in 1840, which, besides the works 
 above mentioned, and his smaller poems, 
 contains the "Nala and Damayanti," 
 translated from the Sanskrit. In the 
 same year he published his " History of 
 Christianity from the Birth of Christ, to 
 the Abolition of Paganism in the Roman 
 Empire," 3 vols. 8vo., in which he pro- 
 
Editor^ s Preface. vii 
 
 fesses to view Christianity as a historian, 
 in its moral, social, and political influences, 
 referring to its doctrines no further than 
 is necessary for explaining the general 
 effect of the system. It is the work of an 
 accomplished and liberal-minded scholar. 
 At the commencement of 1849 appeared 
 " The Works of Quintus Horatius Flac- 
 cus, illustrated chiefly from the Remains 
 of Ancient Art, with a Life by the Rev. 
 H. H. Milman," 8vo., a beautiful and luxu- 
 rious edition. Mr. Milman's Life of Ho- 
 race, and critical remarks on the merits 
 of the Roman poet, are written with much 
 elegance of style, and are very interesting. 
 Li November 1 849, Mr. Milman, who had 
 for some years been Rector of St. Margar- 
 et's, Westminster, and a Canon of West- 
 minster, was made Dean of St. Paul's. 
 Dean Milman's latest publication is a "His- 
 tory of Latin Christianity, including that 
 of the Popes to the Pontificate of Nicholas 
 v.," 3 vols. 8vo. 1854. This work is a 
 continuation of the author's " History of 
 
viii Editor^ s Preface, 
 
 Cliristianity," and yet is in itself a complete 
 work. To give it that completeness lie has 
 gone over the history of Christianity in 
 Rome dm'ing the first four centuries. The 
 author states that he is occupied with the 
 continuation of the history down to the 
 close of the pontificate of Nicholas Y., 
 that is, to 1 455.1 Besides the works before 
 mentioned, Dean MUman is understood to 
 have contributed numerous articles to the 
 "Quarterly Review^" and his edition of 
 Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman 
 Empire," presented the great historian 
 with more ample illustrations than he had 
 before received. This edition has been re- 
 published, with additional notes and veri- 
 fications, by Dr. W. Smith. 
 
 Dean Milman is destined to become a 
 household word in historical literature, 
 and we are glad to present the many with 
 this favorable specimen of his work. 
 
 May, 1859. Q. W. WiGHT. 
 
 1 The " History of Latin Christianity," is now com- 
 pleted in six volumes. — Ed. 
 
LIFE OF THOMAS A BECKET. 
 
 PopiJLAE poetry, after the sanctifica- 
 tion of Becket, delighted in throwing 
 the rich colors of marvel over his birth 
 Legend, and parentage. It invented, or 
 rather interwove with the pedigree of 
 the martyr, one of those romantic tra- 
 ditions which grew out of the wild ad- 
 ventures of the crusades, and which oc- 
 cur in various forms in the ballads of 
 all nations. That so great a saint should 
 be the son of a gallant champion of the 
 cross, and of a Saracen princess, was a 
 fiction too attractive not to win general 
 acceptance. The father of Becket, so 
 runs the legend, a gallant soldier, was 
 a captive in the Holy Land, and in- 
 
10 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 spired tlie daugliter of his master witli 
 an ardent attacliment. Through, her 
 means he made his escape ; but the en- 
 amored princess conld not endnre life 
 without him. She too fled and made 
 her way to Europe. She had learned 
 but two words of the Christian lan- 
 guage, London and Gilbert. With 
 these two magic sounds upon her lips 
 she reached London ; and as she wan- 
 dered through the streets, constantly 
 repeating the name of Gilbert, she was 
 met by Becket's faithful servant. Beck- 
 et, as a good Christian, seems to have 
 entertained religious scruples as to the 
 propriety of wedding the faithful, but, 
 misbelieving, or, it might be, not sin- 
 cerely believing maiden. The case was 
 submitted to the highest authority, and 
 argued before the Bishop of London. 
 The issue was the baptism of the prin- 
 cess, by the name of Matilda (that of 
 the empress queen,) and their marriage 
 
Thomas a B echet . 11 
 
 in St. Paul's, with the utmost publicity 
 and splendor. 
 
 But of this wondrous tale, not one 
 word had reached the ears of any of the 
 seven or eight contemporary biogra- 
 phers of Becket, most of them his most 
 intimate friends or his most faithful at- 
 tendants.^ It was neither known to 
 
 1 There are no less than seven full contempo- 
 rary, or nearly contemporary, Lives of Becket, 
 besides fragments, legends, and "Passions." 
 Dr. Giles has reprinted, and in some respects 
 enlarged, those works from the authority of MSS. 
 I give them in the order of his volnmes. I. 
 Vita Sancti Thom^. Anctore Edward Grim. 
 II. Anctore Koger de Pontiniaco. III. Auctore 
 Willelmo Filio Stephani. IV. Auctoribus Jo- 
 anne Decano Salisburiensi, et Alano Abbate 
 Tenksburiensi. Y. Anctore TVillelmo Canter- 
 buriensi. VI. Anctore Anonymo Lambethi- 
 ensi. VII. Auctore Herberto de Bosham. Of 
 these, Grim, Pitz-Stephen, and Herbert de Bos- 
 ham were throughout his life in more or less 
 close attendance on Becket. The learned John 
 of Salisbury was his bosom friend and counsel- 
 
12 Thomas d Beclcet. 
 
 JoliB of Salisbury, liis confidential ad- 
 viser and correspondent, nor to Fitz- 
 Steplien, an officer of his court in chan- 
 cery, and dean of his chapel when arch- 
 bishop, who was with him at E'orth- 
 ampton, and at his death ; nor to Her- 
 bert de Bosham, likewise one of his offi- 
 cers when chancellor, and his faithful 
 attendant throughont his exile ; nor to 
 
 lor. Eoger of Pontignj was Ms intimate asso- 
 ciate and friend in tliat monastery. William 
 was probably prior of Canterbury at tbe time 
 of Becket's death. The sixth professes also to 
 have been witness to the death of Becket. (He 
 is called Lambethiensis by Dr. Giles, merely 
 because the MS. is in the Lambeth Library.) 
 Add to these the curious Trench poem, written 
 five years after the murder of Becket, by Garnier 
 of Pont S. Maxence, partly published in the 
 Berlin Transactions, by the learned Immanuel 
 Bekker, All these, it must be remembered, 
 write of the man ; the later monkish writers 
 (though near the time, Iloveden, Gervase, Di- 
 ceto, Brompton) of the Saint. 
 
Thomas a B eclcet. 13 
 
 the monk of Pontign j, who waited upon 
 him and enjoyed his most intimate con- 
 fidence during his retreat in that con- 
 vent ; nor to Edward Grim, his standard- 
 bearer, who on his way from Clarendon, 
 reproached him with his weakness, and 
 having been constantly attached to his 
 person, finally interposed his arm be- 
 tween his rr aster and the first blow of 
 the assassin. Is'or were these ardent 
 admirers of Becket silent from any se- 
 vere-aversion to the marvelous; they 
 relate, with unsuspecting faith, dreams 
 and prognostics which revealed to the 
 mother the future greatness of her son, 
 even his elevation to the see of Canter- 
 bury.2 
 
 2 Brompton is not the earliest writer who re- 
 corded this tale ; he took it from the Quadrilo- 
 gus I., but of this the date is quite uncertain. 
 The exact date of Brompton is unknown. See 
 preface in Twysden. He goes down to the end 
 of Richard II. 
 
14: Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 To the Saxon descent of Becket, a 
 theory in which, on the authority of an 
 eloquent French writer,^ modern his- 
 tory has seemed disposed to acquiesce, 
 these biographers not merely give no 
 support, but furnish direct contradic- 
 tion. The lower people no doubt ad- 
 mired during his life, and worshiped 
 after death, the blessed Thomas of Can- 
 terbury, and the people were mostly 
 Saxon. But it was not as a Saxon, but 
 as a Saint, that Becket was the object 
 of unbounded popularity during his 
 life, of idolatry after his death. 
 
 The father of Becket, according to 
 Parentage the distiuct words of oue con- 
 
 and edu- . ^ 
 
 cation, temporary biographer, was a 
 native of Kouen, his mother of Caen.^ 
 
 3 Mons. Thierry, Hist, des ^STormands. Lord 
 Lyttelton (Life of Henry II.) had before asserted 
 the Saxon descent of Becket : perhaps he misled 
 M. Thierry. 
 
 * The anonymous Lambethiensis, after stating 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 15 
 
 Gilbert was no knight-errant, bnt a 
 sober merchant, tempted by commercial 
 advantages to settle in London: his 
 mother neither boasted of royal Sara- 
 cenic blood, nor bore *the royal name 
 of Matilda : she was the daughter of an 
 honest burs^her of Caen. His l^orman 
 descent is still further confirmed by his 
 claim of relationship, or connexion at 
 least, as of common Norman descent, 
 with Archbishop Tlieobald.^ The pa- 
 rents of Becket, he asserts himself, were 
 merchants of unimpeached character, 
 not of the lowest class. Gilbert Becket 
 is said to have served the honorable 
 
 that many Norman merchants were allured to 
 London by the greater mercantile prosperity, 
 proceeds: "Ex horum numero fuit Gilbertus 
 qnidam cognomento Becket, patria Eotomagen- 
 sis . . . . liabuit aiitem uxorem, nomine Roseam 
 natione Cadomensem, genere burgensium quo- 
 que non disparem." — Apiid Giles, ii. p. 73, 
 5 See below. 
 
16 T homas a B echet , 
 
 Born A. B. office of sheriff, but Ms fortune 
 ■^^^^' was injured by fires and other 
 casualties.^ The young Becket received 
 his earliest education among the monks 
 of Merton in Surrey, towards whom he 
 cherished a fond attachment, and de- 
 lighted to visit them in the days of his 
 splendor. The dwelling of a respect- 
 able London merchant seems to have 
 been a place where strangers of very 
 different pursuits, who resorted to the 
 metropolis of England, took up their 
 lodging : and to Gilbert Becket's house 
 came persons both disposed and quali- 
 fied to cultivate in various ways the 
 extraordinary talents displayed by the 
 youth, who was singularly handsome, 
 and of engaging manners.^ A knight, 
 
 6 " Quod si ad generis mei radicem et proge- 
 nitores meos intenderis, cives qnidem fuerunt 
 Londonienses, in medio concivium suorum ha- 
 bitantes sine querela, nee omnino infimi." — 
 Epist. 130. '^ Grim, p. 9. Pontiniac, p. 96. 
 
Thomas a B eclcet . IT 
 
 whose name, Richard cle Aquila, occurs 
 with distinction in the annals of the 
 time, one of his father's guests, delight- 
 ed in initiating the gay and spirited 
 boy in chivalrous exercises, and in the 
 chase with hawk and hound. On a 
 hawking adventure the young Becket 
 narrowly escaped being drowned in the 
 Thames. At the same time, or soon 
 after, he was inured to business by act- 
 ing as clerk to a wealthy relative, Os- 
 born Octuomini, and in the office of the 
 Sheriff of London.^ His accomplish- 
 ments were completed by a short resi- 
 dence in Paris, the best school for the 
 language spoken by the l!^orman no- 
 bility. To his father's house came like- 
 wise two learned civilians from Bologna, 
 no doubt on some mission to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. They were so 
 captivated by young Becket, that they 
 strongly recommended him to Arch- 
 8 Grim, p. 8. 
 
18 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 bishojD Theobald, whom the father of 
 Becket reminded of their common hon- 
 orable descent from a knightly family 
 near the town of Thiersy.^ Becket was 
 at once on the high road of advance- 
 jn the ment. His extraordinary abil- 
 o??h?Arch- ities were cultivated by the 
 bishop. ^^^gg patronage, and employed 
 in the service of the primate. Once he 
 accompanied that prelate to Rome;^^ 
 and on more than. one other occasion 
 visited that great centre of Christian 
 aifairs. He was permitted to reside for 
 a certain time at each of the great 
 schools for the study of the canon law, 
 Bologna and Auxerre.^^ He was not, 
 
 9 " Eo familiarius, quod pr^fatus Gilbertus 
 cum domino arcMprsesule de propinquitate et 
 genere loquebatur : ut ille ortu Normannus et 
 circa Thierici villam de equestri ordine natu 
 vicinus." — ^Fitz-Stephen, p. 184. Thiersj or 
 TMerchville. 
 
 10 Eoger de Pontigny, p. 100. 
 
 11 Fitz-Stephen, p. 185. 
 
Thomas a B echet. 19 
 
 however, without enemies. Even in 
 the conrt of Theobald began the jealous 
 rivalry with Eoger, afterwards Arch- 
 bishop of York, then Archdeacon of 
 Canterbiirj.^2 Twice the superior influ- 
 ence of the archdeacon obtained his dis- 
 missal from the service of Theobald; 
 twice he was reinstated by the good 
 offices of Walter, Bishop of Eochester. 
 At length the elevation of Eoger to the 
 see of York left the field open to Beck- 
 et. He was appointed to the vacant 
 archdeaconry, the richest benefice, after 
 the bishoprics, in England. From that 
 time he ruled without rival in the favor 
 of the aged Theobald. Preferments 
 were heaped upon him by the lavish 
 bounty of his patron.^^ During his exile 
 
 12 According to Fitz-Stephen, Thomas was 
 less learned (minus literatus) than his rival, but 
 of loftier character and morals. — P. 184. 
 
 13 " PlurimsB ecclesies, prsebend^ nonnuU^." 
 Among the livings were one in Kent, and St. 
 
20 Thoinas a Bechet. 
 
 he was reproached with his ingratitude 
 to the king, who had raised him from 
 poverty. "Poverty!" he rejoined; 
 " even then I held the archdeaconry of 
 Canterbury, the provostship of Bever- 
 ley, a great many churches, and several 
 prebends. "^^ The trial and the triumph 
 of Becket's precocious abilities was a 
 negotiatioiiL of the utmost difficulty 
 with the court of Eome. The first ob- 
 ject was to obtain the legatine power 
 for Archbishop Theobald; the second 
 tended, more than almost all measures, 
 to secure the throne of England to the 
 house of Plantagenet. Archbishop 
 Theobald, with his clergy, had inclined 
 to the cause of Matilda and her son ; 
 they had refused to officiate at the coro- 
 nation of Eustace, son of King Stephen. 
 
 Mary le Strand ; among the prebends, two at 
 London and Lincoln. The archdeaconry of Can- 
 terbury was worth 100 pounds of silver a-year. 
 14 Epist. 130. 
 
Thomas a B echet. 21 
 
 Becket not merely obtained from En- 
 genius III. the full papal approbation 
 of this refusal, but a condemnation of 
 Stephen (whose title had before been 
 sanctioned by Eugenius himself,) as a 
 perjured usurper.^^ 
 
 But on the accession of Henry EC., the 
 aged Archbishop began to tremble at 
 his own work ; serious apprehensions 
 
 arose as to the disposition of Accession of 
 
 the young king towards the Dec. 19, 1154. 
 Church. His connexion was but re- 
 mote with the imperial family (though 
 his mother had worn the imperial 
 crown, and some imperial blood might 
 flow in his veins) ; but the Empire was 
 still the implacable adversary of the 
 papal power. Even from his father he 
 might have received an hereditary 
 taint of hatred to the Church, for the 
 Count of Anjou had on many occasions 
 
 15 Lord Lyttelton gives a full account of this 
 transaction. — Book i. p. 213. 
 
22 Tho'irhas a BecTcet. 
 
 shown tlie "utmost hostility to the Hier- 
 archy, and had not scrupled to treat 
 churchmen of the highest rank with un- 
 exampled cruelty. In proportion as it 
 was important to retain a young sover- 
 eign of such vast dominions in alle- 
 giance to the Church, so was it alarm- 
 ing to look forward to his disobedience. 
 The Archbishop was anxious to place 
 near his person some one who might 
 counteract this suspected perversity, 
 and to prevent his young mind from 
 being alienated from the clergy by 
 fierce and lawless counselors. He had 
 discerned not merely unrivaled abilities, 
 but with prophetic sagacity, his Arch- 
 deacon's lofty and devoted churchman- 
 ship. Through the recommendation of 
 the primate, Becket was raised to the 
 dignity of chancellor, ^^ an office which 
 
 16 This remarkable fact in Becket's history 
 rests on the authority of his friend, John of 
 Salisbury: "Erat enim in suspectu adolescentia 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 23 
 
 made him tlie second civil power in tlie 
 realm, inasmuch as his seal was neces- 
 sary to countersign all royal mandates. 
 ITor was it without great ecclesiastical 
 influence, as in the chancellor was the 
 aj)pointment of all the royal chaplains, 
 and the custody of vacant bishoprics, 
 abbacies, and benefices.^'^ 
 
 regis et juvenumetpravorumhominum, quorum 
 conciliis agi videbatur . . . insipientiam 
 et malitiam formidabat . . . cancellarium 
 procurabat in curia ordinari, cujus ope et opera 
 novi regis ne saeviret in ecclesiam, impetum 
 cohiberet et consilii sui temperaret malitiam." 
 — Apud Giles, p. 321. This is repeated in 
 almost the same words by "William of Canter- 
 bury, vol. ii. p. 2. Compare what may be read 
 almost as the dying admonitions of Theobald to 
 the king: "Suggerunt vobis filii sseculi hujus, 
 ut ecclesise minuatis auctoritatem, ut vobis regni 
 dignitas augeatur." He had before said, " Cui 
 deest gratia Ecclesiae, tota creatrix Trinitas ad- 
 versatur." — Apud Boq.uet, xvi. p. 504. Also 
 Koger de Pontigny, p. 101. 
 
 1^ Fitz-Stephen, p. 186. Compare on the 
 
24 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 But tlie Chancellor, wlio was yet, 
 Becket ^'^^^ all liis great preferments. 
 Chancellor, qj^j {-^ deacon's orders, might 
 seem disdainfully to throw aside the 
 habits, feelings, restraints of the church- 
 man, and to aspire as to the plenitude 
 of secular power, so to unprecedented 
 secular magnificence.^^ Becket shone 
 out in all the graces of an accomplish- 
 ed courtier, in the bearing and valor of 
 a gallant knight ; though at the same 
 time he displayed the most consummate 
 abilities for business, the promptitude, 
 diligence, and prudence of a practiced 
 statesman. The beauty of his person, 
 the affability of his manners, the extra- 
 ordinary acuteness of his senses,^^ his ac- 
 
 office of cliancellor Lord Campbell's Life of 
 Becket. 
 
 18 De Bosham, p. 17. 
 
 19 See a curious passage on the singular sen- 
 sitiveness of his hearing, and even of his smell. 
 — Eoger de Pontigny, p. 96. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 25 
 
 tivity in all cHvalrons exercises, made 
 liim the chosen companion of the king 
 in his constant diversions, in the chase 
 and in the mimic war, in all bnt his 
 debaucheries. The king wonld willing- 
 ly have lured the Chancellor into this 
 companionship likewise ; but the silence 
 of his bitterest enemies, in confirmation 
 of his own solemn protestations, may be 
 admitted as conclusive testimonies to 
 his unimpeached morals.^^ The power 
 of Becket throughout the king's domin- 
 ions equaled that of the king himself 
 — ^he was king in all but name: the 
 world, it was said, had never seen two 
 
 20 Eoger de Pontigny, p, 104. His character 
 bj John of Salisbury is remarkable: "Erat 
 supra modum captator aurse popularis . . . 
 etsi superbus esset et vanus et interdum faciem 
 prsetendebat iiAipienter amantium et verba pro- 
 ferret, admirandus tamen et imitandus erat in 
 corporis castitate." — P. 320. See an adventure 
 related by William of Canterbury, p. 3. 
 
26 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 friends so entirely of one mind.^^ The 
 well-known anecdote best illustrates 
 their intimate familiarity. As they 
 rode through the streets of London on 
 a bleak Winter day they met a beggar 
 in rags. "Would it not be charity," 
 said the king, "to give that fellow a 
 cloak, and cover him from the cold ? " 
 Becket assented ; on which the king 
 plucked the rich furred mantle from the 
 shoulders of the struggling Chancellor 
 and threw it, to the amazement and ad- 
 miration of the bystanders, no doubt to 
 the secret envy of the courtiers at this 
 proof of Becket's favor, to the shivering 
 beggar.22 
 
 But it was in the graver affairs of 
 the realm that Henry derived still 
 
 21 Grim, p. 13. Eoger de Pontigny, p. 102. 
 Fitz-Stephen, p. 192. * 
 
 22 Fitz-Stephen, p. 191. Fitz-Stephen is most 
 fall and particular on the chancellorship of 
 Becket. 
 
Thomas a B eehet . 27 
 
 greater advantage from tlie wisdom and 
 the conduct of the Chancellor.^^ To 
 Becket's counsels his admiring biogra- 
 phers attribute the pacification of the 
 kingdom, the expulsion of the foreign 
 mercenaries who during the civil wars 
 of Stephen's reign had devastated the 
 land and had settled down as conquer- 
 ors, especially in Kent, the humiliation 
 of the refractory barons and the demo- 
 lition of their castles. The peace was 
 so profound that merchants could travel 
 everywhere in safety, and even the 
 Jews collect their debts.^"* The magnifi- 
 cence of Becket redounded to the glory 
 of his sovereign. In his ordinary life 
 he was sumptuous beyond precedent ; 
 he kept an open table, where those who 
 
 2-3 It is not quite clear how soon after the ac- 
 cession of Henry the appointment of the chan- 
 cellor took place. I should incline to the earlier 
 date, A. D. 1155. 
 
 24 Fitz-Stephen, p. 187. 
 
28 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 were not so fortunate as to secnre a 
 seat at the board had clean rushes 
 strewn on the floor, on which they 
 might repose, eat, and carouse at the 
 Chancellor's expense. His household 
 was on a scale vast even for that age 
 of unbounded retainership, and the 
 haughtiest l^orman nobles were proud 
 to see their sons brought up in the 
 family of the merchant's son. In his 
 embassy to Paris to demand the hand 
 Ambassador of the Princcss Margaret for 
 A. D. 1160. the king's infant son, described 
 with such minute accuracy by Fitz- 
 S tephen,^^ he outshon e himself, yet might 
 seem to have a loyal rather than a per- 
 sonal aim in this unrivaled pomp. The 
 French crowded from all quarters to 
 see the splendid procession pass, and 
 exclaimed, "What must be the king, 
 whose Chancellor can indulge in such 
 enormous expenditure ? " 
 25 p. 196. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 29 
 
 Even in war tlie Chancellor liad dis- 
 played not only the abilities of a gen- 
 eral, but a personal prowess, which, 
 though it found many precedents in 
 those times, might appear somewhat 
 incongruous in an ecclesiastic, who yet 
 held all his clerical benefices. ^^^.^^ 
 In the expedition made by King '^ouiouse.^ 
 Henry to assert his right to the domin- 
 ions of the Counts of Toulouse, Becket 
 appeared at the head of seven hundred 
 knights who did him service, and fore- 
 most in every adventurous exploit was 
 the valiant Chancellor. Becket's bold 
 counsel urged the immediate storming 
 of the city, which would have been 
 followed by the captivity of the King 
 of France. Henry, in whose character 
 impetuosity was strangely molded up 
 with irresolution, dared not risk this 
 violation of feudal allegiance, the cap- 
 tivity of his suzerain. The event of the 
 war showed the policy as well as the 
 
30 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 superior military judgmeiit of the war- 
 like Chancellor. At a period somewhat 
 later, Becket, who was left to reduce 
 certain castles which held out against 
 his master, unhorsed in single combat 
 and took prisoner a knight of great dis- 
 tinction, Engelran de Trie. He return- 
 ed to Henry in Kormandy at the head 
 of 1200 knights and 4000 stipendiary 
 horsemen, raised and maintained at his 
 own charge. If indeed there were 
 grave churchmen even in those days 
 who were revolted by these achieve- 
 ments in an ecclesiastic (he was still 
 only in deacon's orders), the sentiment 
 was by no means universal, nor even 
 dominant. With some his valor and 
 military skill only excited more ardent 
 admiration. One of his biographers 
 bursts out into this extraordinary pane- 
 gyric on the Archdeacon of Canterbury : 
 " Who can recount the carnage, the 
 desolation, which he made at the head 
 
Thomas a B echet. 31 
 
 of a strong body of soldiers ? He at- 
 tacked castles, razed towns and cities to 
 the ground, burned down bouses and 
 farms without a touch of pity, and 
 never showed the slightest mercy to any 
 one who rose in insurrection against his 
 master's authority. "^^ 
 
 The services of Becket were not un- 
 rewarded; the love and gratitude of 
 his sovereign showered honors and 
 emoluments upon him. Among his 
 grants were the wardenship of the 
 Tower of London, the lordship of the 
 castle of Berkhampstead and the honor 
 of Eye, with the service of a hundred 
 and forty knights. Yet there must 
 have been other and more pro- ^^^^.j^ ^^ 
 lific sources of his wealth, so^^cket. 
 lavishly displayed. Through his hands 
 as Chancellor passed almost all grants 
 and royal favors. He was the guardian 
 of all escheated baronies and of all 
 26 Edward Grim, p. 12. 
 
32 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 vacant benefices. It is said in Ms praise 
 that he did not permit the king, as was 
 common, to prolong those vacancies for 
 his own advantage, that they were filled 
 up with as much speed as possible ; but 
 it should seem, by subsequent occur- 
 rences, that no very strict account was 
 kept of the king's monies spent by the 
 Chancellor in the king's service and 
 those expended by the Chancellor him- 
 self. This seems intimated by the care 
 which he took to secure a general quit- 
 tance from the chief justiciary of the 
 realm before his elevation to the arch- 
 bishopric. 
 
 But if in his personal habits and oc- 
 cupations Becket lost in some degree 
 the churchman in the secular dignitary, 
 was he mindful of the solemn trust im- 
 posed upon him by his patron the arch- 
 bishop, and true to the interests of his 
 order ? Did xie connive at, or at least 
 did he not resist, any invasion on eccle- 
 
Thomas a B ecTcet . 33 
 
 elastic al immunities, or, as tliey were 
 called, the liberties of the clergy ? did 
 he hold their property absolutely sacred ? 
 It is clear that he consented to levy the 
 scutage, raised on the whole realm, on 
 ecclesiastical as well as secular property. 
 All that his friend John of Salisbury 
 can allege in his defence is, that he bit- 
 terly repented of having been the minis- 
 ter of this iniquity. 2'^ " If with Saul he 
 persecuted the Church, with Paul he is 
 
 27 John of Salisbury denies that he sanctioned 
 the rapacity of the king, and urges that he only 
 yielded to necessity. Yet his exile was the just 
 punishment of his guilt. " Tamen quia eum 
 ministrum fuisse iniquitatis non ambigo, jure 
 Optimo taliter arbitror punienjum ut eo potis- 
 simum puniatur auctore, quern in talibus Deo 
 bonorum omnium auctori preeferebat. . . . 
 Sed esto ; nunc poenitentiam agit, agnoscit et 
 confitetur culpam pro ea, et si cum Saulo quan- 
 doque ecclesiam impugnavit, nunc, cum Paulo 
 ponere paratus est animam suam." — Bouquet, 
 p. 518. 
 
34 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 prepared to die for the Churcli." But 
 probably the worst effect of this conduct 
 as regards King Henry was the encour- 
 agement of his fatal delusion that, as 
 archbishop, Becket would be as submis- 
 sive to his wishes in the affairs of the 
 Church as had been the pliant Chancel- 
 lor. It was the last and crowning mark 
 of the royal confidence that Becket was 
 intrusted with the education of the 
 young Prince Henry, the heir to all the 
 dominions of the king. 
 
 Six years after the accession of Henry 
 April, 1161. n. died Theobald Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. On the character of his 
 successor depended the peace of the 
 realm, especially if Henry, as no doubt 
 he did, already entertained designs of 
 limiting the exorbitant power of the 
 Church. Becket, ever at his right hand, 
 could not but occur to the mind of the 
 king. ISTothing in his habits of life or 
 conduct could impair the hope that in 
 
Thomas d B echet. 35 
 
 him the loyal, the devoted, it might 
 seem unscrupulous subject, would pre- 
 dominate over the rigid churchman. 
 With such a prime minister, attached 
 by former benefits, it might seem by 
 the warmest personal love, still more 
 by this last proof of boundless confi- 
 dence, to his person, and as holding the 
 united offices of Chancellor and Primate, 
 ruling supreme both in Church and 
 State, the king could dread no resis- 
 tance, or if there were resistance, could 
 subdue it without difficulty. 
 
 Rumor had already designated Beck- 
 et as the futare prim ate. A churchman, 
 the Prior of Leicester, on a visit to 
 Becket, who was ill at Rouen, pointing 
 to his apparel, said, '' Is this a dress for 
 an Archbishop of Canterbury ?" Becket 
 himself had not disguised his hopes and 
 fears. ''There are three poor priests in 
 England, any one of whose elevation to 
 the see of Canterbury I should wish 
 
36 Thomas d Beclcei, 
 
 rather tlian my own. I know the very 
 heart of the king; if I should be pro- 
 moted, I must forfeit his favor or that 
 of God."28 
 
 The king did not suddenly declare 
 his intentions. The see was vacant for 
 above a y ear ,^^ and the administration of 
 the revenues must have been in the de- 
 partment of the Chancellor. At length 
 as Becket, who had received a commis- 
 sion to return to England on other af- 
 fairs of moment, took leave of his sover- 
 eign at Falaise, Henry hastily informed 
 him that those affairs were not the main 
 object of his mission to England — it was 
 for his election to the vacant archbishop- 
 ric. Becket remonstrated, but in vain ; 
 he openly warned, it is said, his royal 
 master that as Primate he must choose 
 
 28 Fitz-Stephen, p. 193. 
 
 29 Theobald died April 1 8, 1 1 61 . Becket was 
 ordained priest and consecrated on Whitsunda; , 
 1162. 
 
Thomas a B ecTcet. 37 
 
 between tlie favor of God and that of 
 the king — ^he must prefer that of God."^'^ 
 In those days the interests of the clergy 
 and of God were held inseparable. 
 Henry no donbt thought this but the 
 decent resistance of an ambitions pre- 
 late. The advice of Henry of Pisa, the 
 Papal Legate, overcame the faint and 
 lingering scruples of Becket : he passed 
 to England with the king's recommen- 
 dation, mandate it might be called, for 
 his election. 
 
 80 Yet Theobald, according to Jolin of Salis- 
 bury, designed Becket for Ms successor, — 
 
 ** hunc (i. e. Becket Cancellarium) successurum sibi sperat 
 et orat, 
 Hie est carnificum qui jus cancellat iniquum, 
 
 Quos habuit reges Anglia capta diu, 
 Esse putans reges, quos est perpessa, tyrannos 
 Plus veneratur eos, qui nocuere magis." 
 
 Eniheticus^ 1. 1295. 
 
 Did Becket decide against tbe Norman laws by 
 the Anglo-Saxon? Has any one guessed the 
 meaning of the rest of John's verses on the 
 Chancellor and his Court? I confess myself 
 baffled. 
 
 4 
 
38 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 All which to the king would desig- 
 nate Becket as the future Primate could 
 not but excite the apprehensions of the 
 more rigorous churchmen. The monks 
 of Canterbury, with whom rested the 
 formal election, alleged as an insuper- 
 able difficulty that Becket had never 
 worn the monastic habit, as almost all 
 his predecessors had done.^^ Tlie suffra- 
 gan bishops would no doubt secretly 
 resist the advancement, over all their 
 heads, of a man who, latterly at least, 
 had been more of a soldier, a courtier, 
 and a lay statesman. ISTor could the 
 prophetic sagacity of any but the wisest 
 discern the latent churchmanship in the 
 ambitious and inflexible heart of Becket. 
 It is recorded on authority, which I do 
 not believe doubtful as to its authen- 
 ticity, but which is the impassioned 
 statement of a declared enemy, .that 
 nothing but the arrival of the great 
 
 31 Roger de Pontigny, p. 100. 
 
Thomas, d B echet. 39 
 
 justiciary, Richard de Luci, with the 
 king's peremptory commands, and with 
 personal menaces of proscription and 
 exile against the more forward oppo- 
 nents, awed the refractory monks and 
 prelates to submission. 
 
 At Whitsuntide Thomas Becket re- 
 ceived priest's orders, and was then con- 
 secrated Primate of England with great 
 magnificence in the Abbey of West- 
 minster. The see of London being 
 vacant, the ceremony was performed by 
 the once turbulent, now aged and peace- 
 ful, Henry of Winchester, the brother 
 of King Stephen. One voice alone, that 
 of Gilbert Foliot, Bishop of Hereford,^^ 
 
 82 In the memorable letter of Gilbert Foliot. 
 Dr. Lingard observes that Mr. Berington has 
 proved this letter to be spurious. I cannot see 
 any force in Mr. Berington's arguments, and 
 should certainly have paid more deference to 
 Dr. Lingard himself if he had examined the 
 question. It seems, moreover (if I rightly 
 understand Dr. Giles, and I am not certain that 
 
40 Thomas d Bec'ket, 
 
 broke the apparent harmonj by a 
 bitter sarcasm — " The king has 
 wrought a miracle ; he has turned a 
 Gilbert soWier and a layman into an arch- 
 Fouot. bishop." Gilbert Foliot, from 
 first to last the firm and unawed antag- 
 onist of Becket, is too important a per- 
 sonage to be passed lightly by.^^ This 
 
 I do), that it exists in more than one MS. of 
 Foliot's letters. He has printed it as unques- 
 tioned ; no very satisfactory proceeding in an 
 editor. The conclusive argument for its authen- 
 ticity with me is this: Who, after Becket's 
 death and canonization, would have ventured 
 or thought it worth while to forge such a let- 
 ter ? To whom was Foliot's memory so dear, 
 or Becket's so hateful, as to reopen the whole 
 strife about his election and his conduct ? Be- 
 sides, it seems clear that it is either a rejoinder 
 to the long letter addressed by Becket to the 
 clergy of England (Giles, iii. 170), or that letter 
 is a rejoinder to Foliot's. Each is a violent 
 party pamphlet against the other, and of great 
 ability and labor. 
 33 Foliot's nearest relatives, if not himself, 
 
Thomas a B echet. 41 
 
 sally was attributed no doubt by some 
 at the time, as it was the subject after- 
 wards of many fierce taunts from Becket 
 himself, and of lofty vindication by 
 Foliot, to disappointed ambition, as 
 though he himself aspired to the pri- 
 macy. JS'or was there an ecclesiastic 
 in England who might entertain more 
 just hoj)es of advancement. He was 
 admitted to be a man of unimpeachable 
 life, of austere habits, and great learn- 
 ing. He had been Abbot of Glouces- 
 ter and then Bishop of Hereford. He 
 was in correspondence with four succes- 
 sive Popes, Coelestine H., Lucius H., 
 Eugenius IH., Alexander, and with a 
 familiarity which implies a high estima- 
 tion for ability and experience. He is 
 interfering in matters remote from his 
 diocese, and commending other bishops, 
 
 were Scotcli; one of them had forfeited his 
 estate for fidelity to the King of Scotland. — 
 
 Epis. ii. cclxxviii. 
 
 4* 
 
42 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 Lincoln and Salisbniy, to the favorable 
 consideration of the Pontiff. All his 
 letters reveal as imperious and consci- 
 entious a churchman as Becket himself, 
 and in Becket's position Foliot might 
 have resisted the king as inflexiblj.^^ 
 He was, in short, a bold and stirring 
 ecclesiastic, who did not scruple to 
 wield, as he had done in several in- 
 stances, that last terrible weapon of the 
 clergy which burst on his own head, 
 excommimication.^^ It may be added 
 that, notwithstanding his sarcasm, there 
 was no open breach between him and 
 Becket. The primate acquiesced in, if 
 
 34 Eead Ms letters before his elevation to the 
 see of London. 
 
 35 See, e.g., Epis. cxxxi., in which lie informs 
 Archbishop Theobald that the Earl of Hereford 
 held intercourse with William Beanchamp, ex- 
 communicated by the Primate. "Yilescit 
 anathematis authoritas, nisi et communicantes 
 excommunicatis corripiat digna se Veritas." The 
 Earl of Hereford must be placed under anathema. 
 
Thomas a B echet. 43 
 
 he did not promote, the advancement 
 of Folio t to the see of London ;^^ and 
 during that period letters of courtesy 
 which borders on adulation were inter- 
 changed at least with apparent sin- 
 cerity.^'^ 
 
 The king had indeed wrought a 
 greater miracle than himself intended, 
 or than Foliot thought possible. Becket 
 became at once not merely a decent 
 prelate, but an austere and mortified 
 monk : he seemed determined to make 
 up for his want of ascetic qualifications; 
 to crowd a whole life of monkhood into 
 
 86 Lambeth, p. 9 1 . The election of the Bishop 
 of Hereford to London is confirmed by the 
 Pope's permission to elect him (March 19) rogatu 
 H. regis et Archep. Cantuarensis. A letter 
 from Pope Alexander on his promotion rebukes 
 him for fasting too severely. — Epist. ccclix. 
 
 37 Foliot, in a letter to Pope Alexander, main- 
 tains the superiority of Canterbury over York. 
 — cxlix. 
 
44 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 a few years.^^ Under his canonical dress 
 lie wore a monk's frock, haircloth next 
 his skin ; his studies, his devotions, were 
 long, regular, rigid. At the mass he 
 was frequently melted into passionate 
 tears. In his outward demeanor, in- 
 deed, though he submitted to private 
 flagellation, and the most severe macer- 
 ations, Becket was still the stately pre- 
 late : his food, though scanty to abste- 
 miousness, was, as his constitution re- 
 quired, more delicate ; his charities were 
 boundless. Archbishop Theobald had 
 doubled the usual amount of the pri- 
 mate's alms, Becket again doubled that; 
 and every night in privacy, no doubt 
 
 38 See on the change in his habits, Lambeth, 
 p. 48 ; also the strange story, in Grim, of a 
 monk who declared himself commissioned by 
 a preterhuman person of terrible countenance to 
 warn the Chancellor not to dare to appear in 
 the choir, as he had done, in a secular dress. — 
 p. 16. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 45 
 
 more ostentatious tlian the most public 
 exhibition, with his own hands he 
 washed the feet of thirteen beggars. 
 His table was still hospitable and sump- 
 tuous, but instead of knights and no- 
 bles, he admitted only learned clerks, 
 and especially the regulars, w^hom he 
 courted with the most obsequious defer- 
 ence. For the sprightly conversation 
 of former times were read grave books 
 in the Latin of the Church. 
 
 But the change was not alone in his 
 habits and mode of life. The King 
 could not have reproved, he might have 
 admired, the most punctilious regard for 
 the decency and the dignity of the high- 
 est ecclesiastic in the realm. But the 
 inflexible churchman began to betray 
 himself in more unexpected acts. While 
 still in France Henry was startled at 
 receiving a peremptory resignation of 
 the chancellorship, as inconsistent with 
 the religious functions of the primate. 
 
46 Thomas a Beclcet, 
 
 This act was as it were a bill of divorce 
 from all personal intimacy witli tlie king, 
 a dissolution of their old familiar and 
 friendly intercourse. It was not merely 
 that the holy and austere prelate with- 
 drew from the unbecoming pleasures 
 of the court, the chase, the banquet, 
 the tournament, even the war; they 
 were no more to meet at the council 
 board, and the seat of judicature. It 
 had been said that Becket was co-sove- 
 reign with the king, he now appeared 
 (and there were not wanting secret and 
 invidious enemies to suggest, and to in- 
 flame the suspicion) a rival sovereign.^^ 
 The king, when Becket met him on his 
 landing at Southampton, did not at- 
 
 89 Compare the letter of the politic Arnulf^ 
 Bishop of Lisieux: " Si enimfavori divino favo- 
 rem prasferritis humanum, poteratis noii solum 
 cum summa tranquillitate degere, sed ipso etiam 
 magis quam olim, Principe conregnare." — Apud 
 Bouquet, xvi. p. 229. 
 
Thomas a B echet. 47 
 
 tempt to conceal his dissatisfaction ; his 
 reception of his old friend was cold. 
 
 It were unjust to human nature, to 
 suppose that it did not cost Becket a 
 violent struggle, a painful sacrifice, 
 thus as it were to rend himself from 
 the familiarity and friendship of his 
 munificent benefactor. It was no doubt 
 a severe sense of duty which crushed 
 his natural afiections, especially as vul- 
 gar ambition must have pointed out a 
 more sure and safe way to power and 
 fame. Such ambition would hardly 
 have hesitated between the ruling all 
 orders through the king, and the soli- 
 tary and dangerous position of opposing 
 so powerful a monarch to maintain the 
 interests and secure the favor of one 
 order alone. 
 
 Henry was now fully occupied with 
 the affairs of Wales. Becket, with the 
 royal sanction, obeyed the summons 
 of Pope Alexander to the Council of 
 
48 Thomas a BeoTcet. 
 
 Tours. Becket had passed through part 
 of France at the head of an army of his 
 own raising, and under his command ; 
 he had passed a second time as repre- 
 senting the king ; he was yet to pass as 
 Becketat an -cxile. At Tours, where 
 19, 1163. Pope Alexander now held his 
 court, and presided over his council, 
 Becket appeared at the head of all the 
 Bishops of England, except those ex- 
 cused on account of age or infirmity. 
 So great was his reputation, that the 
 Pope sent out all the cardinals except 
 those in attendance on his own person 
 to escort the primate of England into 
 the city. In the council at Tours not 
 merely was the title of Alexander to 
 the popedom avouched with perfect 
 unanimity, but the rights and privileges 
 of the clergy asserted with more than 
 usual rigor and distinctness. Some 
 canons, one especially which severely 
 condemned all encroachments on the 
 
Thomas a B echet. 49 
 
 property of the Churcli, raiglit seem 
 framed almost with a view to the im- 
 pending strife with England. 
 
 That strife, so impetuous might seem 
 the combatants to join issue, Beginning 
 broke out, during the next year, °^ ^*'^'^®- 
 in all its violence. Both parties, if they 
 did not commence, were prepared for 
 aggression. The first occasion of pub- 
 lic collision was a dispute concerning 
 the customary payment of the ancient 
 Danegelt, of two shillings on every hide 
 of land, to the sherifi*s of the several 
 counties. The king determined to 
 transfer this payment to his own ex- 
 chequer : he summoned an assembly at 
 Woodstock, and declared his intentions. 
 All were mute but Becket ; the arch- 
 bishop opposed the enrolment of the 
 decree, on the ground that the tax was 
 voluntary, not of right. " By the eyes 
 of God," said Henry, his usual oath, 
 " it shall be enrolled !" " By the same 
 
50 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 ejes, by wliicli jou swear," replied tlie 
 prelate, " it shall never be levied on 
 mj lands while I live !"^ On Becket's 
 part, almost the first act of bis primacy 
 was to vindicate all tbe rights, and to 
 resnme all the property which had been 
 nsnrped, or which he asserted to have 
 been nsnrped, from his see.**^ It was not 
 likely that, in the turbulent times jnst 
 gone by, there would have been rigid 
 respect for the inviolability of sacred 
 property. The title of the Church was 
 held to be indefeasible. Whatever had 
 once belonged to the Church might be 
 recovered at any time ; and the ecclesi- 
 
 40 This strange scene is recorded by Eoger de 
 Pontignj, who received his information on all 
 those circumstances from Becket himself, or 
 from his followers. See also Grim, p. 22. 
 
 41 Becket had been compelled to give up the 
 rich archdeaconry of Canterbury, which he 
 seemed disposed to hold with the archbishopric. 
 Geoffrey Eidel, who became archdeacon, was 
 afterwards one of his most active enemies. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 51 
 
 as^ical courts claimed tlie sole right of 
 adjudication in sncli causes. The pri- 
 mate was thus at once plaintiff, judge, 
 and carried into execution his own 
 judgments. Tlie lord of the manor of 
 E jnsford in Kent, who held of the king, 
 claimed the right of presentation to that 
 benefice. Becket asserted the preroga- 
 tive of the see of Canterbury. On the 
 forcible ejectment of his nominee by 
 the lord, William of Ejnsford, Becket 
 proceeded at once to a sentence of ex- 
 communication, without regard to Eyns- 
 ford's feudal superior the king. The 
 primate next demanded the castle of 
 Tunbridge from the head of the power- 
 ful family of De Clare ; though it had 
 been held by De Clare, and it claims of 
 was asserted, received in ex- ^^'=^^^- ^ 
 change for a ISTorman Castle, since the 
 time of William the Conqueror. The 
 attack on De Clare might seem a defi- 
 ance of the whole feudal nobilitv ; a de- 
 
52 Thomas a Bec'ket, 
 
 termination to despoil them of their con- 
 quests, or grants from the sovereign. 
 
 The king, on his side, wisely chose 
 the strongest and more popular ground 
 of the immunities of the clergy from all 
 temporal jm-isdiction. He appeared as 
 guardian of the public morals, as ad- 
 ministrator of equal justice to all his 
 Immunities suLjects, as protcctor of the 
 clergy. peace of the realm. Crimes 
 of great atrocity, it is said, of great fre- 
 quency, crimes such as robbery and 
 homicide, crimes for which secular 
 persons were hanged by scores and 
 without mercy, were committed almost 
 with impunity, or with punishment 
 altogether inadequate to the offence by 
 the clergy; and the sacred name of 
 clerk, exempted not only bishops, ab- 
 bots, and priests, but those of the low- 
 est ecclesiastical rank from the civil 
 power. It was the inalienable right of 
 the clerk to be tried only in the court 
 
Thomas a B echet . 53 
 
 of his bisliop ; and as tliat court could 
 not award capital pnnislinient, the ut- 
 most penalties were flagellation, impris- 
 onment, and degradation. It was only 
 after degradation, and for a second 
 off'ence (for the clergy strenuously in- 
 sisted on the injustice of a second trial 
 for the same act,)^^ that the meanest of 
 the clerical body could be brought to 
 the level of the most highborn layman. 
 But to cede one tittle of these immuni- 
 ties, to surrender the sacred person of a 
 clergyman, whatever his guilt, to the 
 secular power, was treason to the sacer- 
 dotal order: it was giving up Christ 
 
 42 The king was willing that the clerk guilty 
 
 of murder or robbery should be degraded before 
 
 he was hanged, but hanged he should be. The 
 
 archbishop insisted that he should be safe " a 
 
 Isesione membrorum." Degradation was in 
 
 itself so dreadful a punishment, that to hang 
 
 also for the same crime was a double penalty. 
 
 " If he returned to his vomit," after degradation, 
 
 "he might be hanged." — Compare Grim, p. 30. 
 5* 
 
64: Thomas a BecTcet. 
 
 (for the Redeemer was supposed actu- 
 ally to dwell in tlie clerk, though his 
 hands might be stained with innocent 
 blood) to be crucified by the heathen.^ 
 To mutilate the person of one in holy^ 
 orders was directly contrary to the 
 Scripture (for with convenient logic, 
 while the clergy rejected the example 
 of the Old Testament as to the equal 
 liability of priest and Levite with the 
 ordinary Jew to the sentence of the law, 
 they alleged it on their own part as un- 
 answerable.) It was inconceivable, that 
 hands which had but now made God 
 should be tied behind the back, like 
 those of a common malefactor, or that 
 his neck should be wrung on a gibbet, 
 before whom kings had but now bowed 
 in reverential homage.^ 
 
 The enormity of the evil is acknowl- 
 
 43 " De novo jndicatur Christns ante Pilatum 
 pr£esidem." — ^De Bosham, p. 117. 
 
 44 De Bosham, p. 100. 
 
Thomas d B echet. 55 
 
 edged by Becket's most ardent parti- 
 sans.^^ The king had credible informa- 
 tion laid before liim that some of the 
 clergy were absolute devils in gnilt, 
 that their wickedness conld not be 
 repressed by the ordinary means of 
 
 45 The fairness with which the question is 
 stated by Herbert de Bosham, thB follower, 
 almost the worshiper of Becket, is remarkable. 
 " Arctabatur itaqne rex, arctabatur et pontifex. 
 Rex etenim populi sui pacem, sicut archipraesul 
 cleri sui zelans libertatem, andiens sic et videns 
 et ad mnltorum relationes et querimonias acci- 
 piens, per hujuscemodi castigationes, talium 
 clericorum immo verius caracterizatorum, daomo- 
 num flagitia non reprimi vel potius indies per 
 regnnm deterius fieri." He proceeds to state 
 at length the argument on both sides. Another 
 biographer of Becket makes strong admissions 
 of the crimes of the clergy : " Sed et ordinato- 
 rum inordinati mores, inter regem et archepis- 
 copum auxere malitiam, qui solito abundantius 
 per idem tempus apparebant publicis irretiti 
 criminibus." — ^Edw. Grim, It was said that no 
 less than 100 of the clergy were charged with 
 homicide. 
 
56 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 justice, and were daily growing worse. 
 Becket himself had protected some 
 notorious and heinous oiFenders. A 
 clerk of the diocese of Worcester had 
 debauched a maiden and murdered her 
 father. Becket ordered the man to be 
 kept in prison, and refused to surrender 
 him to the king's justice.^^ Another in 
 London, guilty of stealing a silver gob- 
 let, was claimed as only amenable to 
 the ecclesiastical court. Philip de 
 Brois, a canon of Bedford, had been 
 guilty of homicide. The cause was 
 tried in the bishop's court ; he was 
 condemned to pay a fine to the kindred 
 of the slain man. Some time after, 
 Fitz-Peter, the king's justiciary, whe- 
 ther from private enmity or offence, or 
 dissatisfied with the ecclesiastical ver- 
 dict, in the open court at Dunstable, 
 called De Brois a murderer. De Brois 
 
 46 This, according to Fitz-Stephen, was the 
 first cause of quarrel with the king. p. 215. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 57 
 
 broke out into angry and contumelious 
 language against the judge. The in- 
 sult to the justiciary was held to be in- 
 sult to the king, who sought justice, 
 where alone he could obtain it, in the 
 bishop's court. Philip de Brois this 
 time incurred a sentence, to our notions 
 almost as disproportionate as that for 
 his former offence. He was condemn- 
 ed to be publicly whipped, and de- 
 graded for two years from the honors 
 and emoluments of his canonry. But 
 to the king the verdict appeared far too 
 lenient ; the spiritual jurisdiction was 
 accused as shielding the criminal from 
 his due penalty. 
 
 Such were the questions on which 
 Becket was prepared to confront character 
 and to wage war to the death ofthemn^ 
 with the king ; and all this with a de- 
 liberate knowledge both of the power 
 and the character of Henry, his power 
 as undisputed sovereign of England 
 
58 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 and of continental territories more ex- 
 tensive and flourisliing tlian those of 
 the king of France. These dominions 
 included those of the Conqneror and 
 his descendants, of the Counts of Anjou, 
 and the great inheritance of his wife, 
 Queen Eleanor, the old kingdom of 
 Aquitaine ; they reached from the 
 borders of Flanders round to the foot 
 of the Pyrenees. This almost unrival- 
 ed power could not but have worked 
 with the strong natural, passions of 
 Henry to form the character drawn by 
 a churchman of great ability, who 
 would warn Becket as to the formidable 
 adversary whom he had undertaken to 
 oppose, — " You have to deal with one 
 on whose policy the most distant sov- 
 ereigns of Europe, on whose power his 
 neighbors, on whose severity his sub- 
 jects look with awe; whom constant 
 successes and prosperous fortune have 
 rendered so sensitive, that every act of 
 
.Thomas dBechet, 59 
 
 disobedience is a personal outrage; 
 wliom it is as easy to provoke as diffi- 
 cult to appease ; who encourages no 
 rash offence by impunity, but whose 
 vengeance is instant and summary. He 
 will sometimes be softened by humility 
 and patience, but will never submit to 
 compulsion ; everything must seem to 
 be conceded by his own free will, noth- 
 ing wrested from his weakness. He is 
 more covetous of glory than of gain, a 
 commendable quality in a prince, if 
 virtue and truth, not the vanity and 
 soft flattery of courtiers, awarded that 
 glory. He is a great, indeed the great- 
 est of kings, for he has no superior of 
 whom he may stand in dread, no sub- 
 ject who dares to resist him. His nat- 
 ural ferocity has been subdued by no 
 calamity from without ; all who have 
 been involved in any contest with him, 
 have preferred the most precarious 
 treaty to a trial of strength with one so 
 
60 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 pre-eminent in wealth, in the number 
 of his forces, and the greatness of his 
 puissance."*'^ 
 
 A king of this character would eager- 
 ly listen to suggestions of interested or 
 flattering courtiers, that unless the 
 Primate's power were limited, the au- 
 thority of the king would be reduced to 
 nothing. The succession to the throne 
 would depend entirely on the clergy, 
 and he himself would reign only so 
 long as might seem good to the Arch- 
 bishop. IS^or were they the baser cour- 
 tiers alone who feared and hated Becket. 
 
 47 See throughout this epistle of Arnulf of 
 Lisieux, Bouquet, p. 230. This same Arnulf 
 was a crafty and double-dealing prelate. Grim 
 and Eoger de Pontigny say that he suggested 
 to Henry the policy of making a party against 
 Becket among the English bishops, while to 
 Becket he plays the part of confidential coun- 
 sellor.— Grim, p. 29. R. P., p. 119. Will. 
 Canterb., p. 6. Compare on Arnulf, Epist. 346, 
 V. 11, p. 189. 
 
Thomas cl Bechet. 61 
 
 The nobles miglit tremble from the ex- 
 ample of De Clare, with whose power- 
 ful house almost all the [N'orman baron- 
 age was allied, lest every royal grant 
 should be called in question^^ Even 
 among the clergy Becket had bitter 
 enemies ; and though at first they ap- 
 peared almost as jealous as the Primate 
 for the privileges of their order, the 
 most able soon espoused the cause of 
 the King ; those who secretly favored 
 him were obliged to submit in silence. 
 The Eng, determined to bring these 
 fi^reat questions to issue summon- Parliament 
 
 1 -r» T -TTT • ofWest- 
 
 ed a Jr arliament at W estmmster. minster. 
 He commenced the proceedings by en- 
 larging on the abuses of the archidiac- 
 onal courts. The archdeacons kept 
 the most watchful and inquisitorial 
 Buperintendence over the laity, but 
 every offence was easily commuted for 
 
 43 These are tlie words wMch Fitz-Stephen 
 places in the mouths of the king's courtiers. 
 
62 Thomas a JB echet . 
 
 a pecuniary fine, wMcli fell to tliem. 
 The King complained that they levied 
 a revenue from the sins of the people 
 equal to his own, yet that the public 
 morals were only more deeply and ir- 
 retrievably depraved. He then de- 
 manded that all clerks accused of hein- 
 ous crimes should be immediately de- 
 graded and handed over to the officers 
 of his justice, to be dealt with accord- 
 ing to law ; for their guilt, instead of 
 deserving a lighter punishment, was 
 doubly guilty : he demanded this in 
 the name of equal justice and the peace 
 of the realm. Becket insisted on delay 
 till the next morning, in order that he 
 might consult his suffragan bishops. 
 This the King refused : the bishops 
 withdrew to confer upon their answer. 
 The bishops were disposed to yield, 
 some doubtless impressed with the jus- 
 tice of the demand, some from fear of 
 the King, some from a prudent convic- 
 
Thorn a sd Beclcet. 63 
 
 tion of the danger of provoking so 
 powerful a monarch, and of involving 
 the Church in a quarrel with Hemy at 
 the perilous time of a contest for the 
 Papacy w^hich distracted Europe. Beck- 
 et inflexibly maintained the inviola- 
 bility of the holy persons of the clergy .^^ 
 The King then demanded whether they 
 would observe the "customs of the 
 realm." "Saving my order," replied 
 the Archbishop. That order was still 
 to be exempt from all jurisdiction but 
 its own. So answered all the bishops 
 except Hilary of Chichester, who made 
 the declaration without reserve.^*^ The 
 King hastily broke up the assembly, 
 and left London in a state of consterna- 
 tion, the people and the clergy agitated 
 by conflicting anxieties. He immediate- 
 
 49 Herbert de Bosham, p. 109. Fitz-Stephen, 
 
 p. 209, et seq. 
 
 50 "Dicens se observaturos regias consuetu- 
 dines bona fide." 
 
64: Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 \j deprived Eecket of tlie custody of 
 tlie Eoyal Castles, whicli lie still retain- 
 ed, and of the momentons charge, the 
 education of his son. The bishops en- 
 treated Becket either to withdraw or to 
 change the offensive word. At first he 
 declared that if an angel from Heaven 
 should counsel such weakness, he would 
 hold him accursed. At length, how- 
 ever, he yielded, as Herbert de Bosham 
 asserts out of love for the King,^^ by 
 another account at the persuasion of 
 the Pope's Almoner, said to have been 
 bribed by English gold.^^ He went to 
 Oxford and made the concession. 
 
 The King, in order to ratify with the 
 
 Jan. 1154; utmost solemnity the concession 
 
 extorted from the bishops, and even 
 
 from Becket himself, summoned a great 
 
 ., , council of the realm to Claren- 
 
 /Council of 
 
 Clarendon, ^q-^^ ^ royal palace between 
 
 51 Compare W. Canterb., p. 6. 
 
 52 Grim, p. 29. 
 
Thomas a B echet. 65 
 
 three and four miles from Salisbury. 
 The two archbishops and eleven bishops, 
 between thirty and forty of the highest 
 nobles, with numbers of inferior barons, 
 were present. It was the King's ob- 
 ject to settle beyond dispute the main 
 points in contest between the Crown 
 and the Church ; to establish thus, with 
 the consent of the whole nation, an 
 English Constitution in Church and 
 State. Becket, it is said, had been as- 
 sured by some about the King that a 
 mere assent would be demanded to 
 vague an ambiguous, and therefore on 
 occasion disputable customs. But 
 when these customs, which had been 
 collected and put in writing by the 
 King's order, appeared in the form of 
 precise and binding laws, drawn up 
 with legal technicality by the Chief 
 Justiciary, he saw his error, wavered, 
 and endeavored to recede.^^ The King 
 
 53 Dr. Lingard supposes tliat Becket demand- 
 6* 
 
Thomas a BecTtet, 
 
 broke out into one of Ms ungovernable 
 fits of passion. One or two of the 
 bishops wlio were ont of favor with tlie 
 King and two knights Templars on 
 their knees implored Becket to abandon 
 his dangerous, fruitless, and ill-timed 
 resistance. The Archbishop took the 
 oath, which had been already sworn to 
 by all the lay barons. He was follow- 
 ed by the rest of the bishops, re- 
 luctantly according to one account, 
 and compelled on one side by their 
 dread of the lay barons, on the other 
 by the example and authority #f the 
 Primate, according to Becket's biog- 
 
 ed that the customs should be reduced to writ- 
 ing. This seems quite contrary to his policy ; 
 and Edward Grim writes thus : " ISTam domes- 
 tici regis, dato consentiente consilio, securem 
 fecerant archepiscopum, quod nunquam scribe- 
 rentuT leges, nunquam illarum fieret recordatio, 
 si eum verbo tantum in audientia procerum 
 honorasset," &c, — P. 81. 
 
Thomas a B echet. ^ 67 
 
 rapliers, eagerly and of tlieir own ac- 
 cord.^ 
 
 These famous constitutions were of 
 course feudal in tlieir form and spirit. 
 But they aimed at the subjection of all 
 the great prelates of the realm constitutions 
 to the Crown to the same ex- ofciarendon. 
 tent as the great barons. The new con- 
 stitution of England made the bishops' 
 fiefs to be granted according to the 
 royal will, and subjected the whole of 
 the clergy equally with the laity to the 
 common laws of the land.^^ I. On the 
 vacancy of every archbishopric, bishop- 
 ric, abbey, or priory, the revenues came 
 into the Bang's hands. He was to sum- 
 mon those who had the right of election, 
 which was to take place in the King's 
 Chapel, with his consent, and the coun- 
 
 54 See the letter of Gilbert Foliot, of whicli I 
 do not doubt the authenticity. 
 
 55 According to the Cottonian copy, publish- 
 ed by Lord Lyttelton, Constitutions xii. xv. iv. 
 
Thomas a Beehet. 
 
 sel of nobles chosen by the King for 
 this office. The prelate elect was im- 
 mediately to do homage to the King as 
 his liege lord, for life, limb, and worldly 
 honors, excepting his order. The arch- 
 bishops, bishops, and all beneficiaries, 
 held their estates on the tenure of 
 baronies, amenable to the King's jus- 
 tice, and bound to sit with the other 
 barons in all pleas of the Crown, except 
 in capital cases, l^o archbishop, bishop, 
 or any other person could quit the 
 realm without royal permission, or with- 
 out taking an oath at the King's requi- 
 sition, not to do any damage either 
 going, staying, or returning, to the King 
 or the kingdom. 
 
 II. All clerks accused of any crime 
 were to be summoned before the King's 
 Courts. The King's justiciaries were 
 to decide whether it was a case for civil 
 or ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Those 
 which belonged to the latter were to be 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 69 
 
 removed to tlie Bishops' Court. If the 
 clerk was found guilty or confessed his 
 guilt, the Church could protect him no 
 longer.^^ 
 
 in. All disputes concerning advow- 
 sons and presentations to benefices were 
 to be decided in the King's Courts ; and 
 the King's consent was necessary for the 
 appointment to any benefice within the 
 King's domain.^^ 
 
 lY. ISTo tenant in chief of the King, 
 none of the oflicers of the Eling's house- 
 hold, could be excommunicated, nor his 
 lands placed under interdict, until due 
 information had been laid before the 
 King ; or, in his absence from the realm, 
 before the great Justiciary, in order that 
 he might determine in each case the 
 respective rights of the civil and eccle- 
 siastical courts.^^ 
 
 56 Constitution iii. 57 Constitutions i. and ii. 
 58 Constitution vii., somewhat limited and 
 explained by x. 
 
70 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 Y. Appeals lay from the archdeacon 
 to the bishop, from the bishop to the 
 Archbishop. On failure of justice by 
 the Archbishop, in the last resort to 
 the King, who was to take care that 
 justice was done in the Archbishop's 
 Conrt ; and no further appeal was to be 
 made without the King's consent. This 
 was manifestly and avowedly intended 
 to limit appeals to Rome. 
 
 All these statutes, in number sixteen, 
 were restrictions on the distinctive 
 immunities of the clergy ; one, and 
 that unnoticed, was really an invasion 
 of popular freedom ; no son of a villien 
 could be ordained without the consent 
 of his lord. 
 
 Some of these customs were of doubt- 
 ful authenticity. On the main ques- 
 tion, the exorbitant powers of the eccle- 
 siastical courts and the immunity of the 
 clergy from all other jurisdiction, there 
 was an unrepealed statute of William 
 
Thomas a Beehet. 71 
 
 the Conqueror. Before the Conquest 
 the bishop sate with the alderman in 
 the same court. The statute of William 
 created a separate jurisdiction of great 
 extent in the spiritual court. Tliis was 
 not done to aggrandize the Church, of 
 which in some respects the Conqueror 
 was jealous, but to elevate the import- 
 ance of the great l^orman prelates 
 whom he had thrust into the English 
 sees. It raised another class of power- 
 ful feudatories to support the foreign 
 throne, bound to it by common interest 
 as well as by the attachment of race. 
 But at this time neither party took any 
 notice of the ancient statute. The King's 
 advisers of course avoided the danger- 
 ous question :, Becket and the Church- 
 men (Becket himself declared that he 
 was unlearned in the customs), standing 
 on the divine and indefeasible right of 
 the clergy, could hardly rest on a recent 
 statute granted by the royal will, and 
 
72 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 therefore liable to be ammlled by the 
 same antliority. Tlie .Customs, they 
 averred, were of themselves illegal, as 
 clashing with higher irrepealable laws. 
 
 To these Customs Becket had now 
 sworn without reserve. Three copies 
 were ordered to be made — one for the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, one for 
 York, one to be laid up in the royal 
 archives. To these the King demand- 
 ed the further guarantee of the seal of 
 the different parties. The Primate, 
 whether already repenting of his assent, 
 or under the vague impression that this 
 was committing himself still further 
 (for oaths might be absolved, seals could 
 not be torn from public documents), 
 now obstinately refused to make any 
 further concession. The refusal threw 
 suspicion on the sincerity of his former 
 act. The King, the other prelates, the 
 nobles, all but Becket,^^ subscribed and 
 
 59 Herbert de Bosham. " Oaiite qnidam 
 
Thomas d B ecTcet . 73 
 
 sealed the Constitutions of Clarendon as 
 tlie laws of England. 
 
 As the Primate rode from Winches- 
 ter in profound silence, meditating on 
 the acts of the council and on his own 
 conduct, one of his attendants, who has 
 himself related the conversation, endea- 
 vored to raise his spirits. ^' It is a fit 
 punishment," said Becket, "for one 
 w^ho, not trained in the school of the 
 Saviour, but in the King's court, a man 
 of pride and vanity, from a follower of 
 hawks and hounds, a patron of players, 
 has dared to assume the care of so many 
 souls." ^^ De Bosham significantly re- 
 minded his master of St. Peter, his 
 denial of the Lord, his subsequent 
 
 non de piano negat, sed differendum dicebat 
 adhuc." 
 
 60 " Superbiis et vanus, de pastore avium 
 factus sum pastor ovium ; dudum fautor histrio- 
 num et eorum sectator tot animarum pastor."— 
 De Bosliam, p. 126. 
 
74 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 repentance. On his return to Canter- 
 bury Becket imposed npon himself 
 the severest mortification, and suspend- 
 ed himself from his function of offering 
 the sacrifice on the altar. He wrote 
 April 1. almost immediately to the Pope 
 to seek counsel and absolution from his 
 oath. He received both. The absolu- 
 tion restored all his vivacity. 
 
 But the King had likewise his emis- 
 saries with the Pope at Sens. He 
 endeavored to obtain a legatine com- 
 mission over the whole realm of Eng- 
 land for Becket's enemy, Roger Arch- 
 bishop of York, and a recommendation 
 from the Pope to Becket to observe the 
 " customs" of the realm. Two embas- 
 sies were sent by the King for this end : 
 first the Bishops of Lisieux and Poitiers ; 
 then Geoffrey Ridel, Archdeacon of 
 Canterbury (who afterwards appears so 
 hostile to the Primate as to be called by 
 him that archdevil, not archdeacon). 
 
Thomas a B ecJiet . 75 
 
 and the subtle Jolin of Oxford. The 
 embarrassed Pope (throughout it must 
 be remembered that there was a formid- 
 able Antipope), afraid at once of estrang- 
 ing Henry, and unwilling to abandon 
 Becket, granted the legation to the 
 Archbishop of York. To the Primate's 
 great indignation, Roger had his cross 
 borne before him in the province of 
 Canterbury. On Becket' s angry re- 
 monstrance, the Pope, while on the one 
 hand he enjoined on Becket the greatest 
 caution and forbearance in the inevit- 
 able contest, assured him that he would 
 never permit the see of Canterbury to 
 be subject to any authority but his 
 own.^i 
 
 6iKead the Epistles, apnd Giles, v. iv. 1, 3, 
 Bonquet, xvi. 210, to judge of the skillful steer- 
 ing and difficulties of the Pope. There is a 
 very curious letter of an emissary of Becket, 
 describing the death of the Antipope (he died 
 at Lucca, April 21). The canons of San Fredi- 
 
76 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 Becket secretly went down to liis 
 estate at Romney, near the sea-coast, in 
 tlie hope of crossing the straits, and so 
 finding refuge and maintaining his cause 
 by his personal presence with the Pope. 
 Stormy weather forced him to abandon 
 his design. He then betook himself to 
 the King at Woodstock. He was cold- 
 ly received. The King at first dissem- 
 
 ano, in Lucca, refused to bury Mm, because he 
 was already " buried in lielL" The writer an- 
 nounces that the Emperor also was ill, that the 
 Empress had miscarried, and that therefore 
 all France adhered with greater devotion to 
 Alexander; and the Legatine com7mssion to 
 the Archtishop of Yorlc had expired without hope 
 oj recovery. The writer ventures, however, to 
 suggest to Becket to conduct himself with 
 modesty ; to seek rather than avoid intercourse 
 with the king. — Apud Giles, iv. 240 ; Bouquet, 
 p. 210. See also the letter of John, Bishop of 
 Poitiers, who says of the Pope, " Gravi redimit 
 poenitenti4, illam qualem qualem quam Ebo- 
 racensi (fecerit), concessionem." — Bouquet, p. 
 214. 
 
Thomas a B ecTcet. 77 
 
 bled his knowledge of the Primate's 
 attempt to cross the sea, a direct viola- 
 tion of one of the constitutions ; but on 
 his departure he asked with bitter jocu- 
 larity whether Becket had sought to 
 leave the realm because England could 
 not contain himself and the King.^^ 
 
 The tergiversation of Becket, and his 
 attempt thus to violate one of the Con- 
 stitutions of Clarendon, to w^hich he 
 had sworn, showed that he was not 
 to be bound by oaths. E'o treaty could 
 be made where one party claimed -the 
 power of retracting, and might at any 
 time be released from his covenant. In 
 the mind of Henry, whose will had 
 never yet met resistance, the determina- 
 tion was confirmed, if he could not sub- 
 due the Prelate, to crush the refractory 
 
 62 I follow De Bosham, Fitz-Stephen says 
 that lie was repelled from the gates of the king's 
 palace at Woodstock ; and that he afterwards 
 went to Eomney to attempt to cross the sea. 
 7* 
 
78 Thomas a Bec'ket. 
 
 subject. Eecket's enemies possessed 
 tlie King's ear. Some of tliose enemies 
 no donbt hated Mm for Ms former favor 
 with the King, some dreaded lest the 
 severity of so inflexible a prelate should 
 curb their license, some held property 
 belonging to or claimed by the Church, 
 some to flatter the King, some in honest 
 indignation at the duplicity of Becket 
 and in love of peace, but all concurred 
 to inflame the resentment of Henry, and 
 to attribute to Becket words and de- 
 signs insulting to the King and disparag- 
 ing to the royal authority. Becket, 
 holding such notions as he did of Church 
 power, would not be cautious in assert- 
 ing it ; and whatever he might utter in 
 his pride would be embittered rather 
 than softened when repeated to the 
 King. 
 
 Since the Council of Clarendon Beck- 
 et stood alone. All the higher clergy, 
 the great prelates of the kingdom, were 
 
Thomas a B ec'k.et. '79 
 
 now either his open adversaries or were 
 compelled to dissemble their favor to- 
 wards him. Whether alienated, as 
 some declared, by his pusillanimity at 
 Clarendon, bribed by the gifts or over- 
 awed by the power of the King, whe- 
 ther conscientionsly convinced that in 
 such times of schism and division it 
 might be fatal to the interests of the 
 Church to advance her loftiest preten- 
 sions, all, esj)ecially the Archbishop of 
 York, the Bishops of London, Salisbury 
 and Chichester, were arrayed on the 
 'King's side. Becket himself attributed 
 the chief guilt of his persecution to the 
 bishops. " The King would have been 
 quiet if they had not been so tamely 
 subservient to his wishes."'^^ 
 
 Before the close of the year Becket was 
 cited to appear before a great council of 
 
 63 " Quievisset ille, si non acquievissent illi." 
 — ^Becket, Epist. ii. p. 5. Compare the whole 
 letter. 
 
80 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 So^lLTmpton! the realm, at mrtliampton. 
 Oct. 6, 1164 j^ii England crowded to wit- 
 ness tills final strife, it miglit be between 
 tlie royal and the ecclesiastical power. 
 The Primate entered l^ortliampton with 
 only bis own retinue; the King had 
 passed the afternoon amnsing himself 
 with hawking in the pleasant meadows 
 around. The Archbishoj), on the fol- 
 lowing morning after mass, appeared 
 in the King's chamber with a cheerful 
 countenance. The King gave not, ac- 
 cording to English custom, the kiss of 
 peace. 
 
 The citation of the Primate before 
 the King in council at J^orthampton 
 was to answer a charge of withholding 
 justice from John the Marshall em- 
 ployed in the king's exchequer, who 
 claimed the estate of Pagaham from 
 the see of Canterbury. Twice had 
 Becket been summoned to appear in 
 the king's court to answer for this denial 
 
Thomas a B echet . 81 
 
 of justice : once lie had refused to ap- 
 pear, the second time lie did not appear 
 m person. Becket in vain alleged an 
 informality in tlie original proceedings 
 of John the Marshall.^^ The court, the 
 bishops, as well as the barons, declared 
 him guilty of contumacy ; all his goods 
 and chattels became, according to the 
 legal phrase, at the king's mercy.^^ 
 Tlie line was assessed at 500 pounds. 
 Becket submitted, not without bitter 
 irony : " This, then, is one of the new 
 customs of Clarendon." But he pro- 
 tested against the unheard-of audacity 
 that the bishops should presume to sit 
 in judgment on their spiritual j)arent ; 
 
 64 He had been sworn not on the Gospels, but 
 on a troplogium, a book of church music. 
 
 65 Goods and chattels at the king's mercy 
 were redeemable at a customary fine : this fine, 
 accoiding to the customs of Kent, would have 
 been larger than according to those of London. 
 — ^Fitz-Stephen. 
 
82 T Ibomas a B echet. 
 
 it was a greater crime than to uncover 
 tlieir father's nakedness.^*^ Sarcasms 
 and protests passed alike without no- 
 tice. But the bishops, all except Foliot, 
 Demands conscuted to bccome sureties for 
 on Becket. ^|^^g exorbltaut fine. Demands 
 rising one above another seemed framed 
 for the purpose of, reducing the Arch- 
 bishop to the humiliating condition of 
 a debtor to the King, entirely at his 
 disposal. First 300 pounds w^ere de- 
 manded as due from the castles of Eye 
 and Berkhampstead. Becket pleaded 
 that he had expended a much larger 
 sum on the repairs of the castles : he 
 found sureties likewise for this pay- 
 ment, the Earl of Gloucester, William 
 of Eynsford, and another of " his men." 
 The next day the demand was for 500 
 pounds lent by the King during the 
 
 66 " Minus fore malum verenda patris detecta 
 deridere, quam patris ipsius personam judicare." • 
 — ^De Bosham, p. 135. 
 
Thomas a J3 echet . 83 
 
 siege of Toulouse. Becket declared that 
 this was a gift, not a loan f"^ but the 
 King denying the plea, judgment was 
 again entered, against Becket. At 
 last came the overwhelming charge, an 
 account of all the monies received dur- 
 ing his chancellorship from the vacant 
 archbishopric and from other bishoprics 
 and abbeys. The debt was calculated 
 at the enormous sum of 44,000 marks. 
 Becket was astounded at this unexpect- 
 ed claim. As chancellor, in all likeli- 
 hood, he had kept no very strict ac- 
 count of what was expended in his own 
 and in the royal service ; and the King 
 seemed blind to this abuse of the royal 
 right, by which so large a sum had ac- 
 cumulated by keeping open those bene- 
 fices which ought to have been instantly 
 filled. Becket, recovered from his first 
 
 6"^ Fitz-Stephen states this demand at 500 
 marks, and a second 500 for which a bond had 
 been sriven to a Jew. 
 
84 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 amazement, replied that lie liad not 
 been cited to answer onsncli charge; at 
 another time he shonld be prepared to 
 answer all just demands of the Crown. 
 He now requested delay, in order to 
 advise with his snffragans and the 
 clergy. He withdrew; bnt from that 
 time no single baron visited the object 
 of the royal disfavor. Becket assem- 
 bled all the poor, even the beggars, 
 who conld be fonnd, to fill his vacant 
 board. 
 
 In his extreme exigency the Primate 
 Takes coun- consultcd Separately first the 
 bishops. bishops, then the abbots. 
 Their adivce was different according to 
 their characters and their sentiments 
 towards him. He had what might seem 
 an unanswerable plea, a formal acquit- 
 tance from the Chief Justiciary De Luci, 
 the King's representative, for all obli- 
 gations incurred in his civil capacity 
 before his consecration as archbish- 
 
Thomas a B echet . 85 
 
 op.^^ Tlie King, however, it was 
 known, declared that he had given 
 no snch anthority. Becket had the 
 further excuse that all which he now 
 possessed was the property of the 
 Church, and could not be made liable 
 for responsibilities incurred in a sec- 
 ular capacity. The bishops, how- 
 ever, were either convinced of the 
 insufficiency or the inadmissibility of 
 that plea. Henry of Winchester recom- 
 mended an endeavor to purchase the 
 King's pardon ; he offered 2000 marks 
 as his contribution. Others urged 
 
 68 Neither party denied this acquittance given 
 in the King's name by the justiciary Eichard de 
 Luci. This, it should seem, unusual precaution, 
 or at least this precaution taken with such un- 
 usual care, seems to imply some suspicion that 
 without it, the archbishop was liable to be called 
 to account ; an account which probably, from ' 
 the splendid prodigality with which Becket had 
 lavished the King's money and his own, it might 
 be diflacult or inconvenient to produce. 
 
86 Thomas a B ec'ket . 
 
 Becket to stand on his dignity, to defy 
 the worst, under the shelter of his 
 priesthood; no one would venture to 
 lay hands on a holy prelate. Foliot 
 and his party betrayed their object.^^ 
 They exhorted him as the only way of 
 averting the implacable wrath of the 
 King at once to resign his see. '' "Wonld," 
 said Hilary of Chichester, " you were 
 no longer archbishop, but plain Tho- 
 mas. Thou knowest the King better 
 than we do ; he has declared that thou 
 and he cannot remain together in Eng- 
 land, he as King, thou as Primate. 
 Who will be bound for such an amount? 
 Throw thyself on the King's mercy, or 
 
 69 In an account of this affair, written later, 
 Becket accuses Foliot of aspiring to the primacy 
 — "et qui adspirabant ad fastigium ecclesi89 
 Cantuarensis, ut vulgo dicitur et creditur, in 
 nostram perniciem, utinam minus ambitios6, 
 quam avide." This could he none hut Foliot. — 
 Epist. Ixxv. p. 154. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 87 
 
 to tlie eternal diss^race of tlie Cliurela 
 thou wilt be arrested and imprisoned 
 as a debtor to tbe Crown." The next 
 day was Sunday ; tbe Arcbbisliop did 
 not leave his lodgings. On Monday 
 the agitation of his spirits had brought 
 on an attack of a disorder to which he 
 was subject : he was permitted to repose. 
 On the morrow he had determined on 
 his conduct. At one time he had seri- 
 ously meditated on a more humiliating 
 course : he proposed to seek the royal 
 presence barefooted with the cross in 
 his hands, to throw himself at the King's 
 feet, appealing to his old affection, and 
 imploring him to restore peace to the 
 Church. What had been the effect of 
 such a step on the violent but not un- 
 generous heart of Henry? But Becket 
 yielded to the haughtier counsels more 
 congenial to his own intrepid character. 
 He began by the significant act of cele- 
 brating, out of its due order, the ser- 
 
Thomas a Beehet. 
 
 vice of St. Stephen, the first martyr. 
 It contained passages of holy writ (as 
 no doubt Henry was instantly inform- 
 ed) concerning " kings- taking counsel 
 against the godly." The mass con- 
 cluded; in all the majesty of his holy 
 character, in his full pontifical habits, 
 himself bearing the archiepiscopal cross, 
 the Primate rode to the King's resi- 
 Becket in dcncc, and dismounting entered 
 hall. the royal hall. The cross seem- 
 ed, as it were, an uplifting of the ban- 
 ner of the Church, in defiance of that 
 of the King, in the royal presence '^^ or 
 it might be in that awful imitation of 
 the Saviour, at which no scruple was 
 
 "^0 " Tanquam in prcelio Domini, signifer Do- 
 mini, yexillum Domini erigens ; illud ^tiam Do- 
 mini non solum spiritualiter, sed et figuraliter 
 implens. ' Si quis,' inqnit, ' vult mens esse dis- 
 cipulus, abneget semet ipsum, toUat crncem 
 suam et sequatur me.'" — De Bosham, p. 143. 
 Compare the letter of the Bishops to the Pope. 
 — Giles, iv. 256 ; Bouquet, 224. 
 
Thomas a B ec'ket. 89 
 
 ever made by tlie bolder clinrcbmeii — 
 it was tlie servant of Christ who him- 
 self bore his own cross. " "What means 
 this new fashion of the Archbishop 
 bearing his own cross ?" said the Arch- 
 deacon Lisienx. " A fool," said Fpliot, 
 " he always was and always will be." 
 They made room for him ; he took his 
 accustomed seat in the centre of the 
 bishops. Foliot endeavored to per- 
 suade him to lay down the cross. '' K 
 the sword of the King and the cross of 
 the Archbishop were to come in conflict, 
 which were the more fearful weapon ? " 
 Becket held the cross firmly, which 
 Foliot and the Bishop of Hereford 
 strove, but in vain, to wrest from his 
 grasp. 
 
 The bishops were summoned into the 
 King's presence: Becket sat alone in 
 the outer hall. The Archbishop of 
 York, who, as Becket's partisans assert- 
 ed, designedly came later that he might 
 
 8* 
 
90 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 appear to be of the King's intimate 
 council, swept through the hall with his 
 cross borne before him. Like hostile 
 spears cross confronted cross.'^^ 
 
 During this interval De Bosham, the 
 archbishop's reader, who had reminded 
 his master that he had been standard- 
 bearer of the King of England, and was 
 now the standard-bearer of the King of 
 the Angels, put this question, '' If they 
 should lay their impious hands upon 
 thee, art thou prepared to fulminate 
 excommunication against them ? " Fitz- 
 Stephen, who sat at his feet, said in a 
 loud clear voice, "That be far from thee ; 
 so did not the Apostles and Martyrs of 
 God : they prayed for their persecutors 
 and forgave them." Some of his more 
 
 '^1 " Quasi pila minantia pilis," quotes Fitz- 
 Stephen; " Memento," said De Bosham, "quon- 
 dam te extitisse regis Anglorum signiferum in- 
 expugnabilem, nunc vero si signifer regis Ange- 
 lorum expugnaris, turpissimum." — ^p. 146. 
 
Thomas a B eche't. 91 
 
 attached followers burst into tears. " A 
 little later," says tlie faithful Fitz- 
 Stephen of himself, " when one of the 
 King's nshers would not allow me to 
 speak to the Archbishop, I made a sign 
 to him and drew his attention to the 
 Saviour on the cross." 
 
 The bishops admitted to the King's 
 presence announced the appeal of the 
 Archbishop to the Pope, and his inhi- 
 bition to his suffragans to sit in judg- 
 ment in a secular council on their 
 metropolitan.'^^ These were again, di- 
 rect infringements on two of the con- 
 stitutions of Clarendon, sworn to by 
 Becket in an oath still held valid by the 
 
 ■^2 " Dicebant enim episcopi, quod adhuc, ipsa 
 die, intra decern dies data9 sententiae, eos ad 
 dominnm Papain appellaverat, et ne de cetero 
 eum judicarent pro seculari querela, quae de 
 tempore ante arcliiprsesulatum ei moveretur, 
 auctoriate domini Pap» proMbuit." — Fitz- 
 Stephen, p. 230. 
 
92 Tliomas a Bechet. 
 
 King and Ms barons. The King ap- 
 pealed to the connciL Some seized the 
 occasion of boldly declaring to the King 
 that he had brought this difficulty on 
 himself by advancing a low-born man 
 condemna- to such favor and di2:nity. All 
 
 tionof ^ , _ , ^ -^ „ 
 
 Becket. agreed that Becket was guilty 
 of perjury and treason.'^^ A kind of 
 low acclamation followed which was 
 heard in the outer room and made 
 Becket's followers tremble. The King 
 sent certain counts and barons to de- 
 mand of Becket whether he, a liegeman 
 of the King, and sworn to observe the 
 constitutions of Clarendon, had lodged 
 this appeal and pronounced this inhibi- 
 tion? The Archbishop replied with 
 quiet intrepidity. In his long speech 
 he did not hesitate for a word ; he plead- 
 ed that he had not been cited to ansy^er 
 these charges; he alleged again the 
 Justiciary's acquittance ; he ended by 
 'J'3 Herbert de Bosliam, p. 146. 
 
Thomas a B eohet. 93 
 
 solemnly renewing liis inliibition and 
 Ills appeal : "My person and my Chm-cli 
 I place nnder the protection of tlie 
 sovereign Pontiff." 
 
 The barons of J^ormandy and Eng- 
 land heard with wonder this defiance 
 of the King. Some seemed awe-strnck 
 and were mnte ; the more fierce and 
 lawless conld not restrain their indigna- 
 tion. "The Conqueror knew best how 
 to deal with these turbulent churchmen. 
 He seized his own brother, Odo Bishop 
 of Bayeux, and chastised him for his 
 rebellion; he threw Stigand, Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbmy, into a fetid dun- 
 geon. The Count of Anjou, the Eang's 
 father, treated still worse the bishop 
 elect of Seez and many of his clergy ; 
 he ordered them to be shamefully 
 mutilated and derided their sufferings." 
 
 The King summoned the bishops, on 
 their allegiance as barons, to join in 
 sentence as^ainst Becket. But the inhi- 
 
94: Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 bition of tlieir metropolitan had thrown 
 them into embarrassment, and perhaps 
 they felt that the offence of Becket, if 
 not capital treason, bordered npon it. 
 It might be a sentence of blood,' in 
 which no churchman might concnr by 
 his suffrage — they dreaded the breach 
 of canonical obedience. They entered 
 the hall where Becket sat alone. The 
 gentler prelates, Robert of Lincoln and 
 others, were moved to tears; even 
 Henry of Winchester advised the arch- 
 bishop to make an unconditional sur- 
 render of his see. The more vehement 
 Hilary of Chichester addressed him 
 thus : " Lord Primate, we have just 
 cause of complaint against you. Your 
 inhibition has placed us between the 
 hammer and the anvil : if we disobey 
 it, we violate our canonical obedience ; 
 if we obey, we infringe the constitutions 
 of the realm and offend the King's 
 majesty. Yourself were the first to 
 
Thomas a B ec'ket. 95 
 
 subscribe the customs at Clarendon, 
 you now compel us to break them. We 
 appeal, by the King's grace, to our lord 
 the Pope." Becket answered " I hear." 
 They returned to the King, and with 
 difficulty obtained an exemption from 
 concurrence in the sentence ; they pro- 
 mised to join in a supplication to the 
 Pope to depose Becket. The King per- 
 mitted their appeal. Robert Earl of 
 Leicester, a grave and aged nobleman, 
 was commissioned to pronounce the 
 sentence. Leicester had hardly begun 
 when Becket sternly interrupted him. 
 "Thy sentence ! son and Earl, hear me 
 first ! The King was pleased to pro- 
 mote me against my will to the arch- 
 bishopric of Canterbury. I was then 
 declared free from all secular obliga- 
 tions. Ye are my children ; presume 
 ye against law and reason to sit in judg- 
 ment on your spiritual father ? I am 
 to be judged only, under God, by the 
 
96 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 Pope. To him I appeal, before him I 
 cite you, barons and my suffragans, to 
 appear. Under the protection of the 
 Catholic Church and the Apostolic See 
 I depart !"^^ He rose and walked 
 slowly down the hall. A deep murmur 
 ran through the crowd. Some took up 
 straws and threw them at him. One 
 uttered the word " Traitor ! " The old 
 chivalrous spirit woke in the soul of 
 Becket. "Were it not for my order, 
 you should rue that word." But by 
 other accounts he restrained not his 
 language to this pardonable impropriety 
 — ^he met scorn with scorn. One officer 
 of the King's household he upbraided 
 for having had a kinsman hanged. 
 Anselm, the King's brother, he called 
 " bastard and catamite." The door was 
 
 '^4 De Bosham's account is, that notwithstand- 
 ing the first interruption, Leicester reluctantly 
 proceeded till he came to the word "perjured," 
 on which Becket rose and spoke. 
 
Thomas a B ec'ket . 97 
 
 locked, but fortunately tlie key was 
 found. He passed out into the street, 
 where he was received by tlie populace, 
 to whom he had endeared himself by 
 his charities, his austerities, perhaps by 
 his courageous opposition to the king 
 and the nobles, amid loud acclamations. 
 They pressed so closely around him for 
 his blessing that he could scarcely guide 
 his horse. He returned to the church 
 of St. Andrew, placed his cross by the 
 altar of the Yirgin. " This was a fear- 
 ful day," said Fitz-Stephen. " The day 
 of judgment," he replied, " will be more 
 fearful." After supper he sent the 
 Bishops of Hereford, Worcester, and 
 Rochester to the King to request per- 
 mission to leave the kingdom : the King 
 coldly deferred his answer till the 
 morrow. 
 
 Becket and his friends no doubt 
 thought his life in danger : he is said 
 to have received some alarming warn- 
 
98 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 ings.'^^ It is reported, on the other 
 hand, that the King, apprehensive of 
 the fierce zeal of his followers, issned a 
 proclamation that no one should do 
 harm to the archbishop or his people. 
 It is more likely that the King, who 
 mnst have known the peril of attempt- 
 ing the life of an archbishop, would 
 have apprehended and committed him 
 to prison. Becket expressed his inten- 
 tion to pass the night in the church : 
 his bed was strewn before the altar. 
 Flight of At midni2:ht he rose, and with 
 
 Becket. ' o •' 
 
 Oct. 13. only two monks and a servant 
 stole out of the northern gate, the only 
 one which was not guarded. He carried 
 with him only his archiepiscopal pall 
 and his seal. The weather was wet and 
 stormy, but the next morning they 
 reached Lincoln, and lodged with a 
 pious citizen — piety and admiration of 
 Becket were the same thing. At Lin- 
 TSPeBosham, p. 150. 
 
Thomas a B ecJcet. 99 
 
 coin lie took the disguise of a monk, 
 dropped down the Witliam to a hermit- 
 age in the fens belonging to the Cister- 
 cians of Sempringham; thence by cross- 
 roads, and chiefly by night, he found 
 his way to Estrey, about five miles from 
 Deal, a manor belonging to Christ 
 Church in Canterbury. He remained 
 there a week. On All Souls Day he 
 went on board a boat, just before morn- 
 ing, and by the evening reached the 
 coast of Flanders. To avoid observa- 
 tion he landed on the open shore near 
 Gravelines. His large, loose shoes made 
 it difficult to wade through the sand 
 without falling. He sat down in des- 
 pair. After some delay was obtained 
 for a prelate, accustomed to the pranc- 
 ing war-horse or stately cavalcade, a 
 sorry nag without a saddle, and with a 
 wisp of hay for a bridle. But he soon 
 got weary and was fain to walk. He 
 had many adventures by the way. He 
 
100 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 was once nearly betrayed by gazing 
 with delight on a falcon upon a young 
 squire's wrist : his fright punished him 
 for his relapse into his secnlar vanities. 
 The host of a small inn recognized him 
 by his lofty look and the whiteness of 
 his hands. At length he arrived at the 
 monastery of Clair Marais, near St. 
 Omer : he was there joined by Herbert 
 de Bosham, who had been left behind 
 to collect what money he could at Can- 
 terbury; he brought but 100 marks 
 and some plate. While he was in this- 
 part of Flanders the Justiciary, Richard 
 de Luci, passed through the town on his 
 way to England. He tried in vain to 
 persuade the archbishop to return with 
 him : Becket suspected his friendly 
 overtures, or had resolutely determined 
 not to put himself again in the King's 
 power. 
 
 In the first access of indignation at 
 Becket's flight the King had sent orders 
 
Thomas a Bec'ket. 101 
 
 for strict watcli to be kept in tlie ports 
 of the kingdom, especially Dover. The 
 next measure was to pre-occnpj the 
 minds of the Count of Flanders, the 
 King of France, and the Pope against 
 his fugitive subject. Henry could not 
 but foresee how formidable an ally the 
 exile might become to his rivals and 
 enemies, how dangerous to his extensive 
 but ill-consolidated foreign dominions. 
 He might know that Becket would act 
 and be received as an independent po- 
 tentate. The rank of his ambassadors 
 implied the importance of their mission 
 to France. They were the Archbishop 
 of York, the Bishops of London, Exeter, 
 Chichester, and Worcester, the Earl of 
 Arundel, and three other distinguished 
 nobles. The same day that Becket 
 passed to Gravelines, they crossed from 
 Dover to Calais.'^^ 
 
 '^6 Foliot and the King's envoys crossed the 
 same day. It is rather amusing that, though 
 
102 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 The Earl of Flanders, tlioiigh. with 
 Becket some cause of hostility to Beck- 
 in exile, g^^ 1^^^ offered him a refuge ; yet 
 perhaps was not distinctly informed or 
 would not know that the exile was in 
 his dominions.'^^ He received the King's 
 envoys with civilitj^. The King of 
 France was at Compiegne. The 
 strongest passions in the feeble mind of 
 Louis yil. were jealousy of Henry of 
 
 Becket crossed the same daj in an open boat, 
 and, as is incautiously betrayed by his friends, 
 Buffered much from the rough sea, the weather 
 is described as in his case almost miraculously 
 favorable, in the other as miraculously tempes- 
 tuous. So that while Becket calmly glided over, 
 Foliot in despair of his life threw off his cowl 
 and cope. 
 
 '^'f Compare, however, Pwoger of Pontigny. 
 By his account, the Count of Flanders, a rela- 
 tive and partisan of Henry (" consanguineus et 
 qui partes ejus fovebat ") would have arrested 
 him. He escaped over the border by a trick. — 
 Koger de Pontigny, p. 148. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 103 
 
 England, and a servile bigotry to tlie 
 Chnrcli, to wliicli he seemed determined 
 to compensate for tlie liostility and dis- 
 obedience of his yonth. Against Hen- 
 ry, personally, there were old causes of 
 hatred rankling in his heart, not the 
 less deep because they cQuld not be 
 avowed. Henry of England was now 
 the husltand of Eleanor, who, after some 
 years of marriage, had contemptuously 
 divorced the King of France as a monk 
 rather than as a husband, had ^^^^ ^-^^.^ 
 thrown herself into the arms of *^ ^^^^• 
 Henry and carried with her a dowry 
 as large as half the kingdom of France. 
 There had since been years either of 
 fierce war, treacherous negotiations, or 
 jealous and armed peace, between the 
 rival sovereigns. 
 
 Louis had watched, and received 
 regular accounts of the proceedings in 
 England ; his admiration of Becket for 
 his lofty churchmanship and daring 
 
104 TTioWjas a Bechet. 
 
 opposition to Henry was at its height, 
 scarcely disguised. He had already in 
 secret offered to receive Becket, not as 
 a fugitive, but as the sharer in his king- 
 dom. The ambassadors appeared before 
 Louis and presented a letter urging the 
 King of France not to admit within his 
 dominions the traitor Thomas, late 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. « " Late 
 Louis of Archbishop ! and who has pre- 
 France. g^j^g^]^ ^q dcpose liim ? I am a 
 
 king, like my brother of England; I 
 should not dare to depose the meanest 
 of my clergy. Is this the King's grati- 
 tude for the services of his Chancellor, 
 to banish him from France, as he has 
 done from England ?"^^ Louis wrote a 
 strong letter to the Pope, recommend- 
 ing to his favor the cause of Becket as 
 his own. 
 
 Ambassadors The ambassadors passed on- 
 at Sens. ^ards to Scus, where resided 
 '^8 Giles, iv. 253 ; Bouquet, p. 217. 
 
Thomas a BecTcet. 105 
 
 the Pope Alexander III., himself an ex- 
 ile, and opposing his spiritual power to 
 the highest temporal authority, that of 
 the Emperor and his subservient Anti- 
 pope. Alexander was in a position of 
 extraordinary difficnlty : on the one side 
 were gratitude to King Henry for his 
 firm support, and the fear of estranging 
 so powerful a sovereign, on whose un- 
 rivaled wealth he reckoned as the main 
 strength of his cause ; on the other, the 
 dread of offending the King of France, 
 also his faithful partisan, in whose do- 
 minions he was a refugee, and the duty, 
 the interest, the strong inclination to 
 maintain every privilege of the hierar- 
 chy. To Henry Alexander almost owed 
 his pontificate. His first and most faith- 
 ful adherents had been Theobald the 
 primate, the English Church, and Hen- 
 ry King of England; and when the 
 weak Louis had entered into dangerous 
 negotiations at Lannes with the Em- 
 
106 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 peror; when at Dijon he had almost 
 placed himself in the power of Freder- 
 ick, and his volmitary or enforced de- 
 fection had filled Alexander with dread, 
 the advance of Henry of England with 
 a powerful force to the neighborhood 
 rescued the French king from his peril- 
 ous position. And now, though Victor 
 the Antipope was dead, a successor, 
 Guido of Crema, had been set up by 
 the imperial party, and Frederick would 
 lose no opportunity of gaining, if any 
 serious quarrel should alienate him from 
 Alexander, a monarch of such surpass- 
 ing power. An envoy from England, 
 John Cummin, was even now at the 
 imperial court.''^ 
 
 Becket's messengers, before the re- 
 ception of Henry's ambassadors by Pope 
 Alexander, had been admitted to a pri- 
 vate interview. The account of Beck- 
 
 "^9 Epist. Nuntii; Giles, iv. 254; Bouquet, 
 
 p. 2ir. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 107 
 
 et's " figlit with beasts " at N'orthamp- 
 ton, and a skillful parallel with St. Paul, 
 had melted the heart of the Pontiff, as 
 he no doubt thought himself suffering 
 like persecutions, to a flood of tears. 
 How in truth could a Pope venture to 
 abandon such a champion of what 
 were called the liberties of the Church ? 
 He had, in fact, throughout been in 
 secret correspondence with Becket. 
 "Whenever letters could escape the 
 jealous watchfulness of the I^ng, 
 they had passed between England and 
 Sens. 
 
 80 Becket writes from England to the Pope : 
 " Quod petimus, summo silentio petimus occul- 
 tari. Nihil enim nobis tutum est, quum omnia 
 fere referuntur ad regem, quae nobis in conclavi 
 vel in aurem dicuntur." There is a significant 
 clause at the end of this letter, which implies 
 that the emissaries of the Church did not con- 
 fine themselves to Church affairs : " De Wallen- 
 sibus et Oweno, qui se principem nominat, pro- 
 videatis, quia Dominus Eex super hoc maxime 
 
108 TTiomas d JBechet. 
 
 Tlie ambassadors of Hemy were re- 
 The King's ccived ill state in the open 
 
 ambassadors . -i-i n r> t 
 
 at Sens. consistorj. Foliot of London 
 began with his usual ability ; his warmth 
 at length betrayed him into the Scrip- 
 tural citation, — " The wicked fleeth 
 wheii no man pursueth." " Forbear," 
 said the Pope. " I w^ill forbear him," 
 answered Foliot. " It is for thine own 
 sake, not for his, that I bid thee for- 
 bear." The Pope's severe manner 
 silenced the Bishop of London. Hilary, 
 Bishop of Chichester, who had over- 
 weening confidence in his eloquence, 
 began a long harangue ; but at a fatal 
 blunder in his Latin, the whole Italian 
 court burst into laughter.^^ The dis- 
 comfited orator tried in vain to proceed. 
 
 motus est et indignatus." The Welsh were in 
 arms against the King: this borders on high 
 treason. — Apud Giles, iii. 1. Bouquet, 221. 
 
 81 The word "oportuebat" was too bad for 
 monkish, or rather for Koman, ears. 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 109 
 
 The Arclibisliop of York spoke with 
 prudent brevity. The Count of Arun- 
 del, more cautious or less learned, used 
 his native IS'orman. His speech was 
 mild, grave, and conciliatory, and there- 
 fore the most embarrassing to the Pon- 
 tiff. Alexander consented to send his 
 cardinal legates to England; but nei- 
 ther the arguments of Foliot, nor those 
 of Arundel, who now rose to something 
 like a menace of recourse to the Anti- 
 pope, would induce him to invest them 
 with full power. The Pope would 
 entrust to none but to himself the pre- 
 rogative of final judgment. Alexander 
 mistrusted the venality of his cardinals, 
 and Henry's subsequent dealing with 
 some of them justified his mistrust.^^ 
 He was himself inflexible to tempting 
 
 82 According to Koger of Pontigny, there 
 were some of them " qui accepta a rege pecmiia 
 partes ejns fovebant," particularly William of 
 Pavia. — p. 153. 
 10 
 
110 Thomas d BecJcet. 
 
 offers. The envoys privately proposed 
 to extend the payment of Peter's Pence 
 to almost all classes, and to secure the 
 tax in perpetuity to the see of Rome. 
 The ambassadors retreated in haste; 
 their commission had been limited to a 
 few days. The bishops, so strong was 
 the popular feeling in Prance for Beck- 
 et, had entered Sens as retainers for the 
 Earl of Arundel : they received intima- 
 tion that certain lawless knights in the 
 neighborhood had determined to way- 
 lay and plunder these enemies of the 
 Church, and of the saintly Becket. 
 
 Far different was the progress of the 
 exiled primate. From St. Bertin he 
 was escorted by the Abbot, and by the 
 Bishop of Terouenne. He entered 
 France ; he was met, as he approached 
 Soissons, by the King's brothers, the 
 Archbishop of Rheims, and a long train 
 Becket ^^ bishops, abbots, and dignita- 
 atsens. ^.^^g ^£ ^^^ Church ; he entered 
 
Thomas a B ecJcet. Ill 
 
 Soissons at the head of three hundred 
 horsemen. The interview of Louis 
 with Becket raised his admiration in- 
 to passion. As the envoys of Henry 
 passed on one side of the river, they 
 saw the pomp in which the ally of 
 the King of France, rather than the 
 exile from England, was approaching 
 Sens. The cardinals, whether from 
 prudence, jealousy, or other motives, 
 were cool in their reception of Beck- 
 et. The Pope at once granted the 
 honor of a public audience ; he placed 
 Becket on his right hand, and would 
 not allow him to rise to speak. Beck- 
 et, after a skillful account of his hard 
 usage, spread out the parchment which 
 contained the Constitutions of Claren- 
 don. -They were read ; the whole Con- 
 sistory exclaimed against the violation 
 of ecclesiastical privileges. On further 
 examination the Pope acknowledged 
 that six of them were less evil than the 
 
112 T/iomas d Becket. 
 
 rest; on tlie remaining ten lie pro- 
 nounced his unqualified condemnation. 
 He rebuked the weakness of Becket in 
 swearing to these articles, it is said, 
 with the severity of a father, the ten- 
 derness of a mother.^^ He consoled him 
 with the assurance that he had atoned 
 by his sufferings and his patience for 
 his brief infirmity. Becket pursued his 
 advantage. The next day, by what 
 might seem to some trustful magnani-. 
 mity, to others, a skillful mode of get- 
 ting rid of certain objections which had 
 been raised concerning his election, he 
 tendered the resignation of his archie- 
 piscopate to the Poj)e. Some of the 
 more politic, it was said, more venal 
 cardinals, entreated the Pontiff to put 
 an end at once to this dangerous quar- 
 rel by accepting the surrender. ^^ But 
 the Pontff (his own judgment being 
 
 83 Herbert de Bosham. 
 
 84 Alani Yita (p. 362) ; and Alan's Life rests 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 113 
 
 suj)ported among others by the Cardi- 
 nal Plyacinth) restored to him the archi- 
 episcopal ring, thus ratifying his pri- 
 macy. He assured Becket of his pro- 
 tection, and committed him to the hos- 
 pitable care of the Abbot of Pontigny, 
 a monastery about twelve leagues from 
 Sens. " So long have you lived in ease 
 and opulence, now learn the lessons of 
 poverty from the poor."^ Yet Alex- 
 ander thought it prudent to inhibit any 
 proceedings of Becket against the King 
 till the following Easter. 
 
 Becket's emissaries had been present 
 during the interview of Henry's embas- 
 
 mainlj on the authority of John of Salisburj, 
 Herbert de Bosham suppresses this. 
 
 85 The Abbot of Pontigny was an ardent ad- 
 mirer of Becket. See letter of the Bishop of 
 Poitiers, Bouquet, p. 214. Prayers were offer- 
 ed up throughout the struggle with Henry for 
 Becket's success at Pontigny, Citeaux, and Olair- 
 vaux. — Giles, iv. 255. 
 10* 
 
114: Thomas a Bechet, 
 
 sadors witli tlie Pope. Henry, no doubt, 
 received speedy intelligence of these 
 proceedings with. Becket. He was at 
 Marlborough after a disastrous cam- 
 Effect on paig^ in Wales.^^ He issued 
 King Henry, immediate orders to seize the 
 revenues of the Archbishop, and pro- 
 mulgated a mandate to the bishops to 
 sequester the estates of all the clergy 
 Wrath of ^^^ ^^^ followed him to France. 
 Henry, jj^ forbadc pubHc prayers for the 
 Primate. In the exasperated state, 
 especially of the monkish mind, prayers 
 for Becket would easily slide into ana- 
 themas against the king. The payment 
 of Peter's Pence ^^ to the Pope was 
 
 86 Compare Lingard. Becket on this news 
 exclaimed, as is said, " His wise men are become 
 fools ; the Lord hath sent among them a spirit 
 of giddiness ; they have made England to reel 
 to and fro like a drunken man." — Vol. iii. p. 
 227. N'o doubt, he would have it supposed 
 God's vengeance for his own wrongs. 
 
 is There are in Eoliot's letters many curious 
 
Thomas d BecTcet. 115 
 
 suspended. All correspondence with 
 Becket was forbidden. But tlie resent- 
 ment of Henrj was not satisfied. He 
 passed a sentence of banishment, and 
 ordered at once to be driven from the 
 kingdom all the primate's kinsmen, 
 dependents, and friends. Fonr hundred 
 persons, it is said, of both sexes, of every 
 age, even infants at the breast were in- 
 cluded (and it was the depth of winter) 
 in this relentless edict. Every adult 
 was to take an oath to proceed imme- 
 
 circnmstances about the collection and trans- 
 mission of Peter's Pence. In Alexander's pre- 
 sent state, notwithstanding the amitj of the 
 King of France, this source of revenue was no 
 doubt important. — ^Epist. 149, 172, &c. Alex- 
 ander wrote from Clermont to Foliot (June 8, 
 1165) to collect the tax, to do all in his power 
 for the recall of Becket : to Henr j, reprobat- 
 ing the Constitutions; to Becket, urging pru- 
 dence and circumspection. This was later. 
 The Pope was then on his way to Italy, where 
 he might need Henry's gold. 
 
116 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 diately to Becket, in order that liis eyes 
 might be shocked, and his heart wrung 
 by the miseries which he had bronght 
 on his family and his friends. This order 
 was as inhumanly executed, as inhu- 
 manly enacted.^^ It was intrusted to 
 Randulph de Broc, a fierce soldier, the 
 bitterest of Becket's personal enemies. 
 It was as impolitic as cruel. The 
 monasteries and convents of Flanders 
 and of France were thrown open to 
 the exiles with generous hospitality. 
 Throughout both these countries was 
 spread a multitude of persons appealing 
 to the pity, to the indignation of all 
 orders of the people, and so deepening 
 the universal hatred of Henry. The 
 enemy of the Church was self-convicted 
 of equal enmity to all Christianity of 
 heart. 
 
 In his seclusion at Pontigny Becket 
 seemed determined to compensate by 
 
 88 Becket, Epist. 4, p. T. 
 
Thomas d BecJcet. 117 
 
 tlie sternest monastic discipline ^^^^^^^ ^^ 
 for that deficiency which had ^ontignj. 
 been alleged on his election to the arch- 
 bishopric. He put on the coarse Cis- 
 tercian dress. He lived on the hard 
 and scanty Cistercian diet. Outwardly 
 he still maintained something of his old 
 magnificence and the splendor of his 
 station. His establishment of horses 
 and retainers was so costly, that his 
 sober friend, John of Salisbury, remon- 
 strated against the profuse expenditure. 
 Richer viands were indeed served on a 
 table apart, ostensibly for Becket ; but 
 while he himself was content with the 
 pulse and gruel of the monks, those 
 meats and game were given away to the 
 beggars. His devotions were long and 
 secret, broken with perpetual groans. 
 At night he rose from the bed strewn 
 with rich coverings, as beseeming an 
 archbishop, and summoned his chap- 
 lain to the work of flagellation. I^Tot 
 
118 Thomas a BecJcet, 
 
 satisiied with tliis, he tore his flesh with 
 his nails, and lay on the cold floor, with 
 a stone for his pillow. His health suf- 
 fered ; wild dreams, so reports one of 
 his attendants, haunted his broken 
 slumbers, of cardinals plucking out his 
 eyes, fierce assassins cleaving his ton- 
 sured crown,^^ His studies were neither 
 suited to calm his mind, nor to abase 
 his hierarchical haughtiness. He de- 
 voted his time to the canon law, of 
 which the False Decretals now formed 
 an integral part ; sacerdotal fraud justi- 
 fying the loftiest sacerdotal presump- 
 tion. John of Salisbury again inter- 
 posed with friendly remonstrance. He 
 urged him to withdraw from these un- 
 devotional inquiries ; he recommended 
 to him the works of a Pope of a difl'er- 
 ent character, the Morals of Gregory 
 the Great. He exhorted him to confer 
 
 89 Edw. Grim. 
 
Thomas d BecJcet. 119 
 
 with lioly men on books of spiritual 
 improvement. 
 
 King Henry in tlie meantime took a 
 loftier and more menacing tone towards 
 tlie Pope. "It is an nnlieard Negotiations 
 of tiling that the conrt of Rome Emperor. 
 should support traitors against mj 
 sovereign authority ; I have not deserv- 
 ed such treatment.^^ I am still more 
 indignant that the justice is denied to 
 me which is granted to the meanest 
 clerk." In his wrath he made over- 
 tures to Eeginald, Archbishop of 
 Cologne, the maker, he might \)Q called, 
 of two Antipopes, and the minister of 
 the Emperor, declaring that he had 
 long sought an opportunity of falling 
 off from Alexander, and his perfidious 
 cardinals, who presumed to support 
 against him the traitor Thomas, late 
 Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
 90 
 
 Bouquet, xvi. 256. 
 
120 Thomas d Bec'ket. 
 
 The Emperor met the advances of 
 Hemy with promptitude, which showed 
 the importance he attached to the alli- 
 ance. Reginald of Cologne was sent to 
 England to propose a double alliance 
 with the house of Swabia, of Frederick's 
 son, and of Henry the Lion, with the 
 two daughters of Henry Plantagenet. 
 The Pope trembled at this threatened 
 union between the houses of Swabia 
 and England. At the great diet held 
 Diet at ^^ Wurtzburg, Frederick, as- 
 To'^liSf' serted the canonical election 
 Whitsuntide. ^^ Paschal HI., the new Anti- 
 pope, and declared in the face of the 
 empire and of all Christendom, that the 
 powerful kingdom of England had now 
 embraced his cause, and that the King 
 of France stood alone in his support of 
 Alexander. ^^ In his public edict he 
 
 91 The letters of Jolin of Salisbnry are fall of 
 allusions to the proceedings at Wurtzburg. — 
 
T komas d Bec'ket. 121 
 
 declared to all Christendom tliat the 
 oath of fidelity to Paschal, of denial of 
 all future allegiance to Alexander, ad- 
 ministered to all the great princes and 
 prelates of the empire, had been taken 
 by the ambassadors of King Henry, 
 Richard of Ilchester, and John of Ox- 
 ford.^2 ]S"or was this all. A solemn 
 
 Bouquet, p. 524. John of Oxford is said to 
 have denied the oath (p. 533) ; also Giles, iv. 
 264. He is from that time branded by John of 
 Salisbury as an arch liar. 
 
 92 John of Oxford was rewarded for this ser- 
 vice by the deanery of Salisbury, vacant by the 
 promotion of the dean to the bishopric of Bay- 
 eux. Joscelin, Bishop of Salisbury, notwith- 
 standing the papal prohibition that no election 
 should take place in the absence of some of the 
 canons, chose the safer course of obedience to 
 the King's mandate. This act of Joscelin was 
 deeply resented by Becket. John of Oxford's 
 usurpation of the deanery was one of the causes 
 assigned for his excommunication at Yezelay. 
 See also, on the loyal but somewhat unscrupu- 
 lous proceedings of John of Oxford, the letter 
 11 
 
122 T ho in as d Becket. 
 
 oatli of abjuration of Pope Alexander 
 was enacted, and to some extent enforc- 
 ed ; it was to be taken by every male 
 under twelve years old tlirougliont the 
 realm.^^ The King's officers compelled 
 
 (hereafter referred to) of Nicholas de Monte 
 Eotomagensi. It describes the attempt of John 
 of Oxford to prepossess the Empress Matilda 
 against Becket. It likewise betrays again the 
 double-dealing of the Bishop of Lisieux, out- 
 wardly for the King, secretly a partisan arid 
 adviser of Becket. On the whole, it shows the 
 moderation and good sense of the empress, who 
 disapproved of some of the Constitutions, and 
 especially of their being written, but speaks 
 strongly of the abuses in the Church. ISTicholas 
 admires her skillfulness in defending her son.— 
 Giles, iv. 187. Bouquet, 226. 
 
 93 "Prsecepit enim publice et compulit per 
 vicos, per castella, per civitates ab homine sene 
 usque ab puerum duodenum beati Petri succes- 
 sorem Alexandrum abjurare." 'William of Can 
 terbury alone of Becket's biographers (Giles, ii. 
 p. 19) asserts this, but it is unanswerably con- 
 firmed by Becket's Letter 78, iii. p. 192. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 123 
 
 this act of obedience to the King, in 
 villages, in castles, in cities. 
 
 If the ambassadors of Henry at 
 Wurtzbnrg had full powers to transfer 
 the allegiance of the King to the Anti- 
 ]3ope ; if they took the oath nncondition- 
 allj, and with no reserve in case Alex- 
 ander should abandon the cause of 
 Becket ; if this oath of abjuration in 
 England w^as generally administered ; 
 it is clear that Henry soon changed, or 
 wavered at least in his policy. The 
 alliance, between the two houses came 
 to nothing. Yet even after this he ad- 
 dressed another letter to Keginald, 
 Archbishop of Cologne, declaring again 
 his long cherished determination to 
 abandon the cause of Alexander, the 
 supporter of his enemy, the Archbishop 
 of Canterbury. He demanded safe- 
 conduct for an embassy to Rome, the 
 Archbishoj) of York, the Bishop of Lon- 
 don, John of Oxford, De Luci, the Jus- 
 
124: Thomas d JBecJcet. 
 
 ticiary, peremptorily to require the 
 Pope to annul all the acts of Thomas, 
 and to command the observance of the 
 Customs.^^ The success of Alexander in 
 Italy, aversion in England to the abjur- 
 ation of Alexander, some unaccounted 
 jealousy with the Emperor, irresolution 
 in Henry, which was part of his impet- 
 uous character, may have wrought this 
 change. 
 
 The monk and severe student of Pon- 
 tigny found rest neither in his austeri- 
 ties nor his studies.^^ The causes of this 
 
 94 The letter in Giles (vi. 279) is rather per- 
 plexing. It is placed by Bouquet, agreeing with 
 Baronius, in 1166 ; by Yon Eaumer (Geschichte 
 der Hohenstauffen, ii. p. 192) in 1165, before 
 the Diet of "Wurtzburg. This cannot be right, 
 as the letter implies that Alexander was in 
 Eome, where he arrived not before Nov. 1165. 
 The embassy, though it seems that the Emperor 
 granted the safe-conduct, did not take place, at 
 least as regards some of the ambassadors. 
 
 95 " Itaque per biennium ferme stetit." So 
 
Thomas d Bechet. 125 
 
 enforced repose are manifest — ^the nego- 
 tiations betAveen Henry and the Empe- 
 ror, the uncertainty of the success of 
 the Pope on his return to Italy. It 
 would have been j)erilous policy, either 
 for him to risk, or for the Pope not to 
 inhibit any rash measure. 
 
 In the second year of his seclusion, 
 when he found that the King's heart 
 was still hardened, the fire, not, we are 
 assured by his followers, of resentment, 
 but of parental love, not zeal for ven- 
 geance but for justice, burned within 
 his soul. Henry was at this Becket cites 
 time in France. Three times *^' ^mg^--^ 
 the exile cited his sovereign with the 
 tone of a superior to submit to his cen- 
 sure. Becket had communicated his 
 design to his followers : — " Let us act 
 as the Lord commanded his steward :^^ 
 
 writes Eoger of Pontigny. It is difficult to 
 make out so long a time.— p. 154. 
 96 Herbert de Bosham.— p. 226. 
 11* 
 
326 Thomas d B echet . 
 
 ' See, I have set tliee over the nations, 
 and over the kingdoms, to root out and 
 to pull down, and to destroy, and to 
 hew down, to bnild and to plant.' "^^ 
 All his hearers applauded his righteous 
 resolution. In the first message the 
 haughty meaning was veiled in the 
 blandest words,^^ and sent by a Cister- 
 cian of gentle demeanor, named Ur- 
 ban.^^ The King returned a short and 
 bitter answer. The second time Becket 
 wrote in severer language, but yet in 
 the spirit, 'tis said, of compassion and 
 leniency.^^*^ The King deigned no reply. 
 His third messenger was a tattered, 
 barefoot friar. To him Becket, it might 
 seem, with studied insult, not only in- 
 
 97 Jer. i. 10. 
 
 98 " Suavissimas literas, snpplicationem solam, 
 correptionem vero nullam vel modicam conti- 
 nentes." — De Bosham. 
 
 99 Urbane by disposition as by name. — ^Ibid. 
 
 100 Giles, iii. 365. Bouquet, p. 243. 
 
Thomas a BecTcet. 127 
 
 trusted his letter to tlie King, but au- 
 thorized the friar to speak in his name. 
 With such a messenger the message 
 was not likelj to lose in asperity. The 
 King returned an answer even more 
 contemptuous than the address.^ 
 
 But this secret arraignment of the 
 King did not content the unquiet pre- 
 late. He could now dare Nov. ii, iies. 
 more, unrestrained, unrebuked. Pope 
 Alexander had been received at Rome 
 with open arms : at the commencement 
 of the present year all seemed to favor 
 his cause. The Emperor, detained by 
 wars in Germany, was not prepared to 
 cross the Alps. In the free cities of 
 Italy, the anti-imperialist feeling, and 
 the growing republicanism, gladly en- 
 tered into close confederacy with a Pope 
 at war with the Emperor. The Pontiff 
 
 1 " Quin potius dura propinantes, dura pro 
 duris, immo multo plus duriora prioribus, repor- 
 taverunt." — De Bosham, 
 
128 Thomas d BecTcet. 
 
 (secretly it sliould seem, it miglit be 
 in defiance or in revenge for Henry's 
 threatened revolt and for the acts of his 
 ambassadors at Wurtzburg^) ventured 
 to grant to Becket a legatine power 
 over the King's English dominions, 
 except the province of York. Though 
 it was not in the power of Becket to 
 enter those dominions, it armed him, 
 as it was thought, with unquestion- 
 
 2 The Pope had written (Jan. 28) to the 
 bishops of England not to presume to act with- 
 out the consent of Thomas, Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury. April 5, he forbade Roger of York 
 and the other prelates to crown the King's son. 
 May 3, he writes to Foliot and the bishops who 
 had received benefices of the King to surren- 
 der them under pain of anathema ; to Becket in 
 favor of Joscelin, Bishop of Salisbury : he had 
 annulled the grant of the deanery of Salisbury 
 to John of Oxford. May 10, to the Archbishop 
 of Rouen, denouncing the dealings of Henry 
 with the Emperor and the Antipope. — Giles, iv. 
 10 a 80. Bouquet, 246. 
 
Thomas a Bechet, ■ 129 
 
 able aiitliority over Hemy and his 
 subjects. At all events it annulled 
 whatever restraint the Pope, bj coun- 
 sel or bj mandate, had placed on the 
 proceedings of Becket.^ The Arch- 
 bishop took his determination alone.* 
 As though to throw an awful mystery 
 about his plan, he called his wise friends 
 together, and consulted them on the 
 propriety of resigning his see. "With 
 
 3 The inMbition given at Sens to proceed 
 against the King, before the Easter of the follow- 
 ing year (a. d. 1166), had now expired. More- 
 over he had a direct commission to proceed by 
 Commination against those who forcibly with- 
 held the property of the see of Canterbury. — 
 Apnd Giles, iv. 8. Bouquet, xvi. 844. At the 
 same time the Pope urged great discretion as to 
 the King's person. Giles, iv. 12. Bouquet, 244. 
 
 4 At the same time Becket wrote to Foliot 
 of London, commanding him under penalty of 
 excommunication to transmit to him the se- 
 questered revenues of Canterbury in his hands. 
 — Foliot appealed to the Pope. — Foliot's Letter. 
 Giles, vi. 5. Bouquet, 215. 
 
leSO Thomas a Becket. 
 
 one voice tliey rejected the timid coun- 
 sel. Yet though his most intimate fol- 
 lowers were in ignorance of his designs, 
 some intelligence of a meditated blow 
 was betrayed to Henry. The King 
 summoned an assembly of prelates at 
 Chinon. The Bishops of Lisieux and 
 Seez, whom the Archbishop of Eouen, 
 Kotran, consented to accompany as a 
 mediator, were dispatched to Pontigny, 
 to anticipate by an appeal to the Pope, 
 anysentence which might be pronounced 
 by Becket. They did not find him there : 
 he had already gone to Soissons, on the 
 pretext of a pilgrimage to the shrine 
 of St. Drausus, a saint whose interces- 
 sion rendered the warrior invincible in 
 battle. Did Becket hope thus to secure 
 victory in the great spiritual combat ? 
 One whole night he passed before the 
 shrine of St. Drausus: another before 
 that of Gregory the Great, the founder 
 of the English Church, and of the see 
 
Thomas d BecJcet. 131 
 
 of Canterbury; and a tliird before tliat 
 of the Yirgin, his especial j^atroness. 
 
 From thence he proceeded to the an- 
 cient and famons monastery of Yeze- 
 lay.^ The church of Yezelay, if jje^ket at 
 the dismal decorations of the ^^^^^^y- 
 architecture are (which is doubtful) 
 of that period, might seem designated 
 
 5 The curious History of tlie Monastery of Veze- 
 lay, by Hugh of Poitiers (translated in Guizot, 
 Collection des Memoires), though it twice men- 
 tions Becket, stops just short of this excommu- 
 nication, 1166. Yezelay boasted to be subject 
 only to the See of Rome, to have been made by 
 its founder part of the patrimony of St. Peter. 
 This was one great distinction : the other was 
 the unquestioned possession of the body of St. 
 Mary Magdalene, "I'amie de Dieu." Yezelay 
 had been in constant strife with the Bishop of 
 Autim for its ecclesiastical, with the Count of 
 Nevers for its territorial, independence; with 
 the monastery of Clugny, as its rival. This is 
 a document very instructive as to the life of the 
 as:e. 
 
132 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 for tliat fearful ceremony.^ There, on 
 
 6 A modern traveller thus writes of the 
 church of Yezelay : " On voit par le choix des 
 sujets qui ont un sens, quel etait I'esprit du 
 temps et la maniere d'interpreter la religion. 
 Oe n'etait pas par la douceur ou la persuasion 
 qu'on voulait convertir, mais bien par la terreur. 
 Les discours des pretres pourraient se resumer 
 en ce peu de mots : ' Croyez, ou sinon vous pe- 
 rissez miserablement, et vous serez eternellement 
 tourmentes dans Tantre monde!' De leur cote 
 les artistes, gens religieux, ecclesiastiques m^me 
 pour la plupart, donnaient une forme reelle aux 
 sombres images que leur inspirait un zele fa- 
 rouche. Je ne trouve ^. Yezelay aucun de ces 
 sujets que les ames tendres aimeraient eL retracer, 
 tels que le pardon accorde au repentir, la re- 
 compense du juste, &c.; mais au contraire, je 
 vois Samuel egorgeant Agag ; des diables ecar- 
 telent des damnes, ou les entrainant dans I'abime; 
 puis des animaux horribles, des monstres hideux, 
 des tetes grimacantes exprimant ou les suffrances 
 des reprouves, ou la joie des habitans de I'enfer. 
 Qu'on se represente la devotion des hommes 
 eleves au milieu de ces images, et I'on s'etonnera 
 moins des massacres des Albigeois." — ^Notesd'un 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 133 
 
 the feast of the Ascension,'^ when the 
 church was crowded with, worshipers 
 from all quarters, he ascended the pnl- 
 pit, and with the utmost solemnity, con- 
 demned and annulled the Constitutions 
 of Clarendon, declared excommunicate 
 all who observed or enforced their ob- 
 servance, all who had counseled, and 
 all who had defended them ; absolved 
 all the bishops from the oaths which 
 they had taken to maintain them. Tliis 
 sweeping anathema involved the whole 
 
 Voyage dans le Midi de la France, par Prosper 
 Merimee, p. 43. 
 
 'f Diceto gives the date Ascension Daj, Her- 
 bert de Bosham St. Mary Magdalene's Day 
 (July 22d). It should seem that De Bosham's 
 memory failed him. See the letter of Mcolas 
 de M. Rotomagensi, who speaks of the excom- 
 munication as past, and that Becket was ex- 
 pected to excommunicate the King on St. Mary 
 Magdalene's Day. This, if done at Yezelay (as 
 it were, over the body of the Saint, on her sa- 
 cred day), had been tenfold more awful. 
 12 
 
134 Thomas d ^ecJcet. 
 
 kingdom. But lie proceeded to excom- 
 municate by name the most active and 
 powerful adversaries : John of Oxford, 
 for his dealings with the schismatic 
 partisans of the Emperor and of the 
 Antipope, and for his usurpation of the 
 deanery of Salisbury; Eichard of II- 
 chester Archdeacon of Poitiers, the col- 
 league of John in his negotiations at 
 Wurtzburg (thus the cause of Bechet 
 and Pope Alexander were indissolubly 
 welded together) ; the great Justiciary, 
 Richard de Luci, and John of Baliol, the 
 authors of the Constitutions of Claren- 
 don ; Eandulph de Broc, Hugo de Clare, 
 and others, for their forcible usurpation 
 of the estates of the see of Canterbury. 
 He yet in his mercy spared the King 
 (he had received intelligence that Henry 
 was dangerously ill), and in a lower 
 tone, his voice, as it seemed, half choked 
 with tears, he uttered his Commination. 
 The whole congregation, even his own 
 
Thomas d Beolcet. 135 
 
 intimate followers, were silent with 
 amazement. 
 
 This sentence of excommunication 
 Becket annoimced to the Pope, and to 
 all the clergy of England. To the latter 
 he said, " Who presumes to doubt that 
 the priests of God are the fathers and 
 masters of kings, princes, and all the 
 faithful?" He commanded Gilbert, 
 Bishoj) of London, and his other suffra- 
 gans, to publish this edict throughout 
 their dioceses. He did not confine him- 
 self to the bishops of England ; the I^or- 
 man prelates, the Archbishop of Eouen, 
 were expressly warned to withdraw from 
 all communion with the excommuni- 
 cate.^ 
 
 8 See the curious letter of Nicolas de Monte 
 Eotomagensi, Giles iv., Bouquet, 250. This 
 measure of Becket was imputed bj the Arch- 
 bishop of Eheims to pride or anger ("extollen- 
 tise aut irse ") : it made an unfavorable impres- 
 sion on the Empress Matilda. — Ibid. 
 
136 Thomas a Beelcet. 
 
 The wratli of Henry drove liim almost 
 Anger of ^^ iiiadiiess. ITo one dared to 
 the King. j^^j^Q Becket ill his presence.® 
 Soon after, on the occasion of some dis- 
 cussion abont the King of Scotland, he 
 bnrst into a fit of passion, threw away 
 his cap, nngirt his belt, stripped off his 
 clothes, tore the silken coverlid from 
 his bed, and crouched down on the 
 straw, gnawing bits of it with his 
 teeth.^^ Proclamation was issued to 
 guard the ports of England against the 
 threatened interdict. Any one who 
 should be apprehended as the bearer 
 of such an instrument, if a regular, was 
 to lose his feet ; if a clerk, his eyes, and 
 suffer more shameful mutilation ; a lay- 
 man was to be hanged ; a leper to be 
 burned. A bishop who left the king- 
 dom, for fear of the interdict, was to 
 carry nothing with him but his staff. 
 
 9 Epist. Giles, iv. 185 ; Bouquet, 258. 
 
 10 Epist. Giles, iv. 260 ; Bouquet, 256. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 137 
 
 All exiles were to return on pain of 
 losing their benefices. Priests who re- 
 fused to chant the service were to be 
 mutilated, and all rebels to forfeit their 
 lands. An oath was to be adminis- 
 tered by the sheriffs to all adults, that 
 they would respect no ecclesiastical 
 censure from the Archbishop. 
 
 A second time Henry's ungovernable 
 passion betrayed him into a step which, 
 instead of lowering, only placed his 
 antagonist in a more formidable posi- 
 tion. He determined to drive him from 
 his retreat at Pontigny. He sent word 
 to the general of the Cistercian Becket 
 order that it was at their peril, Pontigny. 
 if they harbored a traitor to his throne. 
 The Cistercians possessed many rich 
 abbeys in England; they dared not 
 defy at once the King's resentment 
 and rapacity. It was intimated to the 
 Abbot of Pontigny, that he must dis- 
 miss his guest. The Abbot courteously 
 
 12* 
 
138 Thomas d Bec'ket. 
 
 communicated to Becket the danger 
 incurred by the Order. He could not 
 bnt withdraw ; but instead now of lurk- 
 ing in a remote monastery, in some 
 degree secluded from the public gaze, 
 he was received in the archiepiscopal 
 city of Sens ; his honorable residence 
 was prepared in a monastery close to 
 the city ; he lived in ostentatious 
 communication with the Archbishop 
 William, one of his most zealous parti- 
 sans.ii 
 
 But the fury of haughtiness in Becket 
 equaled the fury of resentment in the 
 King : yet it was not without subtlety. 
 Just before the scene at Yezelay, it has 
 been said, the King had sent the Arch- 
 bishop of Rouen and the Bishop of 
 Lisieux to Pontigny, to lodge his appeal 
 to the Pope. Becket, duly informed 
 by his emissaries at the court, had taken 
 care to be absent. He eluded likewise 
 
 11 Herbert de Bosham, p. 232. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 139 
 
 the personal service of the appeal of the 
 English clergy. An active and violent 
 correspondence ensued. The remon- 
 strance, pnrportinsc to be from controversy 
 
 _ ' -■- -^ ^ with EngUsh 
 
 the Parnate's suffragans and ciergy. 
 the whole clergy of England, was not 
 without dignified calmness. "With 
 covert irony, indeed, they said that they 
 had derived great consolation from the 
 hope that, when abroad, he would cease 
 to rebel against the King and the peace 
 of the realm ; that he would devote his 
 days to study and prayer, and redeem 
 his lost time by fasting, watching, and 
 weeping ; they reproached him with 
 the former favors of the King, with the 
 design of estranging the King from 
 Pope Alexander ; they asserted the 
 readiness of the King to do full justice, 
 and concluded by lodging an appeal 
 until the Ascension-day of the follow- 
 ing year.i2 Foliot was no doubt the 
 12 Epist. Giles, vi. 158 ; Bouquet, 259. 
 
140 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 author of tliis remonstrance, and be- 
 tween tlie Primate and the Bishop of 
 London broke out a fierce warfare of 
 letters. With Foliot Becket kept no 
 terms. " You complain that the Bishop 
 of Salisbury has been excommunicated, 
 without citation, without hearing, with- 
 out judgment. Remember the fate of 
 TJcalegon. He trembled when his 
 neighbor's house was on fire." To 
 Foliot he asserted the pre-eminence, the 
 supremacy, the divinity of the S23iritual 
 power without reserve. " Let not your 
 liege lord be ashamed to defer to those 
 to whom God himself defers, and calls 
 them 'Gods.'" 13 Foliot replied with 
 
 13 "N'on indignetur itaque Dominus noster 
 deferre iUis, quibus summus omnium deferre 
 non dedignatur, Deos appellans eos ssepius in 
 sacris Uteris. Sic enim dixit, 'Ego dixit, Dii 
 estis,' et ' Constituti te Deum Pliaraonis,' et 
 'Deis non detraliere.' " — ^Epist. Giles, iii. p. 28T; 
 Bouquet, 261. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. Ml 
 
 what may be received as the manifesto 
 of his party, and as the manifesto of a 
 party to he received with some mistrust, 
 yet singularly curious, as showing the 
 tone of defence taken by the opponents 
 of the Primate among the English 
 clergy.^* 
 
 The address of the English prelates to 
 Pope Alexander was more moderate, 
 and drawn with great ability. It as- 
 serted the justice, the obedience to the 
 Church, the great virtue and (a bold 
 assertion !) the conjugal fidelity of the 
 King. The King had at once obeyed 
 the citation of the Bishops of London 
 and Salisbury, concerning some en- 
 croachments on the Church condemned 
 by the Pope. The sole design of Henry 
 had been to promote good morals, and 
 
 14 Foliot took the precaution of paying into 
 the exchequer all that he had received from the 
 sequestered property of the see of Canterhury. 
 — Giles, V. p. 265. Lyttelton in Appendice. 
 
142 Thomas a BecTcet. 
 
 to maintain the peace of tlie realm. 
 That peace had been restored. All 
 resentments had died away, when 
 Eecket fiercely recommenced the strife ; 
 in sad and terrible letters had threaten- 
 ed the King with excommimication, the 
 realm wdth interdict. He had suspend- 
 ed the Bishop of Salisbury without trial. 
 " This was the whole of the cruelty, 
 perversity, malignity of the King 
 against the Church, declaimed on and 
 bruited abroad throughout the world."^^ 
 The indefatigable John of Oxford was 
 in Rome, perhaps the bearer of this ad- 
 dress. Becket wrote to the Pope, insist- 
 ing on all the cruelties of the King ; he 
 John of calls him a malignant tyrant, one 
 at Rome, full of all malice. He dwelt 
 especially on the imprisonment of one 
 
 15 " Hsec est Domini regis toto orbe declamata 
 crudelitas, hsec ab eo persecutio, hsBC operum 
 ejus perversorum rumusculis undique divulgata 
 malignitas." — Giles, vi. 190 ; Bouquet, 265. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 143 
 
 of liis cliaplains, for wliicli violation of 
 the sacred person of a clerk, the King 
 was ipso facto excommnnic ate. ' ' Christ 
 was crncified anew in Becket.''^^ He 
 complained of the presumption of Foliot, 
 who had usurped the power of pri- 
 mate ; ^^ Warned the Pope against the 
 wiles of John of Oxford ; deprecated the 
 legatine mission, of which he had alrea- 
 dy heard a rumor, of William of Pavia. 
 And all these letters, so unsparing to 
 the King, or copies of them, probably 
 bought out of the Poman chancery, 
 were regularly transmitted to the Elng. 
 
 16 Giles, iii. 6 ; Bcyiquet, 266. Compare let- 
 ter of Bishop Elect of Ohartres. — Giles, vi. 211 • 
 Bouquet, 269. 
 
 1'^ Foliot obtained letters either at this time or 
 somewhat later from his own Chapter of St. 
 Paul, fi'om many of the greatest dignitaries of 
 the English Church, the abbots of Westminster 
 and Reading, and from some distinguished 
 foreign ecclesiastics, in favor of himself, his 
 piety, churchmanship, and impartiality. 
 
144 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 John of Oxford began his mission at 
 Rome by swearing nndanntedly, that 
 nothing had been done at Wurtzbnrg 
 against the power of the Chnrch or the 
 interests of Pope Alexander.^^ He sur- 
 rendered his deanery of Salisbury into 
 
 18 The German accounts are unanimous about 
 the proceedings at Wurtzburg and the oath of 
 the English ambassadors'. See the account in 
 Von Eaumer (loc. cit.), especially of the conduct 
 of Reginald of Cologne, and the authorities. 
 John of Oxford is henceforth called, in John of 
 Salisbury's letters, jurator. Becket repeatedly 
 charges him with perjury. — Giles, iii. p. 129 and 
 351 ; Bouquet, 280. Becket there says that 
 John of Oxford had given tip part of the " cus- 
 toms." He begs John of Poitiers to let the King 
 know this. See the very curious answer of 
 John of Poitiers. — Giles, vi. 251 ; Bouquet, 280. 
 It appears that as all Becket's letters to the 
 Pope were copied and transmitted from Rome 
 to Henry, so John of Poitiers, outwardly the 
 King's loyal subject, is the secret spy of Becket. 
 He speaks of those in England who thirst after 
 Becket's blood. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 145 
 
 tlie hands of the Pope, and received it 
 back again.^^ John of Oxford was 
 armed with more powerful weapons 
 than perjury or submission, and the 
 times now favored the use of these more 
 irresistible arms. The Emperor Frede- 
 rick was levying, if he had not already 
 set in motion, that mighty army which 
 swept, during the next year, through 
 Italy, made him master of Kome, and 
 witnessed his coronation and the en- 
 thronement of the Antipope.^^ Henry 
 had now, notwithstanding his suspicious 
 — ^more than suspicious — dealings with 
 the Emperor, returned to his allegi* 
 ance to Alexander. Yast sums of Eng- 
 
 19 The Pope acknowledge3 that this was ex- 
 torted from him by fear of Henry, and makes 
 an awkward apology to Becket. — Giles, iv. 18 ; 
 Bouquet, 309. 
 
 20 He was crowned in Rome August 1. Com- 
 pare next chapter — Sismondi, Republiques, 
 Italiennes, ii. ch. x. ; YonEaumer, ii. p. 209, &c. 
 
 13 
 
146 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 lish money were from this time expend- 
 ed in strengthening the cause of the 
 Pope. The Gnelfic cities of Italy re- 
 ceived them with greedy hands. By 
 the gold of the King of England, and of 
 the King of Sicily, the Frangipani and 
 the family of Peter Leonis were retain- 
 ed in their fidelity to the Pope. Becket, 
 on the other hand, had powerful friends 
 in Rome, especially the Cardinal Hya- 
 cinth, to whom he writes, that Henry 
 had boasted that in Eome everything 
 Dec. 1166. was vcnal. It was, however, 
 not till a second embassy arrived, con- 
 sisting of John Cummin and Palph 
 of Tamworth, that Alexander made 
 his great concession, the sign that he 
 was not yet extricated from his distress. 
 He appointed "William of Pavia, and 
 Otho, Cardinal of St. ISTicholas, his 
 legates in France, to decide the cause.^^ 
 
 21 Giles, iii. 128; Bouquet, 272. Compare 
 Letters to Cardinals Boso and Henry. — Giles, 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 147 
 
 Meantime all Becket's acts were sus- 
 pended by the papal antliorit j. At tlie 
 same time the Pope wrote to Becket, 
 entreating him at this perilous time of 
 the Church to make all possible conces- 
 sions, and to dissemble, if necessary, for 
 the present.22 
 
 If John of Oxford boasted premature- 
 ly of his triumph (on his return to Eng- 
 land he took ostentatious possession of 
 his deanery of Salisbury 2^), and predict- 
 ed the utter ruin of Becket, his friends, 
 
 iii. 103, 113 ; Bouquet, 174. Letter to Henry 
 announcing tlie appointment, December 20. 
 
 22 "Si non omnia secundum beneplacitum 
 succedant, ad prsesens dissimulet. — Giles, vi. 15 ; 
 Bouquet, 277. 
 
 23 See the curious letter of Master Lombard, 
 Becket's instructor in tbe canon law, wbo boldly 
 remonstrates with the Pope. He asserts that 
 Henry was so frightened at the menace of ex- 
 communication, his subjects, even the bishops, 
 at that of his interdict, that they were in des- 
 pair. Their only hope was in the death or some 
 
148 Thomas d Becltet. 
 
 especially the King of France,^ were 
 in ntter dismay at this change in the 
 papal policy. John, as Becket had 
 heard (and his emissaries were every- 
 where), on his landing in England, had 
 met the Bishop of Hereford (one of the 
 wavering bishops), prepared to cross the 
 sea in obedience to Becket's citation. 
 To him, after some delay, John had ex- 
 hibited letters of the Pope, which sent 
 him back to his diocese. On the sight 
 of these same letters, the Bishop of 
 London had exclaimed in the fullness 
 of his joy, "Then our Thomas is no 
 longer archbishop ! " "If this be true," 
 adds Becket, "the Pope has given a 
 death-blow to the Church." ^5 To the 
 
 great disaster of the Pope. — Giles, iv. 208; 
 Bouquet, 282. 
 
 24 See Letters of Louis ; Giles, iv. 308 ; Bou- 
 quet, 287. 
 
 25 " Strangulavit," a favorite word. — Giles, 
 iii. 214 ; Bouquet, 284. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 149 
 
 Arclibisliop of Mentz, for in tlie empire 
 lie had his ardent admirers, he poured 
 forth all the bitterness of his soul.^^ Of 
 the two cardinals he writes, " The one 
 is weak and versatile, the other treacher- 
 ous and crafty." He looked to their 
 arrival with indignant aj)prehension. 
 They are open to bribes, and may be 
 perverted to any injustice.^^ 
 
 26 Giles, iii. 235 ; Bouquet, 285. 
 
 2T Compare John of Salisbury, p. 539. " Scrip- 
 sit autem rex Domino Coloniensis, Henricum 
 Pisanum et Willelmum Papiensem in Franciam 
 venturos ad novas exactiones faciendas, ut 
 undique conradant et contrahant, unde Papa 
 Alexander in urbe sustentetur ; alter, ut nostis, 
 levis est et mutabilis, alter dolosus et fraudulen- 
 tus, uterque cupidus et avarug : et ideo de facili 
 munera coenabunt eos et ad omnem injustitiam 
 incurvabunt. Audito eorum detestando adventu 
 formidare csepi prsesentiam eorum causae vestraa 
 multum nocituram ; et ne vestro et vestrorum 
 sanguine gratiam Eegis Anglige redimere non 
 erubescant." He refers with great joy to the 
 
 insurrection of the Saxons against the Emperor. 
 13* 
 
150 Thomas d JSecTcet. 
 
 i ' 
 
 John of Oxford had proclaimed that 
 the cardinals, William of Pavia, and 
 Otho, were invested in full powers to 
 pass judgment between the King and 
 the Primate.28 But whether John of 
 Oxford had mistaken or exaggerated • 
 their powers, or the Pope (no impro- 
 bable case, considering the change of 
 affairs in Italy) had thought fit after- 
 wards to modify or retract them, they 
 came rather as mediators than judges, 
 with orders to reconcile the contending 
 parties, rather than to decide on their 
 cause. The cardinals did not arrive in 
 France till the autumn of the year.^^ 
 
 He says elsewhere of Henry of Pisa, " Yir bonss 
 opinionis est, sed Eomanus et Cardinalis." — 
 Epist. CO. ii. 
 
 28 The English bishops declare to the Pope 
 himself that they had received this concession, 
 scripto formatum, from the Pope, and that the 
 King was furious at what he thought a decep- 
 tion.-^Giles, vi. 194; Bouquet, 304. 
 
 29 The Pope wrote to the legates to soothe 
 
Thomas a BecTcet. 151 
 
 Even before their arrival, first rumors, 
 tlien more certain intelligence had been 
 propagated throughout Christendom of 
 the terrible disaster which had befallen 
 the Emperor. Barbarossa's career of ven- 
 2:eance and conquest had been a. d. iigt. 
 
 rrn -rt . 'PMgh.t of 
 
 cut short. The Pope a prisoner, Frederick. 
 a fugitive, was unexpectedly released, 
 restored to power, if not to the posses- 
 sion of Rome.^^ The climate of Rome, 
 as usual, but in a far more fearful man- 
 
 Becket and the King of France; he accuses 
 John of Oxford of spreading false reports about 
 the extent of their commission ; John Cummin 
 of betraying his letters to the Antipope. — Griles, 
 vi. 54. 
 
 30 So completely does Becket's fortune follow- 
 that of the Pope, that on June 17 Alexander 
 writes to permit Eoger of York to crown the 
 King's son ; no sooner is he safe in Benevento, 
 August 22 (perhaps the fever had begun), than 
 he writes to his legates to confirm the excom- 
 communications of Becket, which he had sus- 
 pended. 
 
152 Thomas a BecTcet. 
 
 ner, liad resented the invasion of the 
 city by the German army. A pesti- 
 lence had broken ont, which in less 
 than a month made snch havoc among 
 the soldiers, that they could scarcely 
 find room to bnry the dead. The fever 
 seemed to choose its victims among the 
 higher clergy, the partisans of the Anti- 
 pope; of the princes and nobles, the 
 chief victims were the younger Duke 
 Guelf, Duke Frederick of Swabia, and 
 some others ; of the bishops, those of 
 Prague, Ratisbon, Augsburg, Spires, 
 Yerdun, Liege, Zeitz; and the arch- 
 rebel himself, the antipope-maker, Regi- 
 nald of Cologne.^^ Throughout Europe 
 the clergy on the side of Alexander 
 raised a cry of awful exultation ; it was 
 God manifestly avenging himself on 
 
 81 Muratori, sub ann. 1167; Yon Eaumer, 
 ii. 210. On the 1st of August Frederick was 
 crowned ; September 4, be is at tbe Pass of Pon- 
 tremoli, in full retreat, or ratber fligbt. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 153 
 
 tlie enemies of the Cliurcli ; the new 
 Sennacherib (so he is called by Becket) 
 had been smitten in his pride ; and the 
 example of this chastisement of Fred- 
 erick was a command to the Chnrch to 
 resist to the last all rebels against her 
 power, to put forth her spiritual arms, 
 which God would as assuredly support 
 by the same or more signal wonders. 
 The defeat of Frederick was an admo- 
 nition to the Pope to lay bare the sword 
 of Peter, and smite on all sides.^^ 
 
 Tliere can be no doubt that Becket 
 so interpreted what he deemed Becket 
 
 / , -P, ^ against the 
 
 a sign irom heaven. But even legates. 
 
 S2 In a curious passage in a letter written by 
 Herbert de Bosham in tbe name of Becket, 
 Frederick's defeat is compared to Henry's dis- 
 graceful campaign in "Wales. " My enemy," 
 says Becket, " in tbe abundance of bis valor, 
 could not prevail against a breecbless and ragged 
 people (' exbraccatum et pannosum')." — Giles, 
 viii. p. 268. 
 
154: Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 before the disaster was certainly known 
 lie liad determined to show no submis- 
 sion to a judge so partial and so corrupt 
 as William of Pavia.^^ That cardinal 
 had urged the Pope at Sens to accept 
 Becket's resignation of his see. Becket 
 wonld not deign to disguise his con- 
 tempt. He wrote a letter so full of vio- 
 lence that John of Salisbury,^ to whom 
 it was submitted, persuaded him to de- 
 stroy it. A second was little milder ; 
 at length he was persuaded to" take a 
 more moderate tone. Yet even then he 
 speaks of the " insolence of princes lift- 
 
 83 " Oredimus non esse juri consentaneum, 
 nos ejus subire judicium vel examen qui quserit 
 sibi facere commercium de sanguine nostro, de 
 pretio utinam non iniquitatis, quaerit sibi nomen 
 et gloriam." — D. Thorn. Epist. Giles, iii. p. 15. 
 The two legates are described as " plus avaritiae 
 quam justitise studiosi." — W. Cant. p. 21. 
 
 34 Giles, iii. 15V, and John of Salisbury's re- 
 markable expostulatory letter upon Becket's 
 violence. — Bouquet, p. 566. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 155 
 
 ing up their horn." To Cardinal Otho, 
 on the other hand, his language borders 
 on adulation. 
 
 The cardinal Legates traveled in 
 slow state. They visited first Meeting 
 Becket at Sens, afterwards King Gisors. 
 Henry at Rouen. At length a meeting 
 was agreed on to be held on the borders 
 of the French and English territory, 
 between Gisors and Trie. The proud 
 Becket was disturbed at being hastily 
 summoned, when he was unable to 
 muster a sufiicient retinue of horsemen 
 to meet the Italian cardinals. The two 
 kings were there. Of Henry's prelates 
 the Archbishop of Rouen alone was 
 present at the first interview. Becket 
 was charged with urging the King of 
 France to war against his master. On 
 the following day the King of France 
 said in the presence of the cardinals, 
 that this impeachment on Beck- octave of 
 
 ^,1 1^ -^ r> ^ m n St. Martin. 
 
 et s loyalty was lalse. io all Nov. 23. 
 
166 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 tlie persuasions, menaces, entreaties of 
 the cardinals^^ Becket declared that lie 
 would submit, '' saving the honor of 
 God, and of the Apostolic See, the lib- 
 erty of the Church, the dignity of his 
 person, and the property of the churches. 
 As to the Customs he declared that he 
 would rather bow his neck to the exe- 
 cutioner than swear to observe them. 
 He peremptorily demanded his ow3i 
 restoration at once to all the honors 
 and possessions of his see." The third 
 question was on the appeal of the bish- 
 ops. Becket inveighed with bitterness 
 on their treachery towards him, their 
 servility to the King. " When the 
 shepherds fled all Egypt returned to 
 idolatry." Becket interpreted these 
 " shepherds " as the clergy .^^ He com- 
 pares them to the slaves in the old 
 
 S5 Herbert de Bosham, p. 248 ; Epist. Giles, 
 ill. 16; Bouquet, 296. 
 86 Giles, iii. p. 21. Compare the whole letter. 
 
Thomas d Bec'ket. 157 
 
 comedy; lie declared that he would 
 submit to no judgment on that point 
 but that of the Pope himself. 
 
 The Cardinals proceeded to the King. 
 They were received but coldly The cardi- 
 
 . •' nals before 
 
 at Argences, not tar irom Caen, the King. 
 at a great meeting with the ITorman 
 and English prelates. The Bishop of 
 London entered at length into the 
 King's grievances and his own ; Beck- 
 et's debt to the King,^^ his usurpations 
 on the see of London. At the close 
 Henry, in tears, entreated the cardinals 
 to rid him of the troublesome church- 
 man. "William of Pavia wept, or seem- 
 ed to weep from sympathy. Otho, 
 writes Becket's emissary, could hardly 
 suppress his laughter. The English 
 prelates afterwards at Le Mans solemn- 
 ly renewed their appeal. Their appeal 
 
 37 Foliot rather profanely said, tlie primate 
 seems to tMnk that as sin is washed away in 
 baptism, so debts are cancelled by promotion. 
 14 
 
158 Thomas d BecTcet. 
 
 was accompanied with a letter, in wMcli 
 they complain that Becket would leave 
 them exposed to the wrath of the King, 
 from which wrath he himself had fled f^ 
 of false representations of the Customs, 
 and disregard of all justice and of the 
 sacred canons in suspending and ana- 
 thematizing the clergy without hearing 
 and without trial. William of Pavia 
 gave notice of the appeal for the next 
 St. Martin's Day (so a year was to 
 elapse), with command to abstain from 
 all excommunication and interdict of 
 the kingdom till that day.^^ Both car- 
 dinals wrote strongly to the Pope in 
 favor of the Bishop of London.^*^ 
 
 38 "Ad mortem nos invitat et sanguinis effu- 
 sionem, cum ipse mortem, quam nemo sibi dig- 
 nabatur aut minabatur inferre, summo studio 
 declinaverit et suum sanguinem illibatum con- 
 servando, ejus nee guttam effundi voluerit." — 
 Giles vi. 196. Bouquet, 304. 
 
 39 GUes, vi. 148. Bouquet, 304. 
 
 40 Giles, vi. 135, 141. Bouquet, 306. Wil- 
 
Thomas d BecTtet. 159 
 
 At this suspension Becket wrote to 
 tlie Pope in a tone of mingled grief and 
 indignation.^^ He described himself as 
 the most wretched of men ; applied the 
 prophetic description of the Saviour's 
 unequaled sorrow to himself. He in- 
 veighed against William of Pavia :*2 he 
 threw himself on the justice and com- 
 passion of the Pope. But this in- Dec. 29. 
 hibition was confirmed by the Pope him- 
 self, in answer to another embassage of 
 Henry, consisting of Clarembold, Prior 
 elect of St. Augustine's, the Archdeacon 
 
 Ham of Pavia recommended the translation of 
 Becket to some other see. 
 
 41 Giles, iii. 28. Bouquet, 806. 
 
 42 One of his letters to William of Pavia he- 
 gins with this fierce denunciation: "ITon crede- 
 bam me tibi venalem proponendum emptoribus, 
 ut de sanguine meo compareres tibi compen- 
 dium de pretio iniquitatis, faciens tibi nomen et 
 gloriam." — Giles, iii. 153. Becket always re- 
 presents his enemies as thirsting after his 
 blood. 
 
160 Thomas a Bechet, 
 
 of Salisbury, and others.^^ This import- 
 ant favor was obtained tbrough. tbe inter- 
 est of Cardinal Jolm of I^aples, who ex- 
 presses bis hope that the insolent Arch- 
 bishop must at length see that he had 
 no resource but in submission. 
 
 Becket wrote again and again to the 
 May 19. Popo, bitterly complaining that 
 the Pope, the successive ambassadors of 
 the King, John of Oxford, John Cum- 
 min, the Prior of St. Augustine's, re- 
 turned from Rome each with larger 
 concessions.^ The Pope acknowledged 
 that the concessions had been extorted 
 from him. The ambassadors of Henry 
 had threatened to leave the Papal Court, 
 if their demands were not complied 
 with, in open hostility. The Pope was 
 still an exile in Benevento,^^ and did 
 
 43 Giles, iv. 128; vi. 133. Bouquet, 312, 
 313. 
 
 44 Epist. Giles, ii. 24. 
 
 45 He was at Benevento, though with differ- 
 
Thomas d Becket. 161 
 
 not dare to reocciipj Rome. The Em- 
 peror, e^en after his discomfitm'e, was 
 still formidable ; lie might collect an- 
 other overwhelming Transalpine force. 
 The subsidies of Henry to the Italian 
 cities and to the Roman partisans of 
 the Pope could not be spared. The 
 Pontiff therefore wrote soothing letters 
 to the King of France and to Beck- 
 et. He insinuated that these conces- 
 sions were but for a time. " For a 
 time !" replied Becket in an answer full 
 of fire and passion : " and in that time 
 the Church of England falls utterly to 
 ruin ; the property of the Church and 
 the poor is wrested from her. In that 
 time prelacies and abbacies are confis- 
 cated to the King's use : in that time 
 who will guard the flock when the wolf 
 is in the fold ? This fatal dispensation 
 will be a precedent for all ages. But 
 
 ent degrees of power, from August 22, 1167, to 
 Feb. 24, 1170. 
 14* 
 
162 TTiomafs a Bechet. 
 
 for me and my fellow exiles all autlior- 
 ity of Kome had ceased for, ever in 
 England. There had been no one who 
 had maintained the Pope against kings 
 and princes." His significant language 
 involves the Pope himself in the gene- 
 ral and unsparing charge of rapacity 
 and venality with which he brands the 
 court of Pome. " I shall have to give 
 an account at the last day, where gold 
 and silver are of no avail, nor gifts 
 which blind the eyes even of the wise."^^ 
 The same contemptuous allusions to 
 that notorious venality transpire in a 
 To the vehement letter addressed to the 
 Cardinals. Q^^igge of Cardluals, in which he 
 urges that his cause is their own ; that 
 they are sanctioning a fatal and irre- 
 trievable example to temporal princes ; 
 that they are abrogating all obedience 
 to the Church. " Your gold and silver 
 
 46 Giles, iii. p. 55. Bouquet, 317. Eead tbe 
 whole letter beginning " Anima mea." 
 
Thomas a Becltet. 163 
 
 will not deliver you in tlie day of tlie 
 wrath of tlie Lord."*^ On the other 
 hand, the King and the Queen of 
 France wrote in a tone of indignant re- 
 monstrance that the Pope had aban- 
 doned the cause of the enemy of their 
 enemy. More than one of the French 
 prelates who wrote in the same strain 
 declared that their King, in his resent- 
 ment, had seriously thought of defection 
 to the Antipope, and of a close connex- 
 ion with the Imperial family .^^ Alex- 
 ander determined to make another at- 
 tempt at reconciliation; at least he 
 should gain time, that precious source 
 of hope to the embarrassed and irreso- 
 lute. His mediators were the Prior of 
 Montdieu and Bernard de Corilo, a 
 monk of Grammont.^^ It was a for- 
 
 47 Bouquet, 324. 
 
 48 Epist. Giles, iv. Bouquet, 320. 
 
 49 Thieir instructions are dated May 25, 
 1168. See also the wavering letters to Becket 
 
164 T ho mas a BecJcet, 
 
 tunate time, for just at this juncture, 
 peace and even amity seemed to be es- 
 tablished between tbe Kings of France 
 and England. Many of tbe great ITor- 
 man and Frencb prelates and nobles 
 offered themselves as joint mediators 
 with the commissioners of the Pope. 
 
 A vast assembly was convened on the 
 Meeting dav of the Epiphany in the plains 
 
 at Mont- '^ ^^ . . ., 1 . .1 
 
 mirau. near Montmirail, where m the 
 presence of the two kings and the barons 
 of each realm the reconciliation was to 
 take place. Becket held a long con- 
 ference with the mediators. He pro- 
 posed, instead of the obnoxious phrase 
 '' saving my order," to substitute " sav- 
 ing the honor of God ; " ^"^ the mediators 
 
 and tlie King of France. — Giles, iv. p. 25, p. 
 111. 
 
 50"Sed quid? Nobis ita consilium suspen- 
 dentibus et bsesitantibus quid agendum a pacis 
 mediatoribus, multis et magnis viris, et praeser- 
 tim qui inter ipsos a viris religosis et aliis arcM- 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 165 
 
 of the treaty insisted on his throwing 
 himself on the King's mercy absolutely 
 and without reservation. With great 
 reluctance Becket appeared at least to 
 yield : his counselors acquiesced in 
 silence. With this distinct understand- 
 ing the Kings of France and England 
 met at Montmirail, and everything 
 seemed prepared for the final settlement 
 of this long and obstinate quar- Jan. 6,ii69. 
 rel. The Kings awaited the approach 
 of the Primate. But as he was on his 
 way, De Bosham (who always assumes 
 to himself the credit of suggesting 
 Becket's most haughty proceedings) 
 whispered in his ear (De Bosham him- 
 self asserts this) a solemn caution, lest 
 he should act over again the fatal scene 
 of w^eakness at Clarendon. Becket had 
 
 praesTili amicissimis et familiarissimis, adeo 
 sicut et supra diximus, suasus, tractus et im- 
 piilsus est, ut haberetur persuasus." — ^De Bosh- 
 am, p. 268. 
 
166 TJiomas d B ecTtet . 
 
 not time to answer De Bosham : he ad- 
 vanced to the King and threw himself 
 at his feet. Henry raised him instantly 
 from the gronnd. Becket, standing up- 
 right, began to solicit the clemency of 
 the King. He declared his readiness 
 to submit his whole cause to the judg- 
 ment of the two Kings and of the as- 
 sembled prelates and nobles. After a 
 j)ause he added, " Saving the honor of 
 God." SI 
 
 At this unexpected breach of his 
 agreement the mediators, even the most 
 ardent admirers of Becket, stood aghast. 
 Treaty Hcury, thinking himself duped, 
 broken off. ^^ spj^ hc might, broke out into 
 
 51 " Sed mox adjecit, quod nee rex neo pacis 
 mediatores, vel alii, vel etiam sui propria sesti- 
 maverunt, ut adjiceret videlicet ' Salvo honore 
 Dei.' " — De Bosham, p. 262. In Ms account to 
 the Pope of this meeting, Becket suppresses his 
 own tergiversation on this point. — ^Epist. Giles, 
 iii. p. 43. Compare John of Salisbury (who 
 was not present). Bouquet, 395. 
 
Thomas d Bec'ket, 167 
 
 one of his ungoYernable fits of anger. 
 He reproaclied the Archbishop with 
 arrogance, obstinacy, and ingratitude. 
 He so far forgot himself as to declare 
 that Becket had displayed all his mag- 
 nificence and prodigality as chancellor 
 only to court popularity and to suj)plant 
 his king in the affections of his people. 
 Becket listened with patience, and ap- 
 pealed to the King of France as witness 
 to his loyalty. Henry fiercely inter- 
 rupted him. " Mark, Sire (he address- 
 ed the King of France), the infatuation 
 and pride of the man : he pretends to 
 have been banished, though he fled 
 from his see. He would persuade you 
 that he is maintaining the cause of the 
 Church, and suffering for the sake of 
 justice. I have always been willing, 
 and am still willing, to grant that he 
 should rule his Church with the same 
 liberty as his predecessors, men not less 
 holy than himself." Even the King of 
 
168 Thomas d Becket. 
 
 France seemed shocked at the conduct 
 of Becket. The prelates and nobles, 
 having in vain labored to bend the in- 
 flexible spirit of the Primate, retired in 
 sullen dissatisfaction. He stood alone. 
 Even John of Poitiers, his most ardent 
 admirer, followed him to Etampes, and 
 entreated him to yield. " And you, 
 too," returned Becket, " will you stran- 
 gle us, and give triumph to the malig- 
 nity of our enemies ? " ^^ 
 
 The King of England retired, follow- 
 ed by the Papal Legates, who, though 
 they held letters of Commination from 
 the Pope,^ delayed to serve them on 
 
 52 "Ut quid nos et.vos strangulatis ? " — ^Epist. 
 Giles, iii. 312. 
 
 53 Throughout the Pope kept up his false 
 game. He privately assured the King of France 
 that he need not be alarmed if himself (Alexan- 
 der) seemed to take part against the archbishop. 
 The cause was safe in his bosom. See the 
 curious letter of Matthew of Sens. — ^Epist. Giles, 
 iv. p. 166. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 169 
 
 the King. Becket followed the Eng 
 of France to Montmirail. He was re- 
 ceived by Louis ; and Becket put on 
 so cheerful a countenance as to surj)rise 
 all present. On his return to Sens, he 
 explained to his followers that his cause 
 was not only that of the Church, but of 
 God.^ He passed among the acclama- 
 tions of the populace, ignorant of his 
 duplicity. "Behold the prelate who 
 stood up even before two kings for the 
 honor of God." 
 
 Becket may have had foresight, or 
 even secret information of the hoUow- 
 ness of the peace between the two kings. 
 Before many days, some acts of barbar- 
 ous cruelty by Henry against war 
 his rebellious subjects plunged England 
 the two nations again in hostility. The 
 Eang of France and his prelates, feeling 
 
 54"N'unc prseter ecclesise causam, expressam 
 ipsius etiam Dei causam agebamus." — ^De Bosh- 
 am, 272. 
 
 15 
 
 of 
 France and 
 
lYO Th omasa B eclcet. 
 
 how nearly they had lost their powerful 
 ally, began to admire what they called 
 Becket's magnanimity as loudly as they 
 had censured his obstinacy. The King 
 visited him at Sens : one of the Papal 
 commissioners, the Monk of Grammont, 
 said privately to Herbert de Bosham, 
 that he had rather his foot had been cnt 
 off than that Becket should have listen- 
 ed to his advice.^^ 
 
 Becket now at once drew the sword 
 and cast away the scabbard. " Cursed 
 is he that refraineth his sword from 
 blood." This Becket applied to the 
 spiritual weapon. On Ascension Day 
 Excommu- ^^ ^galu solcmuly excommuni- 
 nication. (j^tcd Gilbert Foliot Bishop of 
 London, Joscelin of Salisbury, the Arch- 
 deacon of Salisbury, Kichard de Luci, 
 Eandulph de Broc, and many other of 
 Henry's most faithful counselors. He 
 announced this excommunication to the 
 
 55 De Bosham, 278. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 171 
 
 Archbishop of Rouen,^^ and remmcled 
 him that whosoever presumed to com- 
 municate with anj one of these outlaws 
 of the Church by word, in meat or 
 drink, or even by salutation, subjected 
 himself thereby to the same excommu- 
 nication. The appeal to the Pope he 
 treated with sovereign contempt. He 
 sternly inhibited Roger of "Worcester, 
 who had entreated permission to com- 
 municate with his brethren. ^^ " What 
 fellowship is there between Christ and 
 Belial ? " He announced this act to the 
 Pope, entreating, but with the tone of 
 command, his approbation of the pro- 
 ceeding. An emissary of Bechet had 
 the boldness to enter St. Paul's Cathe- 
 dral in London, to thrust the sentence 
 into the hands of the officiating priest, 
 and then to proclaim with a loud voice, 
 " Know all men, that Gilbert Bishop of 
 
 56 Giles, iii. 290 ; vi. 293. Bouquet, 346. 
 5' Giles, iii. 322. Bouquet, 348. 
 
172 Th omasa B echet. 
 
 London is excommnnicate by Thomas 
 Archbishop of Canterbury and Legate 
 of the Pope." He escaped with some 
 difficulty from ill-nsage by the people. 
 Foliot immediately summoned his 
 clergy ; explained the illegality, injus- 
 tice, nullity of an excommunication 
 without citation, hearing, or trial, and 
 renewed his appeal to the Pope. The 
 Dean of St. Paul's and all the clergy, 
 excepting the priests of certain monas- 
 teries, j oined in the appeal.- The Bishop 
 of Exeter declined, nevertheless he gave 
 to Foliot the kiss of peace.^^ 
 
 King Henry was not without fear at 
 Henry's this last dcsperatc blow. He 
 
 intrigues .tit. i 
 
 in Italy, had uot a Single cnaplam who 
 had not been excommunicated, or was 
 not virtually under ban for holding 
 intercourse with persons under excom- 
 munication.^^ He continued his active 
 
 58 Epist. Giles, iv. 225. 
 
 59 Fragm. Yit. Giles, i. p. 371. 
 
Thoinas a Bechet. 173 
 
 intrigues, liis subsidies in Italy. He 
 bought tbe support of Milan, Pavia, 
 Cremona, Parma, Bologna. The Fran- 
 gipani, tlie family of Leo, the people of 
 Rome, were still kept in allegiance to 
 tbe Pope cHefly by liis lavish pay- 
 ments.^^ He made overtures to the 
 King of Sicily, the Pope's ally, for a 
 matrimonial alliance with his family : 
 and finally, he urged the tempting offer 
 to mediate a peace between the Em- 
 peror and the Pope. Reginald of Salis- 
 bury boasted that, if the Pope should 
 die, Henry had the whole College of 
 Cardinals in his pay, and could name 
 his Pope.^^ 
 
 60 Et quod omnes Romanos data pecunia indu- 
 cant ut faciant fidelitatem domino Papee, dum- 
 modo in nostra dejectione regis Angliee satis- 
 faciat volnntati." — Epist. ad Humbold. Card. 
 Giles, iii. 123. Bouquet, 350. Compare Lam- 
 beth, on the effect of Italian affairs on the con- 
 duct of the Pope. — ^p. 106. 
 
 61 Epist. 188, p. 266. 
 
 15* 
 
1Y4 Thomas d BecTcet. 
 
 But no longer dependent on Henry's 
 largesses to his partisans, Alexander's 
 affairs wore a more prosperous aspect. 
 He began, yet cautiously, to sliow his 
 real bias. He determined to appoint a 
 New Legatine now Icgatiuo commissiou, not 
 
 Commission. , 
 
 Mar. 10, 1169. now rapacious cardmals and 
 avowed partisans of Henry. The I^un- 
 cios were Gratian^ a hard and severe 
 canon lawyer, not likely to swerve from 
 the loftiest claims of the Decretals ; and 
 Yivian, a man of more pliant character, 
 but as far as he was firm in any princi- 
 ple, disposed to high ecclesiastical views. 
 At the same time he urged Becket to 
 issue no sentences against the King or 
 the King's followers ; or if, as he hardly 
 believed, he had already done so, to 
 suspend their powers. 
 
 The terrors of the excommunicatiqn 
 English pre- wcrc uot without their effect 
 lates waver. -^ England. Somc of the Bish- 
 ops began gradually to recede from the 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 1Y5 
 
 King's partj, and to incline to tliat of 
 tlie Primate. Hereford had .already 
 attempted to cross the sea. Henry of 
 Winchester was in private correspond- 
 ence with Becket : he had thronghout 
 secretly supplied him with money. ^^ 
 Becket skillfully labored to awaken his 
 old spirit of opposition to the Crown. 
 He reminded Winchester of his royal 
 descent, that he was secure in his pow- 
 erful connexions ; " the impious one 
 would not dare to strike him, for fear 
 lest his kindred should avenge his 
 cause."^^ ISTorwich, Worcester, Chester, 
 even Chichester, more than wavered. 
 This movement was strengthened by a 
 •false step of Foliot, which exposed all 
 his former proceedings to the charge 
 
 62 Fitz-Stephen, p. 271. 
 
 63 " Domo vestra flagellum suspendit impius, 
 ne quod promereret, propinqnorum vestrorum 
 ministerio veniat super eum." — Giles, iii. 338. 
 Bouquet, 358. 
 
176 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 of irregular ambition. He began to 
 declare publicly not only that he never 
 swore canonical obedience to Becket, 
 but to assert the independence of the 
 see of London and the right of the see 
 of London to the primacy of England. 
 Becket speaks of this as an act of spirit- 
 ual parricide : Foliot was another Ab- 
 salom.*^ He appealed to the pride and 
 the fears of the Chapter of Canterbury: 
 he exposed, and called on them to resist, 
 these machinations of Foliot to degrade 
 the archiepiscopal see. At the same 
 time he warned all persons to abstain 
 from communion with those who were 
 under his ban ; " for he had accurate 
 information as to all who were guilty 
 of that offence." Even in France this 
 proc'eeding strengthened the sympathy 
 with Becket. The Archbishop of Sens, 
 the Bishops of Troyes, Paris, [N^oyon, 
 
 .64 Giles, iii. 201. Bouquet, 361. 
 
Thomas d JSecJcet. 177 
 
 Auxerre, Boulogne, wrote to tlie Pope 
 to denounce tliis audacious impiety of 
 the Bishop of London. 
 
 The first interview of the new Papal 
 legates, Gratian and Yivian, interview 
 
 f ^ . ' of the new 
 
 With the ivmff, is described Legates with 
 
 . T . -, . , the King. 
 
 with singular minuteness by a Aug. 23. 
 friend of Becket.^^ On the eve of St. Bar- 
 tholomew's Day they arrived at Dam- 
 port. On their approach, Geoffrey Ridel 
 and JSTigel Sackville stole out of the town. 
 The King, as he came in from hunting, 
 courteously stopped at the lodging of 
 the Legates : as they were conversing 
 the Prince rode up with a great blow- 
 ing of horns from the chase, and pre- 
 sented a whole stag to the Legates. 
 The next morning the King visited 
 them, accompanied by the Bishops of 
 Seez and of Eennes. Presently John 
 of Oxford, Reginald of Salisbury, 
 
 65 " Amici 
 Bouquet, 370. 
 
178 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 and the Arclideacoii of Llandaffwere 
 admitted. The conference lasted the 
 whole day, sometimes in amity, some- 
 times in strife. Just before sunset the 
 King rnshed out in wrath, swearing by 
 the eyes of God that he would not sub- 
 mit to their terms. Gratian firmly re- 
 plied, " Think not to threaten us ; we 
 come from a court which is accustomed 
 to command Emperors and Kings." 
 The King then summoned his barons 
 to witness, together with his chaplains, 
 what fair offers he had made. He de- 
 parted somewhat pacified. The eighth 
 day was appointed for the convention, 
 at which the King and the Archbishop 
 were again to meet in the presence of 
 the Legates. 
 
 It was held at Bayeux. With the 
 Aug. 31. King appeared the Archbishops 
 of Rouen and Bordeaux, the Bishop of 
 Le Mans, and all the ISTorman prelates. 
 The second day arrived one English 
 
Thomas a Beclcet. 179 
 
 bishop — ^Worcester. John of Poitiers 
 kept prudently away. The Legates 
 presented the Pope's preceding letters 
 in favor of Becket. Tlie King, after 
 stating his grievances,^^ said, " If for 
 this man I do anything, on account of 
 the Pope's entreaties, he ought to be 
 very grateful." The next day at a 
 place called Le Bar, the King requested 
 the Legates to absolve his chaplains 
 without any oath : on their refusal, the 
 King mounted his horse, and swore that 
 he would never listen to the Pope or 
 any one else concerning the restoration 
 of Becket. The prelates interceded; 
 the Legates partially gave way. The 
 Kjng dismounted and renewed the con- 
 ference. At length he consented to the 
 return of Becket and all the exiles. He 
 
 66 Henry, it should be observed, waived all 
 the demands which he had hitherto urged against 
 Becket, for debts incurred during his chancellor- 
 ship. 
 
180 Thomas a Bechet, 
 
 seemed deliglited at tliis, and treated of 
 other affairs. He returned again to tlie 
 Legates, and demanded tliat they, or 
 one of them, or at least some one com- 
 missioned by them, should cross over 
 to England to absolve all who had been 
 excommunicated by the Primate. Gra- 
 tian refused this with inflexible obstina- 
 cy. The King was again furious: ^' I care 
 not an egg for you and your excommu- 
 nications." He again mounted his 
 horse, but at the earnest supplication 
 of the prelates he returned once more. 
 He demanded that they should write 
 to the Pope to announce his pacific 
 offers. The Bishops explained to the 
 King that the Legates had at last pro- 
 duced a positive mandate of the Pope, 
 enjoining their absolute obedience to 
 his Legates. The King replied, " I 
 know that they will lay my realm under 
 an interdict, but cannot I, who can take 
 the strongest castle in a day, seize any 
 
Thomas d Bechet. 181 
 
 ecclesiastic who shall presume to utter 
 such an interdict ?" Some concessions 
 allayed his wrath, and he returned to his 
 offers of reconciliation. Geoffrj Eidel 
 and Mgel Sackville were' absolved 
 on the condition of declaring, with 
 their hands on the Gospels, that they 
 would obey the commands of the Le- 
 gates. The King still pressing the visit 
 of one of the Legates to England, Yivian 
 consented to take the journey. The 
 bishops were ordered to draw up the 
 treaty; but the King insisted on a 
 clause " Saving the honor of his Crown." 
 They adjourned to a future day at 
 Caen. The Bishop of Lisieux, adds 
 the writer, flattered the King ; the Arch- 
 bishop of Eouen was for God and the 
 Pope. 
 
 Two conferences at Caen and at Eou- 
 en were equally inconclusive ; the King- 
 insisted on the words, " saving the dig- 
 nity of my Crown." Becket inquired 
 
 16 
 
182 Thomas d Bechet. 
 
 if he miglit add " saving the liberty of 
 the Chiirch."67 
 
 Tlie King threw all the blame of the 
 final rupture on the Legates, who had 
 agreed, he said, to this clause, ^^ but 
 through Becket's influence withdrew 
 from their word.^^ He reminded the 
 Pope that he had in his possession let- 
 ters of his Holiness exempting him and 
 his realm from all authority of the Pri- 
 mate till he should be received into the 
 royal favor.'^*^ " If," he adds, " the Pope 
 
 6T Epist. Giles, iv. 216. Bouqnet, 373. 
 
 68 " Eevocato consensu," writes the Bishop of 
 Nevers, a moderate prelate, who regrets the 
 obstinacy of the nuncios. Giles, vi. 266.- Bou- 
 quet, 377. Compare the letter of the clergy of 
 Normandy to the Pope. — Giles, vi. 177. Bou- 
 quet, 377. 
 
 69 Becket thought, or pretended to think, 
 that under the " dignitatibus " lurked the " con- 
 suetudinibus." — Giles, iii. 299. Bouquet, 379. 
 
 '^^ " Oeteras vestras recepimus, et ipsas adhuc 
 penes nos habemus, in quibus terram nostram 
 
Thomas d Becket. 183 
 
 refuses my demands, he must hence- 
 forth, despair of my good will, and look 
 to other quarters to protect his realm 
 and his honor." Both parties renewed 
 their appeals, their intrigues in Rome ; 
 Becket's coniplaints of Eome's venality 
 became louder.'^^ 
 
 Becket began again to fulminate his 
 excommunications. Before his depart- 
 ure Gratian signified to Geoffry Ridel 
 and l^igel Sackville that their absolu- 
 tion was conditional ; if ]3eace was not 
 ratified by Michaelmas, they were still 
 under the ban. Becket menaced some 
 old, some new victims, the Dean of 
 Salisbury, John Cummin, the Arch- 
 
 et personas regni a prsefata Cantuarensis potes- 
 tate eximebatis, donee ipse in gratiam nostram 
 rediisset." — Epist. Giles, vi. 291. Bouquet, 374. 
 '^^ " Nam quod mundus sentit, dolet, ingemis- 
 cit, nullus adeo iniquam causam ad ecclesiam 
 Romanam defert, quin ibi spe lucri concepta ne 
 dixerim odore sordium, adjutorem inveniat et 
 patronum." — Epist. iii. 133; Bouquet, 382. 
 
184 Thomas d Beolcet. 
 
 deacon of Llandaff, and oth.ers.'^^ But 
 he now took a more decisive and terri- 
 ble step. He wrote to tlie bishops of 
 England,^^ commanding them to lay 
 the whole kingdom under interdict ; all 
 divine offices were to cease except bap- 
 tism, penance, and the viaticum, unless 
 Nov. 2, iiTo. before the Feast of the Purifi- 
 cation the King should have given full 
 satisfaction for his contumacy to the 
 Church. This was to be done with 
 closed doors, the laity expelled from 
 the ceremony, with no bell tolling, no 
 dirge wailing ; all church music was to 
 cease. The act was specially announced 
 to the chapters of Chichester, Lincoln, 
 and Bath. Of the Pope he demanded 
 that he would treat the King's am- 
 bassadors, Eeginald of Salisbury and 
 Hichard Barre, one as actually ex- 
 communicate, the other as contami- 
 
 "^2 Giles, iii. 250 ; Bouquet, 387. 
 T3 Giles, iii. 834 ; Bouquet, 388. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 185 
 
 nated by intercourse with the excom- 
 municate.''^ 
 
 The menace of the Interdict, with the 
 fear that the Bishops of England, all 
 but London and Salisbury, might be 
 overawed into publishing it in their 
 dioceses, threw Henry back into his 
 usual irresolution. There were other 
 alarming signs. Gratian had returned 
 to Rome, accompanied by William, 
 Archbishop of Sens, Becket's most faith- 
 ful admirer. Eumors spread that Wil- 
 liam was to return invested in full 
 
 74 Giles, iii. 42 ; Bouquet, 390. Eeginald of 
 Salisbury was an especial object of Becket's 
 bate. He calls Mm one born in fornication 
 (" fornicarium "), son of a priest. Eeginald 
 bated Becket witb equal cordiality. Becket 
 bad betrayed bim by a false promise of not in- 
 juring bis fatber. " Quod utique ipsi non plus 
 quam cant faceremus." — Tbis letter contains 
 Reginald's speecb about Henry baving tbe Col- 
 lege of Cardinals in bis pay. — Giles, iii. 225; 
 
 Bouquet, 391. 
 
 16* 
 
186 Thomas d Becltet 
 
 legatine powers — William, not only 
 Becket's friend, but the head of the 
 French hierarchy. If the Interdict 
 should be extended to his French domin- 
 ions, and the Excommnnication launch- 
 ed against his person, could he depend 
 on the precarious fidelity of the l^orman 
 prelates ? Differences had again arisen 
 with the King of France.^^ Henry was 
 Uehry at ^eizcd witli an access of devotion. 
 '^™- He asked permission to offer his 
 prayers at the shrines and at the Mar- 
 tyrs' Mount (Montmartre) at Paris. 
 The pilgrimage would lead to an inter- 
 view with the lung of France, and offer 
 an occasion of renewing the negotia- 
 tions with Becket. Yivan was hastily 
 summoned to turn back. His vanity 
 
 '^5 Becket writes to the Pope, January 1170. 
 " Nee vos oportet de caetero vereri, ne transeat 
 ad scliismaticos, quod sic eum Christus in manu 
 famuli sui, regis Francorum subegit, ut ab obse- 
 quio ejus non possit amplius separari." — ^p. 48, 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 187 
 
 was flattered by the hope of noy. ii69. 
 acliieying that reconciliation which had 
 failed with Gratian. He wrote to 
 Becket requesting his presence. Becket, 
 thongh he snspected Yivian, yet out of 
 respect to the King of France, consent- 
 ed to approach as near as Chateau Cor- 
 beil. After the conference with the 
 King of France, two petitions from 
 Becket, in his usual tone of imperious 
 humility, were presented to the King of 
 England. The Primate condescended 
 to entreat the favor of Henry, and the 
 restoration of the Church of Canterbury, 
 in as ample a form as it was held before 
 his exile. The second was more brief, 
 but raised a new question of compensa- 
 tion for loss and damage during the 
 archbishop's absence from his ^^ otiations 
 see.''^^ Both parties mistrusted ^'^i^ewed. 
 
 '^6 Many diflBcult points arose. Did Becket 
 demand not merely the actual possessions of the 
 
 There were 
 
188 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 each other ; each watched the other's 
 words with captious jealousy. Yivian, 
 weary of those verbal chicaneries of 
 the King, declared that he had never 
 met with so mendacious a man in his 
 life.'^'^ Yivian might have remembered 
 his own retractations, still more those of 
 Becket on former occasions. He with- 
 drew from the negotiation; and this 
 conduct, with the refusal of a gift from 
 Henry (a rare act of virtue), won him 
 the approbation of Becket. But Becket 
 himself was not yet without mistrust ; 
 he had doubts whether Yivian's report 
 to the Pope would be in the same spirit. 
 " If it be not, he deserves the doom of 
 the traitor Judas." 
 
 three estates held by "William de Eos, Henry of 
 Essex, and John the Marshall (the original ob- 
 ject of dispute at Northampton ?), which Becket 
 specifically required and declared that he would 
 not give up if exiled for ever. — ^Epist. Giles, iii. 
 220 ; Bouquet, 400. 
 
 '^^ Epist. Giles, iii. 262 ; Bouquet, 199. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 189 
 
 Henry at length agreed that on the 
 question of compensation he would 
 abide by the sentence of the court of 
 the French King, the judgment of the 
 Galilean Church, and of the University 
 of Paris.'^^ This made so favorable an 
 impression that Becket could only 
 evade it by declaring that he had rather 
 come to an amicable agreement with 
 the King than involve the aifair in 
 litigation. 
 
 At length all difficulties seemed yield- 
 ing away, when Becket demanded ^..^g ^^ 
 the customary kiss of peace, as the p^^^®- 
 pledge of reconciliation. Henry per- 
 emptorily refused ; he had sworn in his 
 wrath never to grant this favor to 
 Becket. He was inexorable ; and with- 
 out this guarantee Becket would not 
 trust the faith of the King. He was 
 reminded, he said, by the case of the 
 Count of Flanders, that even the kiss of 
 
 '^8 Epist. ibid. ; Eadulph de Diceto. 
 
190 Thomas a Bechet, 
 
 peace did not secure a revolted subject, 
 Robert de Silian, wbo, even after this 
 sign of amity, had been seized and cast 
 into a dungeon. Henry's conduct, if 
 not the effect of sudden passion or un- 
 governable aversion, is inexplicable. 
 Why did he seek this interview, which, 
 if he was insincere in his desire for re- 
 conciliation, conld afford but short 
 delay % and from such oaths he would 
 hardly have refused, for any great pur- 
 pose of his own, to receive absolution.'^^ 
 On the other hand, it is quite clear that 
 Becket reckoned on the legatine power 
 of William of Sens and the terror of the 
 English prelates, who had refused to 
 attend a council in London to reject 
 the Interdict. He had now full con- 
 fidence that he could exact his own 
 
 ■^9 According to Pope Alexander, Henry offer- 
 ed that liis son should give the kiss of peace in 
 his stead. — Giles, iv. 55. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 191 
 
 terms and humble the King under his 
 feet.80 
 
 But the King was resolved to wage 
 war to the utmost. Geoffry Eidel, 
 Archdeacon of Canterbury, was King's pro- 
 sent to England with a royal ciamatioQ. 
 proclamation containing the following 
 articles : — I. Whosoever shall bring 
 into the realm any letter from the Pope 
 or the Archbishop of Canterbury is 
 guilty of high treason. II. Whosoever, 
 whether bishop, clerk, or layman, shall 
 observe the Interdict, shall be ejected 
 from all his chattels, which are confis- 
 cate to the Crown. III. All clerks 
 absent from England shall return be- 
 fore the feast of St. Hilary, on pain of 
 forfeiture of all their revenues. lY. 
 E'o appeal is to be made to the Pope or 
 Archbishop of Canterbury under pain 
 of imprisonment and forfeiture of aU 
 
 80 See his letter to Ms emissaries at Eome. — 
 Giles, iii. 219; Bouquet, 401. 
 
19^ Thomas d BecJcet. 
 
 cliattels. Y. All laymen from beyond 
 seas are to be searched, and if anything 
 be found upon them contrary to the 
 King's honor, they are to be imprison- 
 ed ; the same with those who cross to 
 the Continent. YI. If any clerk or 
 monk shall land in England without 
 passport from the King, or with any- 
 thing contrary to his honor, he shall be 
 thrown into prison. YII. 'No clerk or 
 monk may cross the seas without the 
 King's passport. The same rule applied 
 to the clergy of Wales, who were to be 
 expelled from all schools in England. 
 Lastly, Yin. The sheriffs were to ad- 
 minister an oath to all freemen through- 
 out England, in open court, that they 
 would obey these royal mandates, thus 
 abjuring, it is said, all obedience to 
 Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury.^^ 
 
 81 Ricardus Dorubernensis apud Twysden. 
 Lord Lyttelton lias another copy, in Ms appen- 
 dix ; in that a nintli article forbade the payment 
 
ThoQTias a Bechet. 193 
 
 Tlie bishops, however, declined the 
 oath ; some concealed themselves in 
 their dioceses. Becket addressed a tri- 
 umphant or gratulatory letter to his 
 suffragans on their firmness. "We are 
 now one, except that most hapless 
 Judas, that rotten limb (Foliot of Lon- 
 don), which is severed from us."^^ Ano- 
 ther letter is addressed to the people of 
 England, remonstrating on their impious 
 abjuration of their pastor, and offering 
 absolution to all who had sworn through 
 compulsion and repented of their oath. §3 
 The King and the Primate thus con- 
 tested the realm of England. 
 
 But the Pope was not yet to be in- 
 flamed by Becket's passions, ^j^^ p^p^ 
 nor quite disposed to depart ^^'" dubious. 
 from his temporizing policy. John of 
 
 of Peter's Pence to Eome ; it was to be collect- 
 ed and broiigM into the exchequer, 
 
 82Epist. Giles, iii. 195 ; Bouquet, 404. 
 
 83 Giles, iii. 192 ; Bouquet, 405. 
 17 
 
194 Thomas a BecTcet. 
 
 Oxford was at the court in Benevento 
 with the Archdeacons of Eoiien and 
 Seez. From that court returned the 
 Archdeacon of Llandaff and Eobert de 
 Barre with a commission to the Arch- 
 bishop of Rouen and the Bishop of 
 Il^evers to make one more effort for the 
 termination of the difficulties. On the 
 one hand they were armed with powers, 
 if the King did not accede to his own 
 terms within forty days after his citation 
 (he had offered a thousand marks as 
 compensation for all losses), to pro- 
 nounce an interdict against his conti- 
 nental dominions ; on the other, Becket 
 was exhorted to humble himself before 
 the King ; if Henry was inflexible and 
 declined the Pope's offered absolution 
 from his oath, to accept the kiss of 
 peace from the King's son. The Eang 
 was urged to abolish in due time the 
 impious and obnoxious Customs. And 
 to these prelates was likewise intrusted 
 
Thomas d BecJcet. 195 
 
 authority to absolve the refractory 
 Bishops of London and Salisbury.^ 
 Tliis, however, was not the only object 
 of Henry's new embassy to the Pope. 
 He had long determined on the corona- 
 tion of his eldest son ; it had been 
 delayed for varions reasons. He seized 
 this opportunity of reviving a design 
 which would be as well humiliating to 
 Becket as also of great moment in case 
 the person of the King should be struck 
 by the thunder of excommunication. 
 The coronation of the King of England 
 was the undoubted prerogative of the 
 Archbishops of Canterbury, which had 
 never been invaded without sufficient 
 cause, and Becket was the last man 
 tamely to surrender so important a right 
 of his see. John of Oxford was to 
 exert every means (what those means 
 were may be conjectured rather than 
 proved) to obtain the papal permission 
 84 Dated February 12, 1170. 
 
196 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 for tlie Arclibisliop of York to officiate 
 at tliat august ceremony. 
 
 The absolution of the Bishops of Lon- 
 don and Salisbury was an astounding 
 blow to Becket. He tried to impede it 
 by calling in question the power of the 
 archbishop to pronounce it without the 
 presence of his colleague. The arch- 
 bishop disregarded his remonstrance, 
 and Becket's sentence was thus anuUed 
 by the authority of the Pope. Kumors 
 at the same time began to spread that 
 the Pope had granted to the Arch- 
 bishop of York power to proceed to the 
 coronation. Becket's fury burst all 
 bounds. He wrote to the Cardinal 
 Albert and to Gratian: " In the court 
 of Rome, now as ever, Christ is crucifi- 
 ed and Barabbas released. The miser- 
 able and blameless exiles are condemn- 
 ed, the sacrilegious, the homicides, the 
 impenitent thieves are absolved, those 
 whom Peter himself declares that in his 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 197 
 
 own cliair (tlie world protesting against 
 it) lie wonld have no power to absolve.^^ 
 Henceforth I commit my canse to God 
 — God alone can find a remedy. Let 
 those appeal to Eome who triumph 
 over the innocent and the godly, and 
 retnrn glorying in the ruin of the 
 Church. For me I am ready to die." 
 Becket's fellow exiles addressed the 
 Cardinal Albert, denouncing in vehe- 
 ment language the avarice of the cou.rt 
 of Kome, by which they were brought 
 to support the robbers of the Church. 
 It is no longer King Henry alone who 
 
 85 Epist. Giles, iii. 96 ; Bouquet, 416 ; Giles, 
 
 iii. 108 ; Bouquet, 419. " Sed pro ea mori 
 
 parati sumus." He adds; " Insurgant qui 
 
 voluerint cardinales, arment non modo regem 
 
 Anglic, sed totum, si possent orbem in perni- 
 
 ciem nostram . . . Utinam via Romana non 
 
 gratis peremisset tot miseros innocentes. Quis 
 
 de cetero audeb^t illi regi registere quern ecclesia 
 
 Eomana tot triumphis animavit, et armavit 
 
 exemplo pernitioso manante ad posteros." 
 17* 
 
198 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 is guilty of this six years' persecution, 
 but the Church of Rome.^^ 
 
 The coronation of the Prince by the 
 Archbishop of York took place in the 
 Abbey of Westminster on the 15th 
 of June.^'^ The assent of the clergy was 
 given with that of the laity. The Arch- 
 bishop of York produced a papal brief, 
 authorising him to perform the cere- 
 mony.^^ An inhibitory letter, if it 
 
 86 "IsTec persuadebitur mundo, quod snasores 
 isti Deum saperent ; sed potius pecuniam, quam 
 immoderato avaritise ardore sitiunt, olfecerunt." 
 — Giles, iv. 291 ; Bouquet, 417. 
 
 87 Becket's depression at this event is dwelt 
 upon in a letter of Peter of Blois to John of 
 Salisbury. Peter traveled from Eome to Bo- 
 logna with the Papal legates. From them he 
 gathered that either Becket would soon be re- 
 conciled to the King or be removed to another 
 patriarchate. — Epist. xxii. apud Giles, i. p. 84. 
 
 88 Dr. Lingard holds this letter, printed by 
 Lord Lyttelton, and which he admits was pro- 
 duced, to have been a forgery. If it was, it 
 was a most audacious one ; and a most flagrant 
 
Thomas a Beohet. 199 
 
 readied England, onlj came into the 
 King's hand, and was suppressed ; no 
 one, in fact (as the production of such 
 papal letter, as well as Becket's protest 
 to the archbishop and to the bishops 
 
 insult to the Pope, whom Henrj was even now 
 endeavoring to propitiate through the Lombard 
 Kepublics and the Emperor of the East (see 
 Giles, iv. 10). It is remarkable, too, that 
 though the Pope declares that this coronation, 
 contrary to his prohibition (Giles, iv. 30), is not 
 to be taken as a precedent, he has no word of 
 the forgery. ISTor do I find any contemporary 
 assertion of its spuriousness. Becket, indeed, 
 in his account of the last interview with the 
 King, only mentions the general permission 
 granted by the Pope at an early period of the 
 reign ; and argues as if this were the only per- 
 mission. Is it possible that a special permis- 
 sion to York to act was craftily interpolated 
 into the general permission ? But the trick may 
 have been on the side of the Pope, now grant- 
 ing, now nullifying his own grants by inhibition. 
 Bouquet is strong against Baronius (as on other 
 points) upon Alexander's duplicity. — p. 434. 
 
200 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 collectively and severally, was by tlie 
 royal proclamation higli treason or at 
 least a misdemeanor) would dare to 
 produce them. 
 
 The estrangement seemed now com- 
 plete, the reconciliation more remote 
 than ever. The Archbishop of Kouen 
 and the Bishop of E"evers, though urged 
 to immediate action by Becket and even 
 by the Pope, admitted delay after delay, 
 first for the voyage of the King to Eng- 
 land, and secondly for his return to 
 IS^ormandy. Becket seemed more and 
 more desperate, the King more and more 
 resolute. Even after the coronation, it 
 should seem, Becket wrote to Eoger of 
 York,^^ to Henry of Worcester, and 
 even to Foliot of London, to publish 
 the Interdict in their dioceses. The 
 latter was a virtual acknowledgment of 
 the legality of his absolution, which in 
 a long letter to the Bishop of iNevers 
 
 89 Giles, iii. 229. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 201 
 
 lie had contested i^'^ but the Interdict 
 still hung over the King and the realm ; 
 the fidelity of the clergy was precarious. 
 Tlie reconciliation at last was so sud- 
 den as to take the world by surprise. 
 The clue to this is found in Fitz-Stej^hen. 
 Some one had suggested by word or by 
 writing to the E^ng that the Primate 
 would be less dangerous within than 
 without the realm.^^ The hint flashed 
 conviction on the King's mind. The 
 two Kings had appointed an interview 
 at Fretteville, between Chartres and 
 -Treaty of Tours. The Archbishop of Sens 
 Fretteviue. prevailed on Becket to be, un- 
 summoned, in the neighborhood. Some 
 days after the King seemed persuaded 
 by the Archbishops of Sens and Kouen 
 
 90 Giles, iii. 302. 
 
 91 "Dictum fuit aliquem dixisse vel scripsisse 
 regi Anglorum de Archepiscopo ut quid tenetur 
 exclusus ? melius tenebitur inclusus quam exclu- 
 sus. Satisque dictum fuit intelligenti." — p. 2Y2. 
 
202 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 and the Bishop of ITevers to hold a con- 
 ference with Becket.^^ As soon as they 
 drew near the King rode np, nncovered 
 his head, and saluted the Prelate with 
 frank conrtesy, and after a short con- 
 versation between the two and the 
 Archbishop of Sens, the King withdrew 
 apart with Becket. Their conference 
 was so long as to try the patience of 
 the spectators, so familiar that it might 
 seem there had never been discord be- 
 tween them. Becket took a moderate 
 tone ; by his own account he laid the 
 faults of the King entirely on his evil 
 counselors. After a gentle admonition 
 to the King on his sins, he urged him 
 to make restitution to the see of Can- 
 terbury. He dwelt strongly on the 
 late usurpation on the rights of the pri- 
 macy, on the coronation of the King's 
 son. Henry alleged the state of the 
 kingdom and the necessity of the meas- 
 92 Giles, iv. 30 ; Bouquet, 436. 
 
Thomas d BecTcet. 203 
 
 lire; lie promised that as his son's 
 queen, the daughter of the King of 
 France, was also to be crowned, that 
 ceremony should be performed by 
 Becket, and that his son should again 
 receive his crown from the hands of the 
 Primate. 
 
 At the close of the interview Becket 
 sprung from his horse and threw him- 
 self at the Eang's feet. The King leap- 
 ed down, and holding his stirrup com- 
 pelled the Primate to mount his horse 
 again. In the most friendly terms he 
 expressed his full reconciliation not 
 only to Becket himself, but to the 
 wondering and delighted multitude. 
 There seemed an understanding on both 
 sides to suppress all points which might 
 lead to disagreement. The King did 
 not dare (so Becket writes triumphantly 
 to the Pope) to mutter one word about 
 the Customs.^^ Becket was equally 
 
 93 "Xam cle consuetudinibus qnas tanta per- 
 
204 Thomas d Beclcet, 
 
 prudent, thougli lie took care that Ms 
 submission should be so vaguely word- 
 ed as to be drawn into no dangerous 
 concession on bis part. He abstained, 
 too, from all other perilous topics ; he 
 left undecided the amount of satisfac- 
 tion to the church of Canterbury ; and 
 July, on these general terms he and the 
 partners of his exile were formally re- 
 ceived into the King's grace. 
 
 If the King was humiliated by this 
 quiet and sudden reconcilement with 
 the imperious prelate, to outward ap- 
 pearance at least he concealed his humi- 
 liation by his noble and kingly manner. 
 If he submitted to the spiritual reproof 
 of the prelate, he condescended to re- 
 
 vicacid. vindicare consueverat nee mutire prse- 
 sumpsit." Becket was as mute. The issue of 
 the quarrel seems entirely changed. The Con- 
 stitutions of Clarendon recede, the right of coro- 
 nation occupies the chief place. — See the long 
 letter, Giles, 65. 
 
Thomas d Bechet. 205 
 
 ceiye into his favor liis refractory sub- 
 ject. Eacli maintained prudent silence 
 on all points in dispute. Hemy receiv- 
 ed, but he also granted pardon. If his 
 concession was really extorted by fear, 
 not from policy, compassion for Becket's 
 six years' exile might seem not without 
 influence. If Henry did not allude to 
 the Customs, he did not annul them ; 
 they were still the law of the land. The 
 kiss of peace was eluded by a vague 
 promise. Becket made a merit of not 
 driving the King to perjury, but he 
 skillfully avoided this trying test of the 
 King's sincerity. 
 
 But Becket's revenge must be satisfi- 
 ed with other victims. If the Becket's 
 worldly King could forget the vengeance. 
 rancor of this long animosity, it was 
 not so easily appeased in the breast of 
 the Christian Prelate. E"o doubt ven- 
 geance disguised itself to Becket's mind 
 as the lofty and rightful assertion of 
 
 18 
 
206 Thomas a B eohet . 
 
 spiritual autliority. The opposing pre- 
 lates must be at his feet, even under his 
 feet. The first thought of his partisans 
 was not his return to England with a gen- 
 erous amnesty of all wrongs, or a gentle 
 reconciliation of the whole clergy, but 
 the condign punishment of those who 
 had so long been the counselors of the 
 King, and had so recently ofiiciated in 
 the coronation of his son. 
 
 The court of Eome did not refuse to 
 enter into these views, to visit the 
 offence of those disloyal bishops who 
 had betrayed the interests and com- 
 promised the high principles of church- 
 men.^* It was presumed that the King 
 would not risk a peace so hardly gained 
 for his obsequious prelates. The lay 
 adherents of the King, even the plun- 
 
 94Humbold Bishop of Ostia advised the con- 
 fining the triumph to the depression of the Arch- 
 bishop of York and the excommunication of 
 the Bishops. — Giles, vi. 129 ; Bouquet, 448. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 207 
 
 derers of Churcli property were spared, 
 some ecclesiastics about his person, 
 John of Oxford himself es- Bated sept. lo. 
 caped censure: but Pope Alexander 
 sent the decree of suspension against 
 the Archbishop of York, and renewed 
 the excommunication of London and 
 Salisbury, with whom w^ere joined the 
 Archdeacon of Canterbury and the 
 Bishop of Eochester, as guilty of special 
 violation of their allegiance to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of St. 
 Asaph, and some others. Becket him- 
 self saw the policy of altogether separ- 
 ating the cause of the bishops from that 
 of the King. He requested that some 
 expressions relating to the King's ex- 
 cesses, and condemnatory of the bishops 
 for swearing to the Customs, should be 
 suppressed ; and the excommunication 
 grounded entirely on their usurpation 
 of the right of crowning the King.^^ 
 95 " Licet ei (regi sc.) peperceritis, dissinm- 
 
208 Thomas a BeeTcet. 
 
 About fonr months elapsed between 
 tlie treaty of Fretteville and the return 
 of Becket to England. They were oc- 
 cupied by these negotiations at Rome, 
 Yeroli, and Ferentino; by discussions 
 with the King, who was attacked during 
 this period with a dangerous illness; 
 and by the mission of some of Becket's 
 officers to resume the estates of the see. 
 Interview becket had two personal inter- 
 
 at Tours, ^-^^g ^-^J^ ^^l^ J^^^^g . ^^^ ^^.g^. 
 
 was at Tours, where, as he was now in 
 the King's dominions, he endeavored 
 to obtain the kiss of peace. The Arch- 
 bishop hoped to betray Henry into this 
 favor during the celebration of the mass, 
 in which it might seem only a part of 
 the service.^^ Henry was on his guard, 
 and ordered the mass for the dead, in 
 
 lare non audetis excessus et crimina sacerdo- 
 tnm." This letter is a curious revelation of the 
 arrogance and subtlety of Becket. — Giles, iii. 77. 
 96 It is called the Pax. 
 
Thomas a Beolcet. 209 
 
 wMcli the benediction is not pronounced. 
 The Iling had received Becket fairly ; 
 they parted not without ill-concealed 
 estrangement. At the second meeting 
 the King seemed more friendly ; he went 
 so far as to say, " Why resist my wishes ? 
 I would place everything in yonr hands." 
 Becket, in his own words, bethought 
 him of the tempter, '' All these things 
 will I give unto thee, if thou wilt fall 
 down and worship me." 
 
 The King had written to his son in 
 England that the see of Canterbury 
 should be restored to Becket, as it was 
 three months before his exile. But 
 there were two strong parties hostile to 
 Becket : the King's officers who held in 
 sequestration the estates of the see, and 
 seem to have esjDccially coveted the re- 
 ceipt of the Michaelmas rents ; and with 
 these some of the fierce warrior nobles, 
 who held lands or castles which were 
 claimed as possessions of the Church 
 
 18* 
 
210 Thomas d Beclcet. 
 
 of Canterbury. Raiidulph De Broc, 
 his old inveterate enemy, was deter- 
 mined not to surrender his castle of 
 Saltwood. It was reported to Becket, 
 by Becket represented to the King, that 
 De Broc had sworn that he would have 
 Becket's life before he had eaten a loaf 
 of bread in England. The castle of Ro- 
 chester was held on the same doubtful 
 title by one of his 6nemies. The second 
 party was that of the bishops, which 
 was powerful, with a considerable body 
 of the clergy and laity. They had suffi- 
 cient influence to urge the King's offi- 
 cers to take the strongest measures, lest 
 the Papal letters of excommunication 
 should be introduced into the kingdom. 
 It is perhaps vain to conjecture, how 
 far, if Becket had returned to England 
 in the spirit of meekness, forgiveness, 
 and forbearance, not wielding the thun- 
 ders of excommunication, nor determin- 
 ed to trample on his adversaries, and to 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 211 
 
 exact the utmost even of his doubtful 
 rights, he might have resumed his see, 
 and gradually won back the favor of 
 the King, the respect and love of the 
 whole hierarchy, and all the legitimate 
 possessions of his church. But he came 
 not in peace, nor was. he received in 
 peace.^"^ It was not the Arch- Becket pre- 
 
 -■- 111 pares for his 
 
 bishop of Rouen, as he had return, 
 hoped, but his old enemy John of Ox- 
 ford, who was commanded by the King 
 to accompany him, and reinstate him 
 in his see. Tlie King might allege that 
 one so much in the royal confidence 
 was the best protector of the Arch- 
 bishop. The money which had been 
 promised for his voyage was not paid ; 
 
 9"^ Becket disclaims vengeance: "ITeque hoc 
 dicimus, Deo teste, vindictam expetentes, quum 
 scriptum esse noverimus, non quseres ultionem 
 .... sed nt ecclesia correctionis exemplo possit 
 per Dei gratiam in posterum roborare, et poena 
 paucoriim mnltos sedificare." — Giles, iii. 76. 
 
212 Thomas a Becltet. 
 
 lie was forced to borrow £300 of the 
 Archbishop of Roiien. He went, as he 
 felt, or affected to feel, with death be- 
 fore his eyes, yet nothing should now 
 separate him from his long-divided flock. 
 Before his embarkation at Whitsand 
 in Flanders, he received intelligence 
 that the shores were watched by his 
 enemies, it was said with designs on his 
 life,^s but assuredly with the determi- 
 nation of making a rigid search for the 
 letters of excommunication.^^ To secure 
 Letters of "^^ safc Carriage of one of these 
 catTonTenT pGrilous documcuts, the suspen- 
 before him. g- ^^ ^^ ^^ Archbishop of York, 
 
 it was intrusted to a nun named Idonea, 
 whom he exhorts, like another Judith, 
 
 98 See Becket's account. — Giles, ill. p. 81. 
 
 99 Lambeth says : " Yisum est autem nonnul- 
 lis, quod incircumspecte literarum vindicta post 
 pacem usus est, que tantum pacis desperatione 
 fuerint datce^ — p. 116. Compare pp. 119 
 
 and 152. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 213 
 
 to this lioly act, and promises her as 
 her reward the remission of her sins.^^*^ 
 Other contraband letters were conveyed 
 across the Channel by unknown hands, 
 and were delivered to the bishops before 
 Becket's landing. 
 
 'The prelates of York and London 
 were at Canterbury when they received 
 these Papal letters. When the fulmi- 
 nating instruments were read before 
 them, in which was this passage, " we 
 will fill your faces with ignominy," 
 their countenances fell. They sent mes- 
 sengers to complain to Becket, that he 
 came not in peace, but in fire and flame, 
 trampling his brother bishops under his 
 feet, and making their necks his foot- 
 stool ; that he had condemned them un- 
 
 10^ Lord Ly ttelton lias drawn an inference from 
 these words unfavorable to the purity of Ido- 
 nea's former life ; and certainly the examples of 
 the Magdalene and the woman of Egypt, if this 
 be not the case, were unhappily chosen. 
 
214 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 cited, unlieard, nnjudged. "There is 
 no peace," Becket sternly replied, " but 
 to men of good will." ^ It was said that 
 London was disposed to humble himself 
 before Becket ; but York,^ trusting in 
 his wealth, boasted that he had in his 
 power the Pope, the King, and all their 
 courts. 
 
 Instead of the port of Dover, where 
 he was expected, Becket's vessel, with 
 Lands at tlic archicpiscopal banner dis- 
 
 Sandwich. ^ ca -\ 
 
 Dec. 1. played, cast anchor at Sand- 
 wich. Soon after his landing, appeared 
 in arms the Sheriff of Kent, Handulph 
 de Broc, and others of his enemies. 
 They searched his baggage, fiercely de- 
 manded that he should absolve the 
 bishops, and endeavored to force the 
 Archdeacon of Sens, a foreign ecclesias- 
 tic, to take an oath to keep the peace 
 
 1 Fitz-Stephen, pp. 281, 284. 
 
 2 Becket calls York his ancient enemy : " Lu- 
 cifer ponens sedem suiim in aquilone." 
 
Thomas a Beelcet. 215 
 
 of the realm. John of Oxford was I 
 shocked, and repressed their violence. 
 On his way to Canterbury the country 
 clergy came forth with their flocks to 
 meet him ; they strewed their garments 
 in his way, chanting, " Blessed is he 
 that Cometh in the name of the Lord." 
 Arrived at Canterbury, he rode At can- ^. 
 at once to the church with a vast ^^''^^^y- 
 procession of clergy, amid the ringing 
 of the bells, and the chanting of music. 
 He took his archiepiscopal throne, and 
 afterwards preached on the text, " Here 
 we have no abiding city." The next 
 morning came again the Sheriff of Kent, 
 with Randulph de Broc, and the mes- 
 sengers of the bishops, demanding their 
 absolution.^ Becket evaded the ques- 
 tion by asserting that the Excommuni- 
 
 3 Becket accuses the bishops of thirstmg for 
 his blood ! " Let them drink it." But this was 
 a phrase which he uses on all occasions, even 
 to "William of Pavia. 
 
216 Thomas d Beolcet. 
 
 cation was not pronounced by Mm, but 
 by his superior the Pope ; that he had 
 no power to abrogate the sentence. 
 This declaration was directly at issue 
 with the bull of excommunication: if 
 the bishops gave satisfaction to the 
 Archbishop, he had power to act on 
 behalf of the Pope.^ But to the satis- 
 faction which, according to one account, 
 he did demand, that they should stand 
 a public trial, in other words place 
 themselves at his mercy, they would 
 not, and hardly could submit. They 
 set out immediately to the King in 
 Normandy. 
 
 The restless Primate was determined 
 to keep alive the popular fervor, enthu- 
 siastically, almost fanatically, on his 
 
 * " Si vero ita eidem Archiepiseopo et Oan- 
 tuarensi EcclesisQ satisfacere inveniretis, ut poe- 
 nam istam ipse videat relaxandam, vice nostra 
 per ilium volumus adimpleri." — Apud Bouquet, 
 p. 461. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 217 
 
 side. On a pretext of a visit to Goes to 
 the young King at Woodstock, 
 to oifer him the present of three beau- 
 tiful horses, he set forth on a stately 
 progress. Wherever he went he was 
 received with acclamations and prayers 
 for his blessings by the clergy and the 
 people. In Rochester he was enter- 
 tained by the Bishop with great cere- 
 mony. In London there was the same 
 excitement : he was received in the 
 palace by the Bishop of Winchester in 
 Southwark. Even there he scattered 
 some excommunications.^ The Court 
 took alarm, and sent orders to the pre- 
 late to return to his diocese. Becket 
 obeyed, but alleged as the cause of his 
 obedience, not the royal command, but 
 his own desire to celebrate the festival 
 of Christmas in his metropolitan church. 
 
 f> " Ipse tamen Londonias adiens, et ibi mis- 
 sarum solenniis celebratis, quosdam excommu- 
 nicavit." — Passio, iii. p. 154. 
 19 
 
218 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 The week passed in liolding sittings in 
 his court, where he acted with his usual 
 promptitude, vigor, and resolution 
 against the intruders into livings, and 
 upon the encroachments on his estates ; 
 and in devotions most fervent, mortifi- 
 cations most austere.^ 
 
 His rude enemies committed in the 
 mean time all kinds of petty annoy- 
 ances, which he had not the loftiness 
 to disdain. Randulph de Broc seized a 
 vessel laden with rich wine for his use, 
 and imprisoned the sailors in Pevensey 
 Castle. An order from the court com- 
 pelled him to release ship and crew. 
 
 6 Since this passage was written an excellent 
 and elaborate paper has appeared in the Quar- 
 terly Review, full of local knowledge. I recog- 
 nize the hand of a friend from whom great 
 things may be expected. I find, I think, nothing 
 in which we disagree, though that account, 
 having more ample space, is more particular 
 than mine. (Reprinted in Memorials of Canter- 
 bury, by Rev. A. P. Stanley.) 
 
Thomas d BecJcet. 219 
 
 They robbed the people wlio carried his 
 provisions, broke into his park, hunted 
 his deer, beat his retainers ; and, at the 
 instigation of Eandulph's bi other, Ko- 
 bert de Broc, a ruffian, a renegade monk, 
 cut off the tail of one of his state horses. 
 On Christmas day Becket preached 
 on the appropriate text, " Peace on 
 earth, good will towards men." The 
 sermon agreed ill with the text. He 
 spoke of one of his predecessors, St. Al- 
 phege, who had suffered martyrdom. 
 " There may soon be a second." He 
 then burst out into a fierce, impetuous, 
 terrible tone, arraigned the courtiers, 
 and closed with a fulminating excom- 
 munication against Nigel de Sackville, 
 who had refused to give up a benefice 
 into which, in Becket's judgment, he 
 had intruded, and against Randulph 
 and Eobert de Broc. The maimer 
 horse was not forgotten. He renewed 
 in the most vehement language the 
 
220 Thomas a B ecTcet. 
 
 censure on the bishops, dashed the can- 
 dle on the pavement in token of their 
 utter extinction, and then proceeded to 
 the mass at the altar."^ 
 
 In the mean time the excommunicated 
 The bishops prclatcs had sous:ht the Kins; 
 
 with the 5 -, . , 1 1 1 P T. 
 
 King. m the neighborhood oi Jiayeux ; 
 they implored his protection for them- 
 selves and the clergy of the realm. " If 
 all are to be visited by spiritual cen- 
 sures," said the King, " who officiated 
 at the coronation of my son, by the eyes 
 of God, I am equally guilty." The whole 
 conduct of Becket since his return was 
 detailed, and no doubt deeply darkened 
 by the hostility of his adversaries. All 
 had been done with an insolent and se- 
 ditious design of alienating the affec- 
 tions of the people from the King. 
 Henry demanded counsel of the pre- 
 lates ; they declared themselves unable 
 to give it. But one incautiously said, 
 7 Fitz-Stephen, De Bosham, Grim, in he. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 221 
 
 " So long as Thomas lives, you will 
 never be at peace." The Eng broke 
 out into one of his terrible constitutional 
 fits of passion ; and at length let fall the 
 fatal words, " Have I none of my thank- 
 less and cowardly courtiers who will 
 relieve me from the insults of one low- 
 born and turbulent priest 'I " 
 
 These words were not likely to fall 
 unheard on the ears of fierce, ^he King's 
 and warlike men, reckless of '"*"'^'^'^*''- 
 bloodshed, possessed with a strong sense 
 of their feudal allegiance, and eager to 
 secure to themselves the reward of des- 
 perate service. Four knights, chamber- 
 lains of the King, Eeginald Fitz-Urse, 
 "William de Tracy, Hugh de Moreville, 
 and Eeginald Brito, disappeared from 
 the court.^ On the morrow, when a 
 grave council was held, some barons 
 
 8 See, on the former history of these knights, 
 Quarterly Review, vol. xciii. p. 355. The writer 
 has industriously traced out all that can be 
 19* 
 
222 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 are said, even there, to liave advised 
 the death of Becket. Milder measures 
 were adopted : the Earl of Mandeville 
 was sent off wdth orders to arrest the 
 Primate ; and as the disappearance of 
 these four knights could not be unmark- 
 ed, to stop them in the course of any 
 unauthorized enterprise. 
 
 But murder travels faster than justice 
 or mercy. They were almost already 
 on the shores of England. It is said 
 that they met in Saltwood Castle. On 
 the 28th of December, having, by the 
 aid of Kandulph de Broc, collected 
 some troops in the streets of Canter- 
 bury, they took up their quarters with 
 Clarembold, Abbot of St. Augustine's. 
 
 The assassination of Becket has some- 
 thing appalling, with all its terrible 
 circumstances seen in the remote past. 
 What was it in its own age ? The most 
 
 known, much wMch was rumored about these 
 men. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 223 
 
 distinguished cliurclimaii in Cliristen- 
 dom, tlie champion of the great sacer- 
 dotal order, ahnost in the hour of his 
 triumph over the most powerful king 
 in Europe ; a man, besides the awful 
 sanctity inherent in the person of every 
 ecclesiastic, of most saintly holiness; 
 soon after the most solemn festival of 
 the Church, in his ow^n cathedral, not 
 only sacrilegiously, but cruelly mur- 
 dered, with every mark of hatred and 
 insult. Becket had all the dauntless- 
 ness, none of the meekness of the 
 martyr; but while his dauntlessness 
 would command boundless admira- 
 tion, few, if any, would seek the 
 more genuine sign of Christian mar- 
 tyrdom. 
 
 The four knights do not seem to have 
 deliberately determined on their The knights 
 proceedings, or to have resolved, Becket. 
 except in extremity, on the murder. Tliey 
 entered, but unarmed, the outer cham- 
 
224: Thomnas a Bechet. 
 
 ber.^ The Arclibishop had just dined, 
 and withdrawn from the hall. They 
 w^ere offered food, as was the usage; 
 they declined, thirsting, says one of the 
 biographers, for blood. The Archbishop 
 obeyed the summons to hear a message 
 from the King ; they were admitted to - 
 his presence. As they entered, there 
 was no salutation on either side, till the 
 Primate having surveyed, perhaps re- 
 cognized them, moved, to them with 
 cold courtesy. Fitz-Urse was the spokes- 
 man in the fierce altercation which en- 
 sued. Becket replied wdth haughty 
 firmness. Fitz-Urse began by reproach- 
 ing him wdth his ingratitude and sedi- 
 tious disloyalty in opposing the coro- 
 nation of the King's son, and command- 
 ed him, in instant obedience to the 
 King, to absolve the prelates. Becket 
 protested that so far from wishing to 
 
 9 Tuesday, Dec. 29. See, on the fatality of 
 Tuesday in Becket's life, Q. E. p. 357. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 225 
 
 diminisli the power of the Kmg's son, 
 he would have given him three crowns 
 and the most splendid realm. For the 
 excommunicated bishops he persisted 
 in his usual evasion that they had been 
 suspended by the Pope, by the Pope 
 alone could they be absolved ; nor had 
 they yet offered proj^er satisfaction. 
 " It is the King's command," spake 
 Fitz-Urse, " that you and the rest of 
 your disloyal followers leave the king- 
 dom."^^ " It becomes not the King to 
 utter such command: henceforth no 
 power on earth shall separate me from 
 my flock." " You have presumed to 
 excommunicate, without consulting the 
 King, the King's servant's and officers." 
 " ]^or will I ever spare the man who 
 violates the canons of Rome, or the 
 rights of the Church." " From whom 
 do you hold your archbishopric?" 
 " My spirituals from God and the Pope, 
 10 Grim, p. 71. Fitz-Stephen. 
 
226 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 my temporals from the King." " Do 
 you not hold all from the King?" 
 " Render unto Csesar the things that 
 are Caesar's, and unto God the things 
 that are God's." " You speak in peril 
 of your life ! " " Come ye to murder 
 me ? I defy you, and will meet you 
 front to front in the battle of the Lord." 
 He added, that some among them had 
 sworn fealty to him. At this, it is said, 
 they grew furious, and gnashed with 
 their teeth. The prudent John of Salis- 
 bury heard with regret this intemperate 
 language : " Would it may end well ! " 
 Fitz-Urse shouted aloud, " In the King's 
 name I enjoin you all, clerks and monks, 
 to arrest this man, till the King shall 
 have done justice on his body." They 
 rushed out, calling for their arms. 
 
 His friends had more fear for Becket 
 than Becket for himself. The gates 
 were closed and barred, but presently 
 sounds were heard of those without, 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 227 
 
 striving to break in. The lawless Ran- 
 dulpli cle Broc was liewing at tlie door 
 with an axe. All around Becket was 
 the confusion of terror: he only was 
 calm. Again spoke John of Salisbury 
 with his cold prudence — "Thou wilt 
 never take counsel : they seek thy life." 
 " I am prepared to die." " We who 
 are sinners are not so weary of life." 
 " God's will be done." Tlie sounds 
 without grew wilder. All around him 
 entreated Becket to seek sanctuary in 
 the clnirch. He refused, whether from 
 religious reluctance that the holy place 
 should be stained with his blood, or 
 from the nobler motive of sparing his 
 assassins this deep aggravation of their 
 crime. They urged that the bell was 
 already tolling for vespers. He seemed 
 to give a reluctant consent; but he 
 would not move without the dignity of 
 his crosier carried before him. Becket 
 With gentle compulsion they half church. 
 
228 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 drew, half carried liim tlirongli a private 
 chamber, they in all the hasty agony 
 of terror, he striving to maintain his 
 solemn state, into the church. The din 
 of the armed men was ringing in the 
 cloister. The affrighted monks hroke 
 off the service ; some hastened to close 
 the doors ; Becket commanded them to 
 desist — " E'o one should be debarred 
 from entering the house of God." John 
 of Salisbury and the rest fled and hid 
 themselves behind the altars and in 
 other dark places. The Archbishop 
 might have escaped into the dark and 
 intricate crypt, or into a chapel in the 
 roof. There remained only the Canon 
 Robert (of Merton), Fitz-Stephen, and 
 the faithful Edward Grim. Becket 
 stood between the altar of St. Benedict 
 and that of the Yirgin.^^ It was thought 
 that Becket contemplated taking his 
 11 Eor the accurate local description, see Quar- 
 terly Review, p. 367. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 229 
 
 seat on liis archiepiscopal throne near 
 the high altar. 
 
 Through the open door of the cloister 
 came rushing in the four, fully The murder, 
 armed, some with axes in their hands, 
 with two or three w^ild followers, through 
 the dim and bewildering twilight. The 
 knights shouted aloud, " Where is the 
 traitor?" — IS'o answer came back. — 
 "Where is the Archbishop?" "Be- 
 hold me, no traitor, but a priest of God ! " 
 Another fierce and rapid altercation 
 followed : they demanded the absolution 
 of the bishops, his own surrender to 
 the King's justice. Tliey strove to seize 
 him and to drag him forth from ih^. 
 church (even they had awe of the holy 
 place), either to kill him without, or to 
 carry him in bonds to the King. He 
 clung to the pillar. In the struggle he 
 grappled w4th De Tracy, and with des- 
 perate strength dashed him on the pave- 
 ment. His passion rose ; he called Fitz- 
 
 20 
 
230' Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 Urse by a foul name, a pander. These 
 were almost his last words (how unlike 
 those of Stephen and the greater than 
 Stephen !) He taunted Fitz-TJrse with 
 his fealty sworn to himself. " I owe no 
 fealty but to my King ! " returned the 
 maddened soldier, and struck the first 
 blow. Edward Grim interposed his 
 arm, which was almost severed ofiF. 
 The sword struck Becket, but slightly, 
 on the head. Becket received it in an 
 attitude of prayer — " Lord, receive my 
 spirit," with an ejaculation to the Saints 
 of the Church. Blow followed blow 
 (Tracy seems to have dealt the first 
 mortal wound), till all, unless perhaps 
 De Moreville, had wreaked their ven- 
 geance. The last, that of Richard de 
 Brito, smote off a piece of his skull. 
 Hugh of Horsea, their follower, a rene- 
 gade priest surnamed Mauclerk, set his 
 heel upon his neck, and crushed out 
 the blood and brains. " Away ! " said 
 
Thomas d BeoJcet, 231 
 
 the brutal ruffian, " it is time tliat we 
 were gone." They rushed out to plun- 
 der the archiepiscopal palace. 
 
 The mangled body Avas left on the 
 pavement ; and when his affrighted 
 followers ventured to approach The Body. 
 to perform their last offices, an incident 
 occurred which, however incongruous, 
 is too characteristic to be suppressed. 
 Amid their adoring awe at his courage 
 and constancy, their profound sorrow 
 for his loss, they broke out into a rap- 
 ture of wonder and delight on discover- 
 ing not merely that his whole body was 
 swathed in the coarsest sackcloth, but 
 that his lower garments were swarming 
 with vermin. From that moment mira- 
 cles began. Even the populace had 
 before been divided; voices had been 
 heard among the crowd denying him to 
 be a martyr ; he was but the victim of 
 his own obstinacy. ^^ The Archbishop 
 12 Grim, 70. 
 
232 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 of York even after this dared to preacli 
 that it was a judgment of God against 
 Becket — that "he perished, like Pha- 
 raoh, in his pride."^^ But the torrent 
 swept away at once all this resistance. 
 The Government inhibited the miracles, 
 but faith in miracles scorns obedience 
 to human laws. The Passion of the 
 Martyr Thomas was saddened and glori- 
 fied every day with new incidents of 
 its atrocity, of his holy firmness, of 
 wonders wrought by his remains. 
 
 The horror of Becket's murder ran 
 throughout Christendom. At first, of 
 course^ it was attributed to Henry's 
 Effects of di^sct orders. Universal hatred 
 the murder, "branded the King of England 
 with a kind of outlawry,, a spontaneous 
 excommunication. William of Sens, 
 though the attached friend of Becket, 
 probably does not exaggerate the pub- 
 lic sentiment when he describes this 
 
 13 Jolm of Salisbury. Bouquet, 619, 620. 
 
Thomas d Beclcet. 233 
 
 deed as surpassing tlie cruelty of Herod, 
 the perfidy of Julian, the sacrilege of 
 the traitor Judas.^* 
 
 It were injustice to King Henry not 
 to suppose that with the dread as to 
 the consequences of this act must have 
 mingled some reminiscences of the gal- 
 lant friend and companion of his youth 
 and of the faithful minister, as well as 
 religious horror at a cruel murder, so 
 savagely and impiously executed. ^^ He 
 shut himself for three days in his cham- 
 ber, obstinately refused all food and 
 comfort, till his attendants began to fear 
 for his life. He issued orders for the 
 apprehension of the murderers,^^ and 
 
 14 Giles, iv. 162; Bouquet, 467. It was fit- 
 ting that the day after that of the Holy Inno- 
 cents should be that on which should rise up 
 this new Herod. 
 
 15 See the letter of Arnulf of Lisieux. — Bou- 
 quet, 469. 
 
 16 The Quarterly reviewer has the merit of 
 
 tracing out the extraordinary fate of the mur- 
 20* 
 
234 Thomas a Becltet. 
 
 dispatched envoys to the Pope to ex- 
 culpate himself from all participation 
 or cognizance of the crime. His ambas- 
 sadors found the Pope at Tuscnlum : 
 they were at first sternly refused an 
 audience. The afflicted and indignant 
 Pope was hardly prevailed on to permit 
 the execrated name of the King of Eng- 
 land to be uttered before him. The 
 cardinals still friendly to the King with 
 difficulty obtained knowledge of Alex- 
 ander's determination. It was, on a 
 fixed day, to pronounce with the utmost 
 
 derers. " Bj a singular reciprocity, the princi- 
 ple for which Becket had contended, that priests 
 should not be subjected to the secular courts, 
 prevented the trial of a layman for the murder 
 of a priest by any other than a clerical tribunal." 
 Legend imposes upon them dark and romantic 
 acts of penance ; history finds them in high 
 places of trust and honor. — pp. 377, et seqq. I 
 may add that John of Oxford five years after 
 was Bishop of Norwich. Eidel too became 
 of Ely. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 235 
 
 solemnity, excommiiiiicatiorL against the 
 King by name, and an interdict on all 
 liis dominions, on the Continent as well 
 as in England. The ambassadors hard- 
 ly obtained the abandonment of this 
 fearful purpose, by swearing that the 
 King would submit in all things to the 
 judgment of his Holiness. With diflS.- 
 culty the terms of reconciliation were 
 arranged. 
 
 Li the Cathedral of Avranches in ISTor- 
 mandy, in the presence of the Reconcii- 
 Cardinals Theodin of Porto, and Avranches. 
 Albert the Chancellor, Legates for that 
 especial purpose, Henry swore on the 
 Gospels that he had neither commanded 
 nor desired the death of Becket ; that 
 it had caused him sorrow, not joy ; he 
 had not grieved so deeply for the death 
 of his father or his motlier.^'^ He stipulat- 
 ed— I. To maintain two hundred knights 
 at his own cost in the Holy Land. H. 
 
 17 Diceto, p. 557. 
 
236 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 To abrogate the Statutes of Clarendon, 
 and all bad cnstoms introduced during 
 his reign. ^^ III. That he would rein- 
 vest the Church of Canterbury in all its 
 rights and possessions, and pardon and 
 restore to their estates all who had in- 
 curred his wrath in the cause of the 
 Primate. lY. If the Pope should re- 
 quire it, he would himself make a cru- 
 Ascension sado agaiust the Saracens in 
 May 22, 1172. Spain. lu the porch of the 
 church he was reconciled, but with no 
 ignominous ceremony. 
 
 Throughout the later and the darker 
 part of Henry's reign the clergy took 
 care to inculcate, and the people were 
 prone enough to believe, that all his 
 disasters and calamities, the rebellion 
 of his wife and of his sons, were judg- 
 ments of God for the persecution if not 
 
 18 This stipulation, in Henry's view, canceled 
 hardly any ; as few, and these hut trifling cus- 
 toms, had been admitted during his reign. 
 
Thomas a Becket. 237 
 
 the murder of the Martyr Thomas. The 
 strong mind of Henry himself, depress- 
 ed by misfortune and by the estrange- 
 ment of his children, acknowledged 
 with superstitious awe the justice of 
 their conclusions. Heaven, the Martyr 
 in Heaven, must be appeased by a pub- 
 lic humiliating penance. The deeper 
 the degradation the more valuable the 
 atonement. In less than three years 
 after his death the King visited the 
 tomb of Becket, by this time a canon- 
 ized saint, renowned not only through- 
 out England for his wonder-working 
 powers, but to the limits of Christen- 
 dom. As soon as he came near enough 
 to see the towers of Canterbury, Penance at 
 the King dismounted from his rSda^y, ^'^' 
 horse, and for three miles iit4. 
 walked with bare and bleedino* feet 
 along the flinty road. The tomb of the 
 Saint was then in the crypt beneath 
 the church. The King threw himself 
 
238 Thomas a Beclcet. 
 
 prostrate before it. The Bisliop of Lon- 
 don (Foliot) preached ; he declared to 
 the wondering multitude that on his 
 solemn oath the King was entirely guilt- 
 less of the murder of the Saint : but as 
 his hasty words had been the innocent 
 cause of the crime, he submitted in 
 lowly obedience to the penance of the 
 Church. Tlie haughty monarch then 
 prayed to be scourged by the willing 
 monks. From the one end of the church 
 to the other each ecclesiastic present 
 gratified his pride, and thought that he 
 performed his duty, by giving a few 
 stripes.^^ The King passed calmly 
 through this rude discipline, and then 
 spent a night and a day in prayers and 
 tears, imploring the intercession in 
 Heaven of him whom, he thought not 
 now on how just grounds, he had pur- 
 
 19 The scene is related \>j all tlie monkisli 
 chroniclers. — Gervaise, Diceto, Brompton, Ho- 
 veden. 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 239 
 
 sued with, relentless animositj on 
 earth.2^ 
 
 Thus Becket obtained by his death 
 that triumph for which he would per- 
 haps have struggled in vain through a 
 long life. He was now a Saint, and for 
 some centuries the most popular Saint 
 in England : among the people, from a 
 generous indignation at his barbarous 
 murder, from the fame of his austerities 
 and his charities, no doubt from admi- 
 ration of his bold resistance to the king- 
 ly power; among the clergy as the 
 champion, the martyr of their order. 
 Even if the clergy had had no interest 
 in the miracles at the tomb of Becket, 
 the high-strung faith of the people 
 would have wrought them almost with- 
 
 20 Peter of Blois was assured bj the two car- 
 dinal legates of Henry's innocence of Becket's 
 death. See this letter, which contains a most 
 high-flown eulogy on the transcendent virtues 
 of Henry.— Epist. 66. 
 
240 Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 out suggestion or assistance. Cures 
 would have been made or imagined ; 
 tlie latent powers of diseased or para- 
 lyzed bodies would have been quicken- 
 ed into action. Belief, and the fear of 
 disbelieving, would have multiplied 
 one extraordinary event into a hundred ; 
 fraud would be outbid by zeal; the in- 
 vention of the crafty, even if what may 
 seem invention was not more often ig- 
 norance and credulity, would be outrun 
 by the demands of superstition. There 
 is no calculating the extent and effects 
 of these epidemic outbursts of passionate 
 religion.^^ 
 
 Becket was indeed the martyr of the 
 Becket clergy, not of the Church ; of sa- 
 
 martyr of „ ~.^ , , 
 
 the clergy, ccrdotai powcr, not 01 Christi- 
 anity; of a caste, not of mankind.^^ 
 
 21 On the effect of the death, and the imme- 
 diate concourse of the people to Canterbury, 
 Lambeth, p. 133. 
 
 22 Herbert de Bosham, writing fourteen years 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 241 
 
 From beo^miino- to end it was a strife 
 for the autliority, the immunities, the 
 possessions of the clergy.^-^ The liberty 
 of the Church was the exemption of the 
 clergy from law; the vindication of 
 their separate, exclusive, distinctive 
 existence from the rest of mankind. It 
 was a sacrifice to the deified self; not 
 the individual self, but self as the centre 
 and representative of a great corpora- 
 tion. Here and there in the long full 
 correspondence there is some slight allu- 
 
 after Becket's death, declares him among the 
 most undisputed martyrs. " Quod alicujus mar- 
 tyrum causa justior fuit aut apertior ego nee 
 audivi, nee legi." So completely were clerical 
 immunities part and parcel of Christianity. 
 
 23 The enemies of Becket assigned base rea- 
 sons for his opposition to the King. " Ecclesi- 
 asticam etiam libertatem, quam defensatis, non 
 ad animarum lucrum sed ad augmentum pecu- 
 niarum, episcopos vestros intorquere." See the 
 charges urged by John of Oxford. — Giles, iv. 
 p. 188. 
 
 21 
 
242 Thomas d BecJcet, 
 
 sion to the miseries of the people in being 
 deprived of the services of the exiled 
 bishops and clergy i^* " there is no one 
 to ordain clergy, to consecrate virgins :" 
 the confiscated property is said to be a 
 robbery of the poor: yet in general the 
 sole object in dispute was the absolute 
 immunity of the clergy from civil juris- 
 diction,25 the right of appeal from the 
 
 24 Especially in Epist. 19. "Interim." 
 
 25 It is not just to judge the clergy by the 
 crimes of individual men, but there is one case, 
 mentioned by no less an authority than John 
 of Salisbury, too flagrant to pass over : it was 
 in Beoket's own cathedral city. Immediately 
 after Becket's death the Bishops of Exeter and 
 Worcester were commissioned by Pope Alex- 
 ander to visit St. Augustine's, Canterbury. 
 They report the total dilapidation of the build- 
 ings and estates. The prior elect " Jugi, quod 
 hereticus damnat, fluit libidine, et hinnit in 
 foeminas, adeo impudens ut libidinem, nisi quam 
 publicaverit, voluptuosam esse non reputat." 
 He debauched mothers and daughters : " Forni- 
 cationis abusum comparat necessitati." In one 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 243 
 
 temporal sovereign to Eome, and tlie 
 asserted superiority of the spiritual 
 rulers in every resj^ect over the tempo- 
 ral power. There might, indeed, be 
 latent advantages to mankind, social, 
 moral, and religious, in this secluded 
 sanctity of one class of men ; it might 
 be well that there should be a barrier 
 against the fierce and ruffian violence 
 of kings and barons ; that somewhere 
 freedom should find a voice, and some 
 protest be made against the despotism 
 of arms, especially in a newly-conquered 
 country like England, where the kingly 
 and aristocratic power was still foreign : 
 above all, that there should be a caste, 
 not an hereditary one, into w^hich ability 
 might force its way up, from the most 
 low-born, even from the servile rank ; 
 but the liberties of the Church, as they 
 were called, were but the establishment 
 
 village he had seventeen bastards. — Epist. 
 310. 
 
244: Thomas a Bechet. 
 
 of one tyranny — a milder, perhaps, bnt 
 not less rapacious tyranny — instead of 
 another; a tyranny which aspired to 
 uncontrolled, irresponsible rule, nor 
 was above the inevitable evil produced 
 on rulers as well as. on subjects, from 
 the consciousness of arbitrary and auto- 
 cratic power. 
 
 Reflective posterity may perhaps con- 
 verdict of sider as not the least remarkable 
 posterity, p^.^^ .^ ^|^.g 2ofty and tragic 
 
 strife that it was but a strife for power. 
 Henry II. was a sovereign who, with 
 many noble and kingly qualities, lived, 
 more than even most monarchs of his 
 age, in direct violation of every Chris- 
 tian precept of justice, humanity, con- 
 jugal fidelity. He was lustful, cruel, 
 treacherous, arbitrary. But throughout 
 this contest there is no remonstrance 
 whatever from Primate or Pope against 
 his disobedience to the laws of God, 
 only to those of the Church. Becket 
 
Thomas a Bechet. 245 
 
 mighty indeed, if lie had retained his 
 full and acknowledged religions power, 
 have rebuked the vices, protected the 
 subjects, interceded for the victims of 
 the King's unbridled passions. It must 
 be acknowledged by all that he did not 
 take the wisest course to secure this 
 which might have been beneficent influ- 
 ence. But as to what appears, if the 
 Ejng would have consented to allow 
 the churchmen to despise all law — if 
 he had not insisted on hanging priests 
 guilty of homicide as freely as laymen 
 — he might have gone on unreproved 
 in his career of ambition ; he might un- 
 rebuked have seduced or ravished the 
 wives and daughters of his nobles ; ex- 
 torted, without remonstrance of the 
 Clergy any revenue from his subjects, 
 if he had kept his hands from the 
 treasures of the Church. Henry's real 
 tyranny was not (would it in any case 
 have been?) the object of the chi^rcii- 
 
 21* 
 
246 T ho Tin as a BecTcet. 
 
 man's censure, oppugnancj, or resist- 
 ance. The cruel and ambitious and 
 rapacious King would doubtless have 
 lived unexcommunicated and died with 
 plenary absolution. 
 
 3L^77-2