DA209.T4 R6 1859 ' Becket, archbishop of Canterbury ; A biography / by Craig ie Robertson. 9929 L -OOC ZVOV V Xinqjajueo doqsiqipje ia>pag Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/becketarchbishopOOrobe THE 2JURDER OP BECK.ET. From a pa-.nting on the tomb of Eenry IV., in Canterbury Cathedral Restored by G. Austin. FitON! I9P1ECK. BECKET, V, litem mm ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. By JAMES CEAIGIE EOBEETSOX, M.A.. CANON OF CANTERBURY. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1859. The right oj Translation is reserved. LON DON : PRINTED BY W. CLOW ES AM) SONS, STAMFORD BTBEET, AN D CHASING (ROSS. TO THE REY. ARTHUR PENRHYN STANLEY, D.D., REGIUS rROFESSOR OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY IS THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD, CANON OF CHRLsTCHURCH, AND LATE CANON OF CANTERBURY, WHO HAS MADE A PORTION OF THE SUBJECT PECULIARLY HIS OWN, ®bis Volume is Jlcunateb, IN TOKEN OF THE AUTHOR'S SINCERE RESPECT AND REGARD. Rome, October 22, 1859. a 2 PREFACE. This volume lias grown out of two articles which appeared in the ' English Review ' thirteen years ago ; and, not- withstanding the changes as to form and size which those papers have now undergone, I have thought it well to retain some marks of their original character, as contributions to a literary journal. Let me venture here to express an earnest hope that the whole body of documents relating to the history of Becket may speedily find a place in the series of ' Chronicles and Memorials ' which is now in progress under the superintend- ence of the Master of the Rolls. Of the necessity of a competent editor's care for the arrangement and illustration of the correspondence, I have spoken elsewhere ; !l and, next to this, the most considerable part of such an editor's task would probably be the analysis and comparison of the various biographies, with a view of ascertaining their correspondences and divergences, and the sources from which each writer derived his materials. Perhaps the result of such an inquiry might be found to throw some light on questions connected with a Historia Quadripartita far more important than that which is devoted to the Life of Thomas of Canterbury. » Pp. 168-172. vi PREFACE. My best thanks are due to the Rev. W. W. Shirley, of Wadharn College, Oxford; to Mr. Fergusson, of Langham Place (author of the excellent 'Handbook of Architecture,' &c.) ; and to Mr. George Austin, of Canterbury, for the kind and valuable assistance which I have received from them. J. C. E. Precincts, Canterbury, September, 1859. P.S. — A new edition of the metrical Life by Gamier has just been published at Paris by M. Hippeau, of Caen — too late for me to make use of the text ; but I may refer to M. Hippeau's Introduction (although it contains some things in which I cannot agree) for a forcible argument against the theory which represents Becket as a champion of the Saxon race. November 2, 1859. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. Introductory. Page Views of Becket's history and cha- racter 1 Legend of Gilbert and Matilda .. 10 Was Gilbert a Saxon? 13 Birth and early years of Thomas Becket 15 | The office of chancellor 27 Becket as chancellor 28 His splendour 31 Death of Theobald 37 Becket nominated as archbishop . . 38 His election 40 Gilbert Foliot 41 Release from secular obligations . . 45 Becket's policy as chancellor . . . . GO Resignation of the chancellorship . . 62 Affair of the archdeaconry . . . . 64 Resumption of lauds 65 Meeting with Heury at Southampton 67 Page Materials for his story 4 Introduction to Archbishop Theobald 20 Employments and preferments . . 22 Accession of Henry II 24 Becket chancellor 26 Embassy to France 32 War of Toulouse 33 Consecration 46 The pall 47 Change of life 48 Manner of life as archbishop . . . . 52 Council of Tours 68 Claims as to Rochester and Tunbridge 71 Patronage of Eynesford 72 Taillage 73 Question of clerical immunities . . 74 CHAPTEE II. Early Life, a.d. 1118-1154. CHAPTEE III. The Chancellorship, a.d. 1155-1162. CHAPTEE IV. The Archbishopric, a.d. 1101-2. CHAPTEE V. The Beginning of Troubles, a.d. 1162-3. vm CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Councils at Westminster and Clarendon, Oct. 1163 — Oct. 1164. Page Council of Westminster 89 Interview at Northampton .. .. 91 Opposition of bishops to Becket . . 92 He agrees to accept the " Customs" 95 Council of Clarendon 96 The Constitutions 98 Page Becket accepts them 101 Negotiations with the Pope .. .. 104 Becket attempts to leave the kingdom 106 Interview with Henry 107 The archbishop's administration . . it. CHAPTER VII. Northampton, Oct. 1164. Assembly at Northampton . . . . 109 Case of John the Marshal .. .. 110 Becket condemned for treason . . .. 112 Other charges 114 His accounts as chancellor demanded 114 Last day of the council 118 Withdrawal of the archbishop.. .. 127 His flight 132 CHAPTER VIII. The Beginning of Exile, Oct. 1164 — Jan. 1165. Becket escapes from England .. ..133 St. Bertin's 138 Interview of Henry's envoys with Louis VII 139 Becket's envoys with the French king and the Pope 142 Henry's ambassadors with the Pope 143 Character of Alexander III 146 Becket with the Pope 150 Interview of Becket's envoys with the King's mother 154 Henry's measures against the Arch- bishop's friends 157 CHAPTER IX. Pontigny, Dec. 1164 — Easter, 1166. Foundation of the Cistercian order .. 161 Pontigny 162 Becket's life there 163 His studies 166 The Correspondence 168 John of Salisbury 173 German embassy to England .. .. 175 Diet of Wiirzburg 176 Return of the Pope to Italy .. .. 177 Interview between Henry and Becket's clerks 178 Negotiations through Urban and Gerard 179 CHAPTER X. Vezelay, a.d. 1166. Becket legate for England .. .. 181 Conference at Chinon 182 Becket goes to Soissons ami Vezelay 184 Excommunication of the king's friends 186 The Archbishop dislodged from Pon- tigny 189 Removal to Sens 196 CONTENTS. ix CHAPTEE XI. Commissions, Page John of Oxford at Rome 200 First commission from the Pope — William and Otho 202 Conferences at (iisors and Argentan 205 Excommunications and negotiations 209 Second commission — Simon, Engel- bert, and Bernard 211 A.D. 11G7-9. Page Conference at Montmirail .. .. 213 Excommunication of Foliot .. .. 218 Third commission — Gratian and Vivian 222 Conference at Montmartre . . . . 226 Fresh excommunications .. .. 229 Abjuration of the Pope in England . . ib. CHAPTER XII. The Reconciliation, a.d. 1170. Fourth commission — Archbishop of Rouen and B'shop of Xevers .. 231, Letter of Becket against Henry .. 232 Absolution of Foliot 235 Becket on the Roman court . . . . 236 Coronation of Henry's son . . . . 237 Reconciliation at Freteval .. .. 242 Further conferences and negotiations 245 Becket prepares to return to England 249 CHAPTER XIII. The Return and the Murder, Dec, a.d. 1170. Becket's landing in England .. .. 253 Reception at Canterbury 255 Attempt to visit the younger king . . 258 Interview with the abbot of St. Alban's 260 Christmas-day at Canterbury . . . . 263 Interview between English bishops and the king 265 Murder of the Archbishop .. .. 266 CHAPTER XIV. The Sequel. Horror excited by the murder . . . . 287 Miracles and visions 291 Dismay of Henry's friends . . 293 Letters of his enemies to the Pope . . 294 Embassy from the king to the Pope 297 Henry reconciled at A vranches .. 302 Increase of miracles 304 Canonization of Becket 305 Pilgrimage of Henry to the shrine .. 306 Henry's control over the Church .. 307 The clerical immunities lessened . . 310 CHAPTER XV. Conclusion. Character and merits of Becket 311 X CONTENTS. APPENDIX. Tage I.— The office of chancellor 321 II. — Sale of the chancellorship 322 III. — Theobald and Becket 323 IV. — Foliot and the bishopric of London 324 V. — Foliot's judgment of his superiors t'6. VI. — Foliot's letter to Becket, No. cxciv 325 VII. — Case of Battle Abbey 326 VIII. — Family of Ridel 327 IX.— Danegeld 328 X. — Justinian and Gratian on trial of clergymen 329 XI. — Separation of courts by William the Conqueror 330 XII. — Arnulf of Lisieux 331 XIII. — Clarembald and St. Augustine's .. 332 XIV. — Philip of L'Aumone 334 XV. — Becket 's crossbearer 335 XVI. — Filius Excussorum 336 XVII. — The release from secular obligations 337 XVIII.— Order of Sempringham 338 XIX. — Memorable Tuesdays in Becket's life 339 XX. — Whiteness of Becket's hands 340 XXI. — The resignation of the archbishopric 341 XXII.— The Pope's treatment of Becket 343 XXIII. — John, Bishop of Poitiers 344 XXIV. — Vezelay 345 XXV. — Date of the excommunications at Vezelay 347 XXVI.— Becket's vestments at Sens " 348 XXVII.— Becket and the Abbot of St. Alban's 349 XXVIII.— Hugh Mauclerc t&. XXIX.— Place of Becket's death 351 XXX.— Becket's relations 353 Index 356 ILLUSTKATIONS. The Murder or Becket. (From a painting on the tomb of Henry IV. in Canterbury Cathedral. Restored by George Austin.) Frontispiece. The Abbey Church of Pontigny, with Becket's Chapel in ruins. (Fiom Chaillou des Barres' History of the Abbey.) Page 163 Chasuble preserved at Sens. (From De Caumont's ' Abe'cedaire d'Arche'ologie.') 199 Remains of the Archbishop's Palace at Canterbury. (From a photo- graph by G. Austin.") 269 North-east Transept of Canterbury Cathedral. The Scene of Becket's Murder. (From a photograph by G. Austin.) 279 ( zi ) LIST OF BOOKS EEFEKRED TO. \_It is believed that such other titles as require any explanation have been explained in the notes."] ' 1 „ ' > see Recueil. Buss, Der heil. Thomas, und sein Kampf fiir die Freiheit der Kirche, Mainz, 185t>. Carte, Hist, of England, vol. i., Lond. 1747. Florentius Vigorniensis, ed. Thorpe (Eng. Hist. Soc.). Foss, The Judges of England, vol. i., Lond. 1848. Godwin, De Prssulibus Anglia:, ed. Richardson, Camb. 1743. Inett, Origines Anglicana', Lond. 1710. [The late Oxford edition, Ly the Rev. .T. Griffiths, is quoted for the notes only.] Jafte, Kegesta Pontificum Romanorum, Berol. 1851. Johannes Sarisburiensis. [Unless where the edition by Dr. Giles is named, the refer- ences are to the reprint in Migne's Patrologia.] Johnson's English Canons, ed. Baron, in Anglo-Cath. Library. Lyttelton's Life of Henry II., 2nd edition, 4to. Martineau, Church Hist, in England, Lond. 1853. Milman's Latin Christianity, 1st edition. Monasticon Anglicanum, Lond. 1845. Morris, "Canon of Northampton;" Life of St. Thomas Becket, Lond. 1859. Patrologia, ed. Migne, Paris, 1844-54. Pawli, Gesch. v. England, iii., Hamb. 1853. Phillipps, Englische Reichs- und Rechtsgeschichte, Berl. 1827-8. Recueil des Historiens lb. c Anon. Lambeth., ib. ii. 75. d See Order. Vital., ed. Le Pre- vost, t. ii. 400 ; iii. 29, 197, 198 ; CLiron. Casin. iv. 7, 12, 53, &c. (in Pertz, vii.) ; Dugdale's Baronage, i. 495 ; Nicolas, Histor. Peerage, art. Aquila. e Grim, 8 ; Roger, 96 ; Gamier, 49*. There are other discrepancies in the accounts. a.d. 1130-1144. EARLY YEARS. ID twenty-one,* and it was probably about this date that he repaired for a time to Paris, — with a view to getting rid of his English accent, according to Thierry and Lord Campbell. 6 Of Gilbert's later years we only know that he survived his wife, 0 and that his circumstances were much reduced by repeated fires and other calamities. 11 It was probably in consequence of this impoverishment that his son, on returning from France, became clerk and accountant to a rich kinsman, a merchant named Osbern Huit-deniers, e and afterwards filled a like situa- tion under the sheriffs (or portreves) of London/ In those troubled days the citizens bore an important part in the contest between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda, and thus, it would seem, the chief magistrate's ■ Roger, 97. b Thierry, iii. 97; Campbell, Lives of Chancellors, i. 63. I am not aware that this object is men- tioned by the old writers (as Fitzst. in S. T. C, i. 183; Quadr. Prior, ib. ii. 190) : but if it were, it would be no proof of Becket's Saxon ori- gin, since the French of Anglo- Normans was not the purest. Gar- nier says of himself (p. 166'; — " Mis languages est bons ; car en France fui nez;" and John of Salisbury, in some verses ' De rotundatoribus verbi,' writes — " Hoc rltn linguam comit Normannus, haberi Dum cupit urbanus, Francigenamque sequi. Auiicus hoc noster tumidus sermone rotundo Ridet nalalis ruslica verba soli. Sermo rotundus hie est, quern regula nulla coarctat, Quern gens nulla potestdicere jure sunm." Entheticus de Dogm. I'hi!osopltorum,\39 seq. c Will. Cant, in S. T. C, ii. 1. d Grim, ib. i. 7. e Grim, 9. The name in Dr. Giles's edition is Octonumini, which Dean Milman, seeing that it could not be right, alters into Octouomini. (Lat. Christ, iii. 446.) Gamier, according to one MS., has " Osbern dit Deniers ;" but another MS. reads " TFVideniers " (50*). Thus the French and the Latin serve to correct each other ; the true read- ings being Wit- [or in modem French Iluit-^ deniers and Octonum- mi. Whether any such surname now exists I do not know ; but wo have analogous names in Twopenny and Twentypenny. [Since this was written I find that Mr. Morris takes the same view (p. 404).] ' Fitzst. 183. c 2 20 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. II. clerk was introduced into political business. a He was, however, soon to emerge into a higher sphere. Among the persons who, like Richer de l'Aigle, were accustomed to lodge occasionally in Gilbert Becket's house, were two brothers of Boulogne, Archdeacon Bald- win and Master Eustace, who thus had opportunities of knowing the young Thomas from his early years, and, as he advanced in age, were greatly struck with his abilities and manners ; and by these Norman ecclesiastics he was introduced into the service of the pri- a.d. 1144? mate Theobald, who (as we have already seen) is described by Fitzstephen as ready to welcome him for his father's sake. b The favour by which his new master soon distinguished him was such as to excite envy, and especially in Roger of Pont l'Eveque, c a clerk of eminent learning, but of a contentious and imprac- ticable spirit, which he displayed throughout a long and prosperous, but restless, life. This man had recourse to every possible means of annoyance against Thomas — " the Baille-hache clerk," or " clerk with the hatchet," as he styled him from the name of a lay member of the household, in whose company he had first appeared at the archiepiscopal residence of Harrow. d By his in- " Pauli, 15. b Seep. 14; Roger, 98; Fitzst. 184. c " De Ponte Episcopi." Some writers translate this " of Bishops- bridge ; " hut Bromton describes Roger as a Neustrian (1057), and Pont l'Evcque in Normandy seems to be meant. d "E le clerc Baille-hache plusurs feiz le nuum " {Gamier, 5u*) ; " Clerieum cum ascia vel securi " (Grim, 10) ; " Ita ut Tbomam cle- rieum Baille-hache plerumque vo- eitaret " (Eoger, 99). These three writers, however, say nothing of Archdeacon Baldwin and his bro- ther, but give the whole credit of the introduction to Baille-hache, whom they represent as Gilbert a.d. 1144-1150. ARCHBISHOP THEOBALD. 21 dustrious misrepresentations of him to the Archbishop, Roger twice succeeded in procuring his dismissal. But on both occasions the young man was restored through the kind offices of the Primate's brother, Walter, Arch- deacon of Canterbury. 11 In 1117, Walter was promoted by his brother's in- fluence to the see of Eochester, b and Roger succeeded him in the archdeaconry. 0 But by this time Becket had probably established himself so firmly that he could afford to disregard the enmity of his old persecutor. Preferment flowed in on him rapidly, and from various quarters. He held the living of St. Mary le Strand in London, d that of Otford in Kent ; he was a prebendary Becket's occasional lodger. Eoger styles him " quidam officialis [archiepiscopi] ;" and Gamier " un sun mareschal." • Grim, i. 10 ; Fitzst. 185. b This see appears to have been practically in the gift of the Pri- , mate, to whom the Bishop of Bochester stood in a peculiarly subordinate relation. The monks bf Bochester made their election in the chapter-house of Canterbury, and the bishop took a special oath of fidelity to the metropolitan. After the death of Walter, and still more decidedly after that of his | successor Waleran, the Bochester monks rebelled against the privi- leges of the church of Canterbury. See Diceto, 614; Gervase, 1302; and other passages indicated under the word Rofa, in the index to the Decern Scriptores ; Godwin, 527-8 ; Wharton, Anglia Sacra, i. 344-5 ; Alan of Tewkesbury, Ep. 3 (in Giles, S. T. C, viii.) ; Le Neve's Fasti, ed. Hardy, ii. 558-500. c Grim, 10. d Stow (Survey, 80, ed. 1033) says that it was St. Mary-at-Hill ; and Mr. Foss, who repeats the statement, supposes that there was then no parish of St. Mary-le- Straud (i. 195). But St. Mary-at- Hill is styled in Latin " ad Mon- tem ; " whereas Fitzstephen styles Becket's church " ecclesiam B. Maria; littoream" (S.T.C.i. 185); and there was, as Stow himself elsewhere states (489-490), a church of St. Mary-le-Strand, until it, with other buildings, was swept away under Edward VI., in order to make room for Somerset House. Bishop Godwin, who lived between the demolition of the old church and the erection of the present one, wrongly connects Becket with 22 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. II. of St. Paul's and of Lincoln ; and already he was noted for his splendour, charity, and munificence. 3 On en- tering the Archbishop's family he had found himself inferior in learning to some of his brother clerks ; but he had diligently endeavoured to make up for his past neg- lect, 1 ' and, not content with such opportunities as England afforded, he obtained leave to avail himself of the ad- vantages which were to be found in the Continental schools. The study of Eoman law had lately been re- vived, and had been greatly promoted by the patronage of Theobald, who imported manuscripts and established Master Vacarius as a lecturer at Oxford ; and, although King Stephen had silenced the Professor, and had ordered the books to be destroyed, the forbidden science continued to be cultivated. 0 A year at Bologna (where Gratian, the great oracle of ecclesiastical law, was then to be heard), and a shorter residence at Auxei-re, were de- voted by Becket to legal study, d and the fruits of it appeared both for good and for evil in his after life. His interest with the Archbishop steadily increased, and his skill in the management of affairs was shown in various important and delicate missions. 6 It was by his agency that Theobald obtained from Borne the revoca- tion of the legatine commission by which Henry, Bishop of Winchester, had been raised to a dangerous rivalry " Mons S. Marise " (72). The list of incumbents in Newcourt's ' Re- pertorium ' does not reach so far back as Becket's time. ■ Koger, 101. b Fitzst., 184. c Joh. Sarisb. Polycrat., viii. 22 ; Gervas., 1665 ; Blackstone, ed. Kerr, i. 12-3; Phillipps, Engl. Keichs- und Rechtsgeschichte, i. 255. d Fitzst., 185. e Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 320 ; Fitzst., 185 ; Wendover, ii. 293. A.d. 1150-4. PREFERMENTS. 23 with the Primate ; a it was Becket who, in 1152, paved the way for the succession of Henry II., by pre- vailing on Eugenius III. to forbid the coronation of Eustace as his father's colleague, although King Ste- phen had sent Henry, Archbishop of York, to urge his suit at the Papal court; b and when, in 1154, Eoger of Pont l'Eveque was promoted to the see of York, the merits and the exertions of Becket were rewarded with the archdeaconry of Canterbury, an office which gave him the first place among the clergy after the bishops and abbots, with an income of a hundred pounds a year. c To this were now added the provostship of Beverley, and other lucrative preferments ; so that Becket, when afterwards reproached as if he had owed everything to the favour of Henry II., could fairly reply by mention- ing the large pluralities which he had held before enter- ing into the royal serviced Although among these were * Gervas. 1665, where Celestine II. is named as the pope who re- voked the grant ; but his papacy lasted only from Sept. 26, 1143, to March 8, 1144, and probably ended before Becket was even in- troduced to Theobald. Hence Iuett (ii. 203) would place the mission to Rome under Lucius II . ( 1 144-5 ), or Eugenius 111.(1145- 1153). b Gervas., 1371 ; Job. Hagustald. 279. Gamier (51), and Roger (100), between whom there is in general a remarkable agree- ment, say that Theobald took Becket to Rome with him. If so, it must have been in the end of the pontificate of Innocent II., a.d. 1143 ; and Becket's introduction to the Archbishop must be dated early enougli to accord with this. But perhaps the mention of Rome may be a mistake for Rheims, where Becket attended on his master at the council held by Eugenius in March, 1148. c Fitzst, 186. d " De exili me commemoras ad summa provectum De quam exili, putas ? Si tempus, quo me in ministerio suo [rex] prsestituit, respicias, archidiaconatus Can- tuaria3, praepositura Beverlaci, plurimae ecclesise, prebendse non- nullse, alia etiam non pauca, qua? nominis mei erant possessio tunc temporis, adeo tenuem, ut dicis, 24 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. II. "very many parish churches," the circumstance that he was only a deacon was no hindrance to the accumu- lation of henefices on him ; for in those days a pros- perous ecclesiastic would seem to have regarded his parishes merely as sources of income, while he com- placently devolved the care of each on some ill-paid priest. Nor, when Becket afterwards appeared as a re- former of ecclesiastical abuses, did he make any attempt to remedy this, which to modern apprehensions may, perhaps, seem the most crying abuse of all. In October, 1154 (a few weeks before the election of Adrian IV., the only Englishman who has filled the Papal chair), Stephen died, and, according to a compact which had been concluded after the death of Eustace in the preceding year, Henry II. added the kingdom of Eng- land to the wide continental dominions which he pos- sessed in right of his father, his mother, and his wife. The troubles of the late reign, during which the support of the clergy was of great importance to the contending claimants, and the legate, Henry of Winchester, had for a time almost held the crown in his disposal," had been favourable to the Church's advancement in secular power. But there was now reason to apprehend that the restoration of order might be fatal to the privileges which had been gained under cover of confusion. The quantum ad ea quse nmndi sunt, contradicunt me fuisse.'' — Thorn, ad Gilb., Lond. Episc. Epp. ii. 286. Nothing is known of Becket as provost of Beverley. Oliver's ' Beverlac.' ■ " Cum esset Angliaj dominus, utpote frater regis et apostolicse sedis legatus" (Gerv. Dorob., 1343). At the Council of Winchester, in 1142, the legate had said of the clergy, " ad cujus jus potissimum spectatprincipem cligere,simulque ordinare." W. Malmesb. Hist. Novella, iii. 44. (Patrol, clxxix.) A.D. 1154. HENRY II. 25 King was in his twenty-second year, and had as yet had little opportunity of displaying his character ; but his descent on both sides was such as to raise serious appre- hensions in the clergy. His father, Geoffrey of Anjou, had been notorious for his outrages against some mem- bers of the order. a His mother, Matilda, as one of Becket's friends afterwards said, was "of the race of tyrants," b — grand-daughter of the Conqueror, who had sternly " kept all the staves in his own hands," 0 and whose resolute character bad awed even the great hierarch Gregory VII., niece and daughter of the royal perse- cutors of Anselm, widow of an emperor who had im- prisoned Pope Paschal IL, with his college of cardinals, and again widow of the fierce Count of Anjou. It was believed that the King had been powerfully influ- enced by the lessons of policy which his mother had inculcated on him ; d and he had married a princess, Eleanor, the divorced Queen of France, whose father had been as little disposed to respect the hierarchy as Geoffrey of Anjou himself. 6 Nor were there wanting counsellors ready to suggest measures adverse to the Church/ It was therefore desirable for the interests 4 See Girald. Camb. de Instit. Principum, 17 (ed. Anglia Christia- na Society). Fitzsteph., 230. b See below, p. 154. c According to Gervase of Can- terbury, be used this phrase in refusing Lanfranc's request that the investiture of the abbots of St. Augustine's might be restored to the Archbishops ^Twysden, 1327). But Thorn ascribes the speech to William Eufus (ib. 1294). d Mapes de Nugis Curialium, 227-8. e W. Malmesb. in Patrol, clxxix. 1384-5. 1 John of Salisbury writes in Theobald's name to the King — " Suggerunt vobis filii saiculi hujus ut Ecclesia; minuatis auctoritateui, ut vobis regis dignitas augeatur." — Ep. 64, s. fin. 26 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. II. of the hierarchy that some counteracting influence should he provided, and with this view the Archdeacon of Can- terbury was introduced by the Primate to the King, in accordance with the advice of Philip, Bishop of Bayeux, and of the politic Arnulf, Bishop of Lisieux. a His effectual negotiations in the cause of Henry's succession were probably too recent to be forgotten, and he well knew how to improve the favourable impression pro- duced by his own services, and by the recommendation of his patrons. He is described to us as tall and hand- some in person, of eloquent and witty speech, of an apprehension so quick as to give him an advantage over men of greater knowledge, an accomplished chess-player, a master in hunting, falconry, and other manly exer- cises. 11 With such outward advantages, and with a foundation of solid ability and acquirements, it was no wonder that he soon gained an ascendant over the youthful King ; and in the first year of Henry's reign he was raised to the dignity of Chancellor. 0 » Koger in S. T. C, i. 101 ; W. Cant., ib. ii. 2. b Job. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 319 ; Fitzst., ib. i. 188. c The appointment has been variously dated from 1155 to 1158 ; but that it probably followed quickly onHenry's coronation(Dec. 19, 1154), see Foss, i. 163, 196. Gervase says, " Statim in initio regni " (1377). In the new edition of Rymer's 'Fcedera' (i. 41) is an undated grant from Henry to the Earl of Arundel, which has among the names of the witnesses " Theo. archiepiscopo Cantuar N. Epo. de Ely et Cancellario ;" and hence it would seem as if Nigel, bishop of Ely, had been Henry's Chancellor before Becket. But Mr. Foss shows reason for believ- ing that et is a mistake for T., the initial letter of Becket's Christian name, and that he was really the Chancellor who signed, i. 166. A.D. 1154-5. ( 27 ) CHAPTEE III. THE CHANCELLORSHIP.— a.d. 1155-1162. The functions of the Chancellor of England in the twelfth century were considerably different from those of his official descendants in our own time. Although, like other great personages, he occasionally took part in the administration of justice (and Becket is found to have been thus employed in various parts of the king- dom"), no judicial duties were directly attached to his office, b which may be described as combining something like the deanery of the royal chapel with something like a Secretaryship of State. 0 He had the custody of the Great Seal, the superintendence of the King's chapel, the care of vacant sees, abbacies, and baronies ; he was entitled, without any summons, to attend all the King's councils ; and all royal grants passed through his hands. " Moreover," says Fitzstephen, " the merits of his life by God's grace furthering him, it is his privilege not to die otherwise than an Archbishop or a Bishop, if he so will ; and hence it is that the Chancellorship may not be pur- » Foss, i. 198. b See Appendix I. c So too in France the Arch- chaplain was the same with the Chancellor. Fitzstephen describes the Chancellor as next in dignity to the King ; but it seems to be certain that the Grand Justiciary had precedence of him. (Lyttelton's Henry II., iii. 3.) Lord Campbell says that he was " only sixth of the great officers under the crown," i. 5. 28 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. III. chased." a Although, however, this plausible rule had been laid clown in order to exclude the danger of simony in the matter of appointment to bishoprics, the Chan- cellorship was in reality often sold ; and Becket himself was afterwards charged with having bought it at a sort of auction, and paid " many thousands of marks " for it. b In his new eminence, as before in the Archbishop's household, he was at first beset by much envy and malignity ; and so keenly did he feel the attacks which were made on him that he professed to his intimate friends to be weary of his life, and eager to leave the Court, if it were possible to do so without disgrace. 0 But he speedily triumphed over the intrigues of his enemies, and attained the highest place in the King's confidence and affection. One writer speaks of him as a " second Joseph set over the land of Egypt ;" d another styles him "the King's governor, and, as it were, master ;" e a third says that he " seemed to be a partner in the king- dom." 1 " It sounds in the ears and mouth of the people that you and the King are one heart and one soul," writes Archbishop Theobald in a letter to him. g " Who," asks another correspondent, "is ignorant that you are the next person to the King in four kingdoms ? " h As Henry's ■ 1 86. See Foss, i. 14 ; Phillipps, ii. 59. b "Certa licitatione proposita." (Foliot, Ep. 194, S. T. C, v. 268.) The question as to the genuineness of this letter will be mentioned here- after. (Appendix VI.) Dr.Lappen- berg discredits the charge against Becket (n. in Pauli, iii. 16). See Appendix II. c Roger, in S. T. C, i. 102; Job. Sarisb., ib. 321 ; Herb., in S. T. C, vii. 21. d Grim, 11. « Gerv. Dorob., 1382. ' W. Neubrig., ii. 16. 6 Job. Sarisb., Ep. 78. h Pet. Cellens., Ep. i. 24. (Pa- trol, ccii.) A.D. 1155. THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 29 chief adviser, he is entitled to a large share of praise for the measures which were taken to improve the state of the country. The foreign mercenaries, who had fearfully oppressed the people by their exactions (and not alto- gether without excuse, inasmuch as they were driven to plunder by the want of regular pay"), were peremptorily compelled to leave the realm. The castles, which had sprung up in great numbers during the troubled reign of Stephen, b to the injury of the Crown and the oppres- sion of the subjects, were razed to the ground, — the Chancellor taking part in the execution of the measure as well as in the determination of it. Thieves and rob- bers were put down, and many of them gladly exchanged their lawless manner of life for the pursuits of regular industry. " The ravening wolves fled," says William of Newburgh, " or were changed into sheep ; or, if not really changed, yet, tln'ough fear of the laws, they re- mained harmlessly among the sheep." c Families were reinstated in possessions of which they had been wrong- fully deprived ; agriculture and other peaceful arts began to flourish anew ; and one great ecclesiastical abuse, — the practice of keeping bishoprics and abbeys long vacant for the purpose of seeming to the Crown the revenues during the vacancy, — was mitigated, al- though not abandoned.' 1 The private intercourse of the Sovereign with his ■ Gesta Stephani, ed. Sewell, 97. b These are reckoned by Robert of Mont St. Michel at 375 iContin. Sigeb., a.d. 1152, ap. Migne, Patrol., clx. 476), while Diceto makes the number 1115! (ap Twysd. 528). See Lingard, ii. 90. * ii. 1. d Fitzst., 187, 191, &c. 30 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. III. minister was on the most intimate footing. When serious business was over, says Fitzstephen, they played together, like boys of the same age. They were com- panions in all manner of amusements ; and often, when the Chancellor was at dinner, entertaining, as his custom was, a splendid party of nobles and knights, the King, in returning from the chace, would walk in without ceremony, and would either drink a cup and be gone, or leap over the table and seat himself as a guest. And the biographer adds the well-known story, how the King, as he was riding through London with the Chancellor on a cold wintry day, stripped off the struggling favourite's rich furred cloak, to bestow it on a shivering beggar." In addition to the chancellorship, Henry conferred on Becket the wardenship of the castles of Eye and Berk- hampstead — the former with the service of a hundred and forty knights attached to it ; and his ecclesiastical preferments were still further increased, especially by the deanery of Hastings, a royal chapel to which a college of secular canons was attached. b In those days the chancellor was not a patron, but a receiver, of bene- fices ; and such was Becket's popularity with all who possessed such patronage, that, according to Fitzstephen, he might, by merely asking for things as they fell vacant, have become in time the one sole incumbent of all ecclesiastical preferment. 0 The splendour which Becket displayed as chancellor - S. T. C., i. 191-3. b Monast. Anglic, vi. 1470. c 188. Dr. Pauli seems to mis- apprehend the Lord Chancellor's present relation to the Church, in saying that he still has " die Ver- waltung der Kircheng liter unter sich " (p. 17). a.d. 1155-9. THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 31 is dwelt on by all his biographers. " So great," says Eoger of Pontigny, " -was the multitude of soldiers and men of various kinds which followed him, that the King himself sometimes seemed to be deserted in compa- rison."' 1 But Fitzstephen, in particular, rises above himself in describing his master's state. The troops of attendants — the profusion of gold and silver plate — the sumptuous fare, provided without any regard to cost — the throng of knights and nobles who enjoyed his mag- nificent hospitality — the daily supply of rushes in winter, and of green branches in summer, that those who could not find room on the benches might not be obliged to soil their dress by sitting on the bare floor — the voluntary homage of many barons — the costly and profuse gifts of horses, hawks, money, vestments, gold and silver vessels — the eagerness with which persons of high rank strove to place their sons in a household which was regarded as the best school of noble breeding, and of which even the heir-apparent of the kingdom was an inmate — these and other circumstances are set forth by the biographer b in a style which leads us to suspect that, although he had followed his patron in the more spiritual part of his career, his memory was by no means unwilling to revert to the braveries of which he had been an admiring spectator while the saint was as yet a child of this world. But the most signal exhibition of Becket's pomp was when, in 1159, he went on an embassy into France, in order to ask the Princess Margaret in marriage for his a S. T. C, i. 103. b 188-190. 32 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. III. royal pupil. Fitzstephen's account of this expedition reads like a fairy tale. The carriages drawn by five horses each ; the huge train of clerks, knights, men-at-arms, falcon- ers with their hawks, huntsmen with their dogs, and do- mestics of every kind — all arrayed in brilliant new holiday attire ; the menagerie of strange beasts ; the fierce mastiffs who guarded even' waggon, each of them powerful enough to subdue a bear or a lion ; the apes mounted on every sumpter-horse ; the grooms riding " in English fashion " (a peculiarity of which unhappily no explanation is vouchsafed) ; the prodigious apparatus of plate, chapel- furniture, cooking-utensils, and bedding ; the goodly iron-hooped barrels of ale, pure, sparkling, delicious, and wholesome — fitted at once to charm the palate of every Frenchman who should taste it, and to fill him with admiring envy of the islanders who could brew such exquisite potions ; a the huge chests of money, books, clothing, and provisions — altogether formed such a sight as had never before been seen along the road. From castles and frorn cottages, from hamlets and from cities, crowds of astonished natives rushed forth, with shoulders shrugged, hands uplifted, and eyes distended in blank amazement — asking, as well they might, with strange French exclamations, who might be the chief of all this marvellous procession ; and on hearing that it was the King of England's chancellor, they were lost in specu- * " Duse bigse solam cerevisiam faecatum, colore vineo, sapore trahebant, factam in aqiise de- meliori " (197). Robert of Mont coetione ex adipe frurnenti, in St. Michel mentions it as a thing cadis ferratis, donandam Francis, unheard of, that in 1152, after two id genus liquidi plasmatis mi- bad vintages, beer and mead were rantibus, potuin sane salubrem, de- sold in France. — Patrol, elx. 470. A.D. 1159. EMBASSY TO FRANCE. 33 lation as to what the master must be if the officer's equi- page were so magnificent.* The envoy's behaviour at Paris was in keeping with the grandeur of his preparations. King Louis, whose custom it was to pay all the expenses of ambassadors, had ordered the inhabitants of his capital to sell no pro- visions to the Englishmen ; but Becket was aware of this beforehand, and had sent out disguised purveyors, who bought up enormous quantities in the towns and villages around ; so that, on arriving at his lodgings in the Temple, he found them stored, at his own cost, with three days' supplies for a thousand men. All Paris was astonished by the sumptuousness of his table ; a dish of eels, which cost a hundred shillings " sterlingorum," was long after especially famous in the history of gas- tronomy. b He distributed presents with a lavish hand ; and feeling, it would seem, the importance of winning favour with the literary class, bestowed much both of his attention and of his liberality on the professors and students of the schools. By these means, we are told, he gained unexampled popularity ; and having effected the object of his mission, in his return he seized and imprisoned a famous robber, who was particularly ob- noxious to the King of England. 0 A less amicable expedition into France followed shortly after. William IX., Duke of Aquitaine, when preparing to set out for the first crusade, had pledged • Fitzst., 197-8. b Lord Lyttelton reckons the alleged price of this dish as equal to 75i. in his own time ; but thinks the story incredible (iii. 10). c Fitzst., 199. 1) 34 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. III. the county of Toulouse, which he held in right of his wife, to her uncle Raymond V., Count of St. Gilles, whose grandson now held possession of it. As many years had passed during which the dukes of Aquitaine were in no condition to redeem the pledge, Toulouse had come to be regarded by the Counts of St. Gilles as their own ; but a claim to it had been set up by Louis VII., in behalf of his wife Eleanor, the heiress of Aquitaine. This claim had now passed to Henry of England, in consequence of his having married Eleanor on her being divorced by Louis ; and in 1159 he prepared to assert it by force of arms. a By the Chancellor's advice an im- portant novelty was introduced in levying the troops for this expedition — the personal service of the King's vassals being commuted for a scutage, or rate levied on every knight's fee, in order to the payment of mercena- ries. 11 Becket equipped and maintained 700 knights for the war at his own expense, and to these he after- wards added 1200 knights and 4000 infantry. He appeared at the head of his troops, in cuirass and helmet, 0 led them to the assault or to the sack of towns and castles, and, among other acts of prowess, unhorsed in single combat a valiant French knight, Engelram de " Rob. de Monte, a.d. 1159 ; Will. Neubrig., ii. 10, and note, p. 110; Trivet, 47; Carte, i. 509; Lingard, ii. 114 ; Sismondi, 'Hist, des Francais,' v. 250-7, 407; Pauli, iii. 21. There are considerable dif- ferences as to detail. b See Pauli, 22-3. Robert of Mont St. Michel says that the King had recourse to this, " nolens vex- are agrarios milites, nec burgen- siuin nec rustieorum multitudi- nem" (a.d. 1159). ' Fitzst, 201. a.d. ll. r )9-G0. WAR OF TOULOUSE. 35 Trie, whose steed he carried off as a trophy. Gamier, who was to become his biographer in the character of a saint, tells us that he had himself often seen him in military attire, advancing to charge the French. 3 The expedition failed of its main object. Louis, although he had himself formerly urged Eleanor's claim, was not disposed to favour it when taken up by the powerful rival who had succeeded him in the possession of her person and territories ; and Henry, on approaching Toulouse, found that the King of France, the suzerain of his continental dominions, was within its walls, as the ally of the Count of St. Gilles. Although urged by his Chancellor to make an assault, which might probably have resulted in the capture of Louis, he hesitated, out of a scruple as to his feudal duty, and as to the probable effects of such an example ; and, after having besieged the city from Midsummer to the end of October, he withdrew, leaving the Chancellor to garrison Cahors, which had been surrendered to him, and to defend his other acquisitions in the south of France. 11 For the part which Becket took in this expedition, innumerable pre- cedents of dignified ecclesiastics might have been pleaded ; for not only deacons (as he then was), but bishops, and even popes, had led troops to war, and some of them had distinguished themselves by then- personal exploits. Yet it is evident that, besides being contrary to a long succession of canons, such acts were 'E ieo 1 ui sur Franceis plusurs feiz I b Fitzst., 200; Rob. de Monte, dwu»lcbler."-P. 53*. | K „ U59 . sismondj, v . 410.4. D 2 36 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. III. felt by Becket's contemporaries, even while they ad- mired his gallantry, to be inconsistent with his profession and position. In his warlike achievements, even more than in the pomp and luxury of his peaceful days, it was considered that, when he had " put on the chancellor," he had " for a time put off the deacon." a a Herb., vii. 17. A.D. 1161. ( 37 ) CHAPTEE IV. THE ARCHBISHOPRIC— a.d. 1161-2. Although Becket's outward life, at least, during his tenure of the Chancellorship, was as that of a layman, devoted to the enjoyments, the vanities, the pride and luxury and ostentation of this world, it is said that not only had the general opinion fixed on him as likely to be Archbishop of Canterbury," but Theobald himself was desirous to have the Chancellor and Arch- deacon for his successor^ And soon after the death of Theobald, which took place in April, 1161, it appeared that the King's intention had been rightly divined. The Chancellor was about to take leave of his master at Falaise, with the purpose of proceeding into England on political business, when Henry told him that the chief object of his journey had not yet been mentioned — that he was to be Archbishop of Canterbury. It is said that Becket drew the King's attention to the gay and secular dress which he wore, as a proof of his unfitness for the highest spiritual office, and warned him (as • " Certc dum magnifieus erat nugator in curia, dum legis con- temptor videbatur ct cleri, dum scurrilea cum potentioribus sec- tabatur incptias, magnus babe- batur, clarus (charus?) erat et acceptus omnibus, et solus dig- nissimus summo pontificatu ab universis conclamabatui et sin- gulis." Job. Sarisb., Ep. 193. b See Appendix III. 38 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. Hildebrand is said in a similar case to have warned Henry IV. of Germany),* 1 that, if he should become Archbishop, their friendship must be turned into bitter enmity. 6 It may have been that the smile which accompanied the words was intended to counteract their effect ;° at least, it is certain that Henry did not understand them seriously, but continued to suppose that, in promoting his favourite counsellor, he was forwarding Ins own views of policy as to the affairs of the Church. "Richard," he said to the Chief Justiciary De Luci, d who was about to accompany Becket into England, " if I were lying dead on my bier, woidd you endeavour that my first-born, Henry, should be raised to the kingdom ?" " Certainly," was the answer, " to the utmost of my power." " Then," said the King, " I wish you to take no less care for the promotion of the Chancellor to the see of Canterbury." e We are told, however, that Becket himself declared on other occasions his unwillingness to undertake the burden of the pri- macy. To the prior of Leicester in particular, who ■ Bonizo, ap. Oefel. Scriptores Rerum Boicarum, 811 ; Card, de Aragonia, ap. Murator., iii. 304. This story, however, is now gene- rally rejected. b Herb. vii. 26. c Southey, Book of the Church, i. 152, ed. 3. d For an account of B. de Luci see Foss, i. 2G4. In his own time his name was the subject of many punning allusions, both friendly and the reverse, although no allu- sion to Justice Shallow's coat of arms occurs among them. Thus, one of Becket's partisans, after the Justiciary had incurred the enmity of the party, calls him " proprii nominis inimicus " i S. T. C, iv. 254) ; and another, " Luscus noster cujus et mentis oculum penitus excaecavit Deus " (ib. vi. 237 1. On the other hand, his epitaph in Lesnes Abbey styled him " Lux Luciorum" (Murray's Handb. of Kent, 25). e Herb. vii. 27. A.D. 1161. THE ARCHBISHOPRIC. 39 had visited him when recovering from an illness, before the King's announcement of his choice, he had said that he knew three poor priests in England whose promotion to the office he would rather desire than his own ; and he had expressed the belief that, if he were appointed, he must forfeit the favour either of God or of the King." It was only at the urgent and repeated solicitation of the pope's legate, Cardinal Henry of Pisa, that he at length consented to accept the office. 1 ' After all the struggle which had taken place between Henry I. and Anselm, and the seeming victory of the ecclesiastical cause, the appointment of English bishops had virtually remained in the King's hands, inasmuch as his bcence was necessary before the clergy proceeded to an election, and his approval before the consecration of the person elected. 0 At Canterbury, however, where the cathedral was connected with a monastery, and the monks of Christchurch possessed that privilege of elec- tion which elsewhere belonged to a chapter of canons, there was a continual struggle for independence both of the crown and of the suffragan bishops, who claimed a share in the choice of their metropolitan." 1 In the ■ Fitzst., 193. It is said that maa habeat partes," &c. Pet. Bles. the prior rallied him on the ineon- Ep. 64 (Patrol, ccvii.). sistency of his dress with his eccle- d See Inett, ii. 179; Lingard, siastical pluralities, and perhaps ii. 311-2. There were then seven- ties may have siiggested Beeket's teen bishopries in England, and four answer to the King. in Wales. In eight of the Eng- h Roger, 108 ; Job. Sarisb. in lish cathedrals there were monks ; 8. T. C, i. 322 ; Anon. Lamb., 78. in eight, secular canons; in one, c " Cum autem juxta regni con- canons regular (Rob. de Monte, suetudinem [rex] in electionibus Patrol, clx. 471). The right of faciendis potissimas et potentissi- the bishops to share in the election 40 LIFE OP BECKET. Chap. IV. present case it is evident that there was a difficulty in winning the consent of the monks, and it is probable that some part of the thirteen months during which the vacancy lasted may have been spent in secret negotia- tions with them. a It was not until May, 1 162, that a deputation of three bishops, with the Justiciary de Luci, and his brother the abbot of Battle, appeared at Can- terbury, bearing the King's licence for the election of an archbishop, and his recommendat ion of the Chancellor Thomas for the office. b Here, as in many other parts of the story, there is a discrepancy between the old biogra- phers — each of them, apparently, making such a state- ment as he conceived to be most for the honour of his hero. Thus, while some represent the monks as hesitating to elect Becket only because he was not, like former archbishops, a monk, and as delighted with the nomina- tion of a person otherwise so admirable, 0 we are told by others that his character was fully discussed, and that his courtly and secular habits were freely handled by objectors. d Whether willingly, however, or under the terror of the penalties with which the commissioners are said to have been armed, 6 the prior and monks of Christchurch agreed in choosing the royal nominee, and a day was appointed for their attendance at Westminster, where the election was to be completed, with the con- was cancelled by Innocent III. in 1206. Eegest. ix. 205 (ib. ccxv.). a Grim seems to intimate some- thing of this kind by saying that the promotion of Becket was de- ferred until the King should extort [extorqueat] the consent of the monks, 13. b Gamier, 56 * ; Grim, 13. c Koger, 106. d Anon. Lamb., 76 ; Herb., vii. 26. e Foliot, Ep. 194, p. 268. A.D. 1162. THE ARCHBISHOPRIC. 41 cniTcnce of the bishops and nobles, in the presence of the young Prince Henry, to whom an oath of fealty had lately been taken, 3, and whom his father had appointed as his representative for the occasion. b The election at Westminster was unanimous, but not without some previous show of opposition from a person- age who will be often mentioned in the sequel — Gilbert Foliot. Foliot was of a Norman family which had been settled in England from the Conquest ; he was related to the Earls of Hereford, 0 and it appears that some of his connexions were amons; the Normans who had ac- quired estates in Scotland. 11 He had been educated in the great monastery of Cluny, and, after having held the priory of that house, had been successively prior of Abbeville and abbot of Gloucester. 6 In 1147 he was raised to the bishopric of Hereford, from which, a few months after the beginning of Becket's archiepiscopate, he was translated to London/ Among all the clergy of the English Church Foliot had obtained the greatest reputation and influence. His fame for learning and eloquence was very high, and perhaps he was yet more admired for his sanctity/ We are told that he " never tasted meat or wine ;" that he increased liis austerities in proportion as he rose to more eminent station ; and there is a letter from Alexander III., in which the Fope entreats him to moderate a rigour which, by weakening » Aelred. a.d. 1162. b Gamier, 57* ; Roger, 10G. c Gervase, 1378 ; Carte, i. 566. d See Fol., Ep. 278. ■ Ib.Ep.269. There is a letter of f Diceto, 535. See Appendix IV.— V. e Anon. Lambeth., 91. He is styled by Mapes, " Vir moruin et sapiential thesaurus." De Nugis outrageous adulation to him from Curialium, 153 f published by the the abbot of Cluny. Ib. Ep. 479. I Camden Society). 42 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. his health, might do serious injury to the Church." Mr; Fronde describes him as the chief of the "religionist party " b — the party which founded its claims to influence on the practice of such religion as was in those days most in fashion with the multitude ; but it seems as if, in the description of this party, there were certain elements derived from the nineteenth century, which tend to give an untrue impression as to Foliot's character. 0 The chief value of Dr. Giles's large addition to Foliot's published letters is that they help us to understand the writer better — as accumulated letters must do, however unimportant in other respects. He appears in them as a very busy man ; extremely desirous of influence, and somewhat fond of meddling in the affairs of his neigh- bours ; not altogether above an occasional job ; a skilful flatterer of persons in high station, and especially adroit in giving his flattery a spiritual turn ; well- meaning in the main, but too much addicted to schem- ing and trickery. He writes with a continual plausibility, and with a sonorous redundancy of words, which force on us the suspicion that he is a man not to be trusted ; and with all his virtues, talents, activity, and influence, it would appear that he was not trusted. We cannot bring ourselves to agree in Archdeacon Churton's esti- mate of him as " a wise and moderate man, who acted in ■ S. T. C, vi. 87 ; cf. Roger, 107 ; ! Fitzst. 202. b P. 38. Dr. Pauli pronounces tins to be certainly a correct view (35) ; but perhaps the learned German historian has not alto- gether understood Mr. Froude's meaning. c Mr. Froude speaks of the Cistercians as the strength of the religionist party 1 38, 48) ; but the Cistercians were in constant con- nexion with Becket ; and Foliot belonged to the rival order of Cluny. A.D. 1162. GILBERT FOLIOT. 43 honest prudence ;" a rather it seems to us that the main defect in his character was a want of straightforward honesty, and that, if his honesty had been greater, his prudence would really have been greater also." Although it is certain that Foliot objected to the election of Becket, the circumstances are variously stated. By his enemies his opposition is ascribed to envy, and he is represented as wishing to get the arch- bishopric for himself. 0 But this imputation he very strongly denies in a letter addressed to Becket at a later time. If, he argues, he had sought the office, the most important person to be gained was the Chancellor, the King's chief counsellor and favourite ; and he appeals to the Archbishop whether any application had ever been made for his interest as chancellor.* 1 He declares ' ' Early English Church,' first edit., p. 349. b Fitzstephen says that he was in the hahit of varying the names of the persons specified in bidding of prayer (king, prince, arch- bishop, &c), according to the state of the political wind (.251). Gar- nier says of him, — " De lettres sout assez, et servit Astarot." -(53.) This rhyme on his name seems to allude to the story that one night, as he was meditating the confusion of Thomas, " he heard an exceed- ing terrible voice, uttered from above, clearly saying to him, — " 0 Oilberto Foliot, Uum revolvis tot et tot, Deus tuus est Astaroth." Jl. Wenduucr, ii. 323. The Bishop, however, is said to have answered, "Mentiris, dse- mon ; Deus meus est Deus Sa- baoth." (Coxe, n. in loc.) Another version is — "Tace, itemon; qui est Deus Sabaotb, est llle meus." Peacock's ' Crotchet Castle.' c Thorn.. Ep. 130, p. 287 ; Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 183, col. 183 ; Fitzst., 202. The charge was renewed on the vacancy after Becket's death, and was then again denied with much protestation by Foliot (Ep. 269). d It need hardly be observed that this argument was not worth much in a case where the Chan- cellor himself was the rival marked out by public rumour. 44 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. the only reasons for his opposition to have been a desire of the Church's welfare, and a wish that her rights should not be violated by the intrusion of a person so notoriously unfit as the King's nominee. And, while the withdrawal of his objections is ascribed by his enemies to chagrin at finding that the baseness of his motives was generally seen through, and that therefore no one would second him, his own statement is very different — that he yielded to nothing less than a threat of banish- ment against himself and all his kindred.* It is said by John of Salisbury, that Foliot was the only person who did not express pleasure at the nomi- nation ; but that, when shamed out of his opposition, he was one of the first to vote for Becket, and the loudest in praise of the choice, b although, according to Fitzstephen, he afterwards sarcastically observed that the King had wrought a miracle in turning a soldier into an archbishop. 0 We may observe that, even if all these stories are true, Foliot' s insincerity cannot have been greater than that which prompted the Archbishop soon after to promote the translation of one whom he knew to be a thorough intriguer from Hereford to London, and to address to him two exceedingly flatter- ing letters on the occasion. d And we may add, that a " Exilio crudeliter addieti sumus, nec solum persona nostra, sed et domus patris mei, et con- junctu nobis affinitas, et cogna- tio tota." (Ep. 194, p. 268.) See Appendix VI. b Ep. 183 : cf. Froude, 592. « Fitzst, 202. •> Epp. 128-9; Gervasc, 1384. On Becket's patronage of Foliot see Buss, 242 4. The Lambeth bio- grapher says that the King pro- moted him, and obtained the Pope's consent to his translation (Alex. III. in Fol., Ep. 146), by way of compensation for his dis- appointment as to the primacy (ii. 91). Fitzstephen tells us that, a.d. 1162. ELECTION AS ARCHBISHOP. 45 the tone in which Becket's elevation is spoken of by his partisans in different parts of their narratives is not very consistent. Foliot's opposition may, indeed, have arisen from bad and selfish feelings ; but surely there might have been an opposition free from all evil motive, and in no way deserving of infamy ; since any one who, on the ground of the candidate's previous character, and of the manner in which the election was controlled, should have set himself against (what is said to have been) the universal acclamation in its favour, would have been afterwards justified by Becket himself, when he spoke of his troubles as judgments on the irregularity of his election, and (according to the common belief) even resigned his archbishopric into the hands of the Pope, as an office to which he had been unworthily and unlawfully appointed. After the election had been completed, Henry, Bishop of Winchester, the most eminent in dignity of the Bishops, addressed Prince Henry in the name of his brethren, requesting that the Archbishop-elect might be discharged from all obligations contracted in his secular office ; and the Prince, in his father's name, con- sented. 11 We shall see hereafter that the validity and the extent of this release became subjects of dispute between Becket and the King. On the way to Canterbury, where his consecration was to be performed, the Archbishop-elect had a vision, " sicut putabatur," the King's ob- ject was to have Foliot nearer to him as an ally against the Arch- bishop (216) ; but this is merely an inference from the event. ■ Grim, 15 ; Roger, 107-8 ; Garn., 58*. 46 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. iii w hich a venerable person appeared to entrust to him ten talents ; and in consequence of the feeling of re- sponsibility which this vision produced, he charged some of his clerks to report to liim what men should say of him, and to admonish him of any faults which he might commit in the administration of his office.' 1 In one, at least, of these monitors, the biographer Herbert of Bosham, he had made choice of a person who was not likely to trouble him with frequent expostulations. With respect to the right of taking the chief part in the consecration, a conflict of pretensions arose — one of those continually-occurring disputes which amuse the student of mediaeval history by their ludicrous contrast with the assumption that the ecclesiastical machinery of the middle ages was perfectly adjusted in all its parts, and wrought with unfailing smoothness. Soger of York had sent representatives to claim the office for him, and the suffragans of Canterbury were willing to admit the claim, as sanctioned by usage, if Roger would restore the canonical subjection which he had withdrawn from their Metropolitan ; but this was a condition to which it was certain that the contentious northern Primate would not submit. Henry of Winchester (who, on the death of his brother Stephen, had retired to Cluny, but had lately returned after an absence of seven years) b claimed the function, as precentor of the province, and entitled to represent the provincial dean, the Bishop of London, during the vacancy of that see. Walter of » Herb., vii. 31 ; Gervase, 1382. b Pauli, iii. 6, 31. There are letters of Theobald, urging his re- turn (Joh. Sarisb., Epp. 98, 99, 101). A.D. 1162. CONSECRATION. 47 Rochester asserted similar pretensions as provincial chaplain of the Archbishop ; while it is said that a Welsh bishop also put in a claim, on the ground of seniority in the episcopate.' 1 After much discussion the question was decided in favour of the Bishop of Winchester, whose pretensions were supported by a letter from the London clergy ; and the Bishop of Bocbester was obliged to con- tent himself with officiating at the ordination of the Archbishop-elect to the priesthood. This took place on Saturday in Whitsun-week, and on the following day (which from that date was celebrated in England as Trinity Sunday)' 0 Becket was consecrated as Archbishop by the Bishop of Winchester, with thirteen other bishops. 0 One more form yet remained — that of obtaining the pall, which was the special emblem of a Metropolitan's connexion with the Boman see. For this purpose Adam, abbot of Evesham, John of Salisbury, and another clerk, were despatched to Pope Alexander III., whom they found lately arrived at Montpellier, as a fugitive from the factions of his city, and from the strength of a rival supported by the Emperor. a The cardinals of his court, in several interviews, insisted on gifts for themselves ■ So Gervase states (1382) ; but ■what Welsh bishop could have made such a claim? The Bishop of Winchester, consecrated in 1129, appears to have been the senior of his order. The Welsh prelates present were those of St. David's, Llandaff, and " Gode- fridus Lanelvensis," i. e., Geoffrey of Monmouth, bishop of Llanelly or St. Asaph. b Steph. Birchington, in Whar- ton, Aug. Sac, i. 8. See Mr. Griffiths' note in the late Oxford edition of Inett, ii. 303. c Gervase, 1382-3 ; Herb., 33 ; Aelrcd, 533. d Alexander was at Montpellier from April 15 to the month of J uly. See Jaffe, ' Regesta Fouti- fieum.' 48 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. and the Pope as a necessary condition of the pall, — more especially, they urged, as they had been driven from Koine, and were deprived of their revenues. To tins the envoys replied that they themselves had come from a distant country, and had spent almost all their money ; that they wished to receive the pall " holily and purely," so as to exclude all pretence for any charge of simony ; and, on being admitted to an audience of Alexander, the abbot of Evesham stoutly repeated this declaration. The Pope was found more reasonable than his cardinals, and the envoys returned with the pall, which their master received with the greatest reverence, going forth barefooted to meet them, and prostrating himself before the mystic symbol of his new dignity* The promotion of Becket to the archbishopric was followed, as every reader knows, by a change in his manner of life ; but there are questions as to the nature of this change : What was its extent, and how was it managed? It is commonly supposed to have been something extremely sudden, violent, and conspicuous ; that Becket had hitherto been altogether a man of the world in appearance, and now all at once threw himself into a course of ostentatious asceticism. The late apo- logists, on the other hand, endeavour to prove that this is an exaggeration in both ways ; that, while Chan- cellor, he showed a becoming sense of his duties as an • Gamier, r 60*-1* ; Fitzst. (202), ■who gives an interpretation of its mysteries : — " Duse linese propen- dentes sunt dua? leges," &c. " F.insi i vint Thomas senz dun e senz pechie ; Ni ad pur ceo denier ne or ne argent bailli<5. Essample i deiuent prendre li successur del sie\" — Gamier, 61. A.D. 1162. CHANGE OF LIFE. 49 ecclesiastic, and his life was pure to a degree then un- usual ; that the alteration of his habits was gradual, and was carefully guarded from everything that might savour of ostentation. The scorn and indignation bestowed by these apo- logists on the writers who have chimed in with the popular belief and have assisted in propagating it, appear to us somewhat unfair. For the Becket of the popular belief — whether true or false — is in this respect no invention of Fox, or Lyttelton, or Hume, or Pin- nock's ' Catechism,' or Exeter Hall. He is a tradition derived from his admirers of the days before the Eeformation, and it is on them that the falsification of his character — if such falsification there has been — ought, in all reason and justice, to be charged. With them originated not only that idea as to the fashion of their hero's sanctity which is so offensive to Protestant tastes, but the representation of his change as startling and abrupt ; for it is not among Protestants only that the most violent " conversion " is most congenial to the spirit of vulgar religionism. Even in the contemporary biographers and panegyrists there is language which might seem to intimate such a change,* although their more particular details may serve to correct our interpre- » E. g. : Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 323. — " Consecratus autem, statim voterem exuit hominem, cilicium et raonachum induit." Will. Cant., il>. ii. 5. — " Tanquam jam transforma- tus in virum alterum." Herb., ib. vii. 38. — " Tanquam veteris hominis indumento rejecta purpura, sicut corpore et mente exivit aulam, exuit purpuram, et cilicium induit, novum novi hominis habitum," &c. (The accusative after exeo is usual in mediaeval Latin : indeed it is not without classical examples. See Facciolati. But Dr. Giles seems to be wrong in reading exivit twice.) Cf. Grim, 16, 18-9, and other bio- graphers. E 50 LIFE OF BFCKET. Chap. IV. tation of it. But when Thomas of Canterbury was raised to the rank of a saint, he became, according to the principles of those days, a subject on which the fancy might piously expatiate without regard to the actual facts of his story . a Imaginary adventures were then ascribed to him — nay, as we have seen, even his birth, like that of some old heathen demigod, had a romantic fable connected with it. The accounts of his life were embellished with a profusion of miracles, his character was idealised at will, and that which is now treated by some as a slander of his enemies was, in truth, the expression of the reverence of his devotees. It was his admirers — even his contemporary admirers — who dwelt on the particulars of his mortifications, without marking the process by which he may have gradually increased them. It was they who insisted on the frequent dis- cipline, on the shirt of hair, with its verminous popu- lation, hourly inflicting on the saint a torment in comparison of which the sufferings of his martyrdom were but a trifle. b The suddenness of his change was » " Je dirai en passant," says Bayle, "que les fictions des anciens seraient un peu plus supportables qu'elles ne le sont s'ils s'e'taient donue' la peine de ne pas tant se contredire les uns les autres ; mais il parait qu'ils ont regarde leur histoire fabuleuse comme un pays ou chacun faisait ce qu'il lui plaisait, sans de'pendance d'au- trui" (Art. Achille, p. 159, ed. Paris, 1820). This is spoken of the Pagan mythology, but is equally applicable to the subject before us. b " Cilicium sic bestiunculis obsitum ut levius isto pristinaj diei [i.e. the day of the murder] martyrium quivis judicaret, et hostes majores minoribus minus nocuisse " (Grim, 82 ; cf. Gamier, 102, 156; Fitzst., 203). Mr. Froude, who had before him no other early authority for the ver- min than Fitzstephen, declares that he " sees no adequate proof" of it (564). But even if Fitzstephen were a false witness, and unsup- ported by others, the fact is not to A.D. 1162. CHANGE OF LIFE. 51 even enshrined as a glorious fact in narratives which became a part of the service of the Church. a In short, the ostentation of his severities is the only part of the prevailing idea which is to be referred to the moderns as its authors ; and this is rather an inference (surely of a very colourable kind) than an invention. The popular notion, however, is considerably wrong. What Becket's more private habits had been in the days of his Chancellorship, we cannot very positively say. He was, we are told (and we may easily bebeve it), munificent in his almsgiving, as in his other ex- penditure. 11 His chastity has been impeached, but (the biographers assure us) unjustly, and various stories are told in his purgation. 0 As to this, indeed, it would seem, from the statement of one friend, that the most secular period of his life, the Chancellorship, was more blameless than some earlier portions of it ; d and it is said that, in the time of his splendour, he was in the habit of subjecting himself to constant bodily discipline, — Fitzstephen, for our conviction on this point, favouring be slurred over that Becket's con- in 1604, is, with the exception temporaries dwelt on this as a of some additions, identical with token of his sanctity. the Sarum Lessons. In another * Thus in a Lesson of the Sanun " Passion " we have the words Breviary, it was said " Consecra- which have been quoted in the tus, repente mutatus est in alium preceding note from Grim (S. T. virum. Cilicium clam induit," &c. C, ii. 160). (fol. xxxv., ed. Paris, 1533). Dr. j >> Eoger, 103; Gamier, 51*. Giles (S. T. C, ii. 9) and Mr. ! ' Grim, 13 ; Roger, 104 ; Fitzst., Buss (xx.) are not aware that 189 ; Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. a "Passion," which they suppose 320; Gamier, 52*. to have been first printed at Mentz [ d Fitzst., 189. E 2 52 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. us with the very names of the flagellators both at London and at Canterbury. 0, The Archbishop's life, however, was to be stricter than the Chancellor's. It is, indeed, a mistake to sup- pose that he renounced all outward pomp ; and when M. Thierry tells us that within a few days after his consecration he had "stripped off his rich attire, dis- furnished his sumptuous palace, broken with his noble familiars, and allied himself with the poor, the beggars, and the Saxons," b the misstatement in favour of the writer's theory is altogether ludicrous. What palace was it that Becket unfurnished? We may presume that his change of office involved a removal, and that he may have taken his furniture with him ; but if the meaning be that the archiepiscopal residence was in his time worse furnished or worse appointed than it had been during Theobald's primacy (which is the only meaning that would be relevant), we are amply assured of the contrary — that Thomas was more splendid in his establishment than any former archbishop ; and while it is true that he paid especial attention to the poor, and that twenty-six of this class daily fed in his hall, 0 the remainder of M. Thierry's statement appears to be pure invention. The Archbishop was, indeed, soon in- volved in quarrels with various nobles ; yet this was not from any enmity of Saxon against Norman, or of one class against another, but because these nobles, indi- ■ S. T. C, i. 190. b iii. 109. c Eoger, 111 ; Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 324 ; Anon. Lamb., 81. A.D. 1162. LIFE AS ARCHBISHOP. 53 vidually, interfered with wliat he regarded as the rights of his see ; and the mention of Saxons is here, as in many other passages of the French historian, a merely gratuitous insertion. Herbert of Bosham describes the order of the Arch- bishop's hall. Near him, on liis right, sat his clerks, who were generally selected for their learning ; on the left sat monks ; at some distance were placed the knights or other laymen, that their untaught ears might not be annoyed by the sound of the Latin books which were read aloud for the edification of the clergy.* Clerical guests were honourably entertained ; but with the ex- ception of such as the Archbishop desired especially to honour, they were not admitted to sit with the " eruditi." Throughout the time of dinner the Archbishop con- tinually had his eyes on all, and, if any one were placed too low, made up for the mistake by sending him portions of delicate food or drink from his own table. b Gold and sdver plate adorned the board ; the provisions were plen- tiful, and of the best quality ; c and so far was the Arch- bishop from limiting his company to beggars and Saxons, d that his enemies accused him of having about him " not men of religion (i. e. monks), but lettered nobles." e • Herb, in Quadril., 24. (Dr. Giles's MS. is defective here.) See Mapcs, de Nugis Curialium, 41. b Herb, in S. T. C, vii. 63, 71. c Roger, 111 ; Job. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 324. d " C'e'tait pour cux settlement que sa salle de festin e'tait ouverte, et son argent prodigue," says Thierry, iii. 109. e " Non religiosos, scd literatos nobiles." Nie. de Monte Rotho- mag. (master of a hospital at Mont St. Jacques, near Rouen ; see 'Hist. Litt. de la France,' xiii. 393-5) ap. Thorn. Epp. ii. 188. Mr. Fronde rather strangely renders this, " not persons remarkable for their reli. gion, but for their intellectual rank" (132). In opposition to this chargo 54 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. " All the gifts of grace in him," says Grim, " were so veiled by outward pride, that, even when he was Arch- bishop, one would have supposed him a man who lived for nothing but the pomp of this world." a His own habits were now severe : he slept little, and ate sparingly. As to his drink, some biographers tell us that it was water in which fennel had been boiled to render it unpalatable, 13 while others state that the cold- ness of his stomach rendered him unable to endure water, but that, " according to the admonition of the master and physician to his disciple " (1 Tim. v. 23), he drank wine in extremely small quantity ;° and we see no reason (except, indeed, the general untruthfulness of the early biographers) to doubt that his use of the cilice dated from the beginning of his archiepiscopate. His liberality in almsgiving is much insisted on by his con- temporaries : Theobald, it is said, doubled the regular alms of his predecessors, and Thomas doubled Theo- bald's. 11 When, however, it is stated, after much detail, ■we are told by John of Salisbury, " Religiosos viros tanta reverentia excipiebat, ut credi posset se in eis divinam prsesentiam aut angelos venerari " (S. T. C, i. 324) ; and monks are mentioned among those ■who daily fed at bis table (see Her- bert, as cited in p. 53 ; alsoFitzst., 204) ; but at least M. Thierry's statement is ridiculously incorrect. a 13. Dr. Giles reads accitasse, ■which, as the word is unknown, I have translated as if it were ex- titisse. b Fitzst, 203. Some say foenum instead of fceniculum — hay, instead of fennel. « Garnier, 102 ; Herbert, 70. Gamier tells us that, " pur le freit ventrail," he also " gengibre e girofre a puignies mangeit." " In cibis et potibus," says John of Salisbury, "medium tenuit, ne prorsus abstinens argueretur su- perstitiouis, aut immochce sumens crapula gravaretur " (S. T. C., i. 324). d Theobald's immediate prede- cessor, William of Corboil, was noted for his love of money. See the ' Gesta Stcphani,' ed. Sewell (Eng. Hist. Soc), p. 6. A.D. 1162. LIFE AS ARCHBISHOP. 55 that a tenth of his income sufficed for this quadrupled almsgiving," we cannot help drawing some inferences not quite consistent with that idea of mediaeval charity which is now generally current to the disparagement of our own. Rising at cock-crow, the Archbishop employed the beginning of his day in chanting the appropriate office : he confessed his sins, and received a flagellation, which was repeated thrice or oftener during the day. b He then gave some time to the study of Scripture, in com- pany with Herbert or some other one of his clerks ; 0 after which he shut himself up from all access until nine o'clock, when he proceeded to hear or celebrate mass. Unlike some priests, who, according to Herbert, thought to show their piety by lengthening out this service, he was rapid in his celebration, in proportion to the eager- ness of his devotion ; and such was his emotion that he wept and sighed profusely, as if the very sacrifice of the cross were before his eyes. d After leaving the chapel he took his seat in his court, where he astonished the suitors by refusing all presents except such as he could not with decency decline ; e and in judicial or other busi- ness the remaining hours of the forenoon were em- ployed ; f while throughout the day all the time which a Buss says, " wozu er alle seine Zehnten verwandte " (187), as if he gave, not a tentli of his income, but all that he received from tithes (which would probably have been more) ; and Mr. Morris (08) makes the same statement ; but, although Roger (110) seems to countenance this, Fitzstephen (S. T. C, i. 204;, John of Salisbury (ib. 324), and the Lambeth biographer (ib. ii. 82) are clear on the other side. b Herb., 43 ; Grim, C3. c Herb., 43. d Herb., 52 ; Joh. Sarish., 323. c Herb., 53-8. f Anon. Lamb., 80. 56 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. could be spared from necessary engagements was given up to study, or to conversation with bis cbaplains. a Mucb is said (as we bave already intimated) of tbe pains wlricb Becket took to conceal his sanctity. Fitz- stepben, while he represents him as drinking nothing but fennel water, tells us that he put the wine-cup to his lips before it was passed round. 1 ' The dishes served up to him were of the most delicate kind, and his abstinence, in order that it might escape notice, was exercised not in the matter of quality, but of quantity. Herbert relates a story of a stranger monk, who was one day observed to smile at the daintiness of his entertainer's food. " If I mistake not, brother," said the Archbishop, somewhat nettled, " there is more greediness in your eating of your beans than in my eating of this pheasant ;" and the biographer goes on to say that the monk, although he did not care for delicacies, to which he had not been accustomed, was noted, during his stay at Canterbury, as " in good sooth a greedy devourer of coarser things." c A similar concealment was practised in the matter of dress. " He wished," says Grim, " to avoid men's eyes, until the new plant which Divine grace had set in his breast should be more deeply rooted, so that it need not fear the blasts of the world ; and therefore he did not at once change his attire." d It was not until ■ Anon. Lamb., 80. b 203. c 68. St. Augustine says that from the case of Esau's mess of pottage we learn " in vescendo, non cibi genere sed aviditate im- moderata quemque culpandum " (De Civ. Dei, xvi. 37). Compare the Greek Life of Theodore the Studite, ap. Sirmond. Opera, v. 8. d 16. A.D. 1 1(32. LIFE AS ARCHBISHOP. 57 one of the Canterbury monks had been charged in a dream to warn him against retaining a secular dress, and until he found that niurniurs were excited by his wearing it in the choir, that he assumed another kabit. a " His outward appearance," says Fitzstephen, b " was like the multitude, but within all things were otherwise." And Herbert tells us that liis dress was gay during the first year, and afterwards respectable and grave, " so that, as one saith, there shoidd neither be an affected shabbiness nor an elaborate finery." c Over the cilice (which, for the sake of cleanliness/ 1 was changed once in forty days) he wore a monastic habit, as head of the community of Christchurch and for the sake of likeness to Ins predecessors, who, with very few exceptions, had been monks by profession ; e and above this the dress of a canon, that he might be in conformity with his clerks/ a Gamier, 59; Roger, 110-1. b 203 : cf. Joh. Sarisb., 323 ; Anon. Lamb., 81. c " Ita ut nec exquisitae essent sordes, nec affectat® delicis " (Herb., 41). This comes origin- ally from St. Jerome (ad Eustoch. Ep. xxii. 37, ed. Vallarsi, " Nec affectatse sordes nec exquisitaj munditise conveniunt Christiano ') ; but Herbert probably got the quo- tation through the medium of Gratian (Dist., xli. 1), who reads delicix for munditix, and then him- self interchanged the epithets for the worse. d " Pur vera et pur suur," Gar- nier, 103. ' Gamier, 59-GO ; W. Cant., 5 ; Orderic. Vital., xii. 16 (Patrol., clxxxviii. 897) ; Eadmer, Hist. Nov. 1 v. (ib., clix. 489) ; W. Malmesb. i Gesta Poutif. (ib., clxxix. 1505). Two of the exceptions were noted as of evil omen : Elfsiu, who is said to have been chosen after the death of Odo, and to have been frozen to death in the Alps when on his way to ask for the pall at Rome ; and Stigand, who was ir- regularly appointed under Edward the Confessor, and deprived after ] the Conquest (Will. Cant., 1. c). Another was William of Corboil, as to whose election see Sym. Dunelm. a.d. 1123. f Fitzst., 203. Fuller speaks of his " clothes built three stories high." (Ch. Hist. b. iii., p. 312, cd. Nichols.) The whole subject 58 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IV. In almsgiving, too, he is said to have carefully studied secrecy. In addition to those deeds of mercy which might be done befoi'e men without any especial profes- sion of sanctity, he had, we are told, thirteen poor men daily introduced into his apartment at the hour when they were least likely to be observed — usually before daybreak, immediately after his earliest devotions. He washed and kissed their feet, regaled them with a plen- tiful meal, at which he himself waited on them, and sent them away with a present of four pieces of silver to each." We must think that this last part of the story throws suspicion on all the rest. The dady taking-in of beggars, foot-washing, feeding, and giving of money, could not be carried on without becoming known. " The fame of them," says Lord Lyttelton, " was increased by the affectation of secrecy ;" b and such must have been the consequence, whether it were intended or otherwise. And in all likelihood some part of the other observances must have also got abroad. It might be, indeed, that no one but the saint's confessor or his chamberlain saw his shirt of hair while he lived ; c but might not whispers of it be spread by the one or two persons who were in the secret ? Nay, might not credit have been given to him for such mortifications out of mere surmise? Other saints had been discovered to have practised secret austerities : what more probable than that the like should of Becket's dress is treated by Mr. Morris with an enviable so- lemnity, 65. ■ Fitzst., 204 ; Job. Sarisb., 324 ; Herb., 43 ; Anon. Lamb., 81. b ii. 342. c Garnier, 103. A.D. 1162. LIFE AS ARCHBISHOP. 59 be assumed, even without any evidence, by a religious party as to one whom it was disposed to look up to ? a But was the Archbishop in all this acting the part of a hypocrite ? We believe nothing of the kind. " " Quando in Sanctis vtiis I nolint, cuncta produntur." Sulp. latent ista, quasrentibus, velint | Severus, Dial. ii. 1, fin. 60 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. CHAPTER V. THE BEGINNING OF TKOTJBLES. — a.d. 1162-3. We have seen that Archbishop Theobald and his episcopal advisers, in introducing Becket to the Court of Henry, aimed at securing the interest of the Church by means of the influence which they expected him to acquire over the King ; and some of the biographers tell us that he always kept this object in view. They repre- sent him, during his Chancellorship, as doing all that in prudence he could do to check the tendency to aggression and encroachment ; as continually averting measures which were intended against the Church, and as becoming an unwilling instrument in such measures of this kind as he could not prevent, in order that by getting the execution of them into his own hands he might render them less oppressive to his brethren than they would otherwise have been. 8 But, however this may be, it is certain that he showed no outward sign of unwillingness to take part in the King's proceedings — nay, that he was generally regarded as the instigator of them. In the war of Toulouse, especially, he was sup- posed to have advised the imposition of a peculiarly a Eoger, 101-2 ; Anon. Lambeth., 79 ; Gamier, 53*. " Ut furor illorum [Aulicorum] mitescat, dissimulare Multa solet, simulat quod sit et ipse furens; Omnibus omnia fit, specie tenus induit hostem," &c. — Job. Sarisb., Entbetic, 1437, seqq. A.D. 1162. CHANGE OF POLICY. 61 heavy tax on the clergy ; and so secret was the fact of his having been really adverse to it, that Foliot after- wards charged him with having " plunged a sword into the bowels of his mother the Church " by the exaction,* and Bartholomew, Bishop of Exeter, was not aware of the real state of the matter until informed of it by John of Salisbury in 1166. b In another case, where the abbot of Battle, in reliance on a charter of William the Conqueror, denied the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Chichester, the Chancellor, in delivering the judgment of a great assembly, before which the question was tried, had strongly asserted the royal prerogative in such matters against the Bishop's references to the authority of the Pope. 0 He had been noted, according to John of Salisbury, as a "despiser of the clergy," d and such, on the whole, was the character which he had established, that Foliot, at his election to the arch- bishopric, objected to him as "a persecutor and de- stroyer of holy Church ;" while the Bishop of Win- ■ Ep. 194, p. 2G9. b Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 145. Mr. Froude ascribes Becket's conduct in this affair to the eagerness of his character, which disposed him to take any means which seemed readiest to raise funds for " a war which he had begun with suc- cess " (579). But this view is un- known alike to the assailants and to the defenders of the Arch- bishop's character in his own age. Is there any ground for supposing that the exaction was made after the beginning of the war ? Lord Lytteltonis certainly wrong (ii. 137) in supposing a letter of Theobald (Ep. Joh. Sarisb., 49) to relate to this matter, and to be a censure on Becket. See Lappenberg in Pauli, iii. 22-3 ; and for Theobald's rela- tions with Becket, Joh. Sarisb., Epp. 71, 78. c ' Cnronicon Monasterii de Bello,' published by the ' Anglia Christiana ' Society, Lond., 1846, pp. 91-2, 98. See Appendix VII. d See above, p. 37. 62 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. cliester had only been able to reply by expressing a hope that the wolf would be turned into a shepherd of Christ's sheep — the persecuting Saul into a Paul. a In procuring the Chancellor's elevation to the primacy, Henry, no doubt, supposed that he should continue to find him a ready instrument of his will, especially in matters relating to the Church. 6 Becket is said, indeed, as we have seen, to have declared that, if the promotion should take place, his friendship with the King would be changed into hostility ; but it is certain that, whether from the manner in which the words were spoken, or from whatever other reason, Henry did not believe them, and went on without any apprehension to carry through the promotion of his favourite. His surprise, therefore, was great at receiving from the new Archbishop a request that he would pro- vide himself with another Chancellor. 0 What was the motive of this? The office of Chancellor was not regarded as incompatible with that of a bishop, either on account of its nature or on account of the labour attached to it. Bishops and archbishops had held it before, and were to hold it in later times, and the same conjunction of offices was customary in other countries, * Gamier, 57*. | C, ii. 5) that the interval was b Grim, 13 ; Fitzst., 202. | longer, and Eobert of Gloucester " E quida k'l seuist [servist ?] partut ses I represents him as keeping the volentez."— tfamier, 55*. , Chancellorship, and continuing c The precise time of this is - to enjoy the royal fav our, until uncertain, but it was very soon ■• Lute and lute the contek aros for porS after the consecration (see Eog. manes rizte," Wendover, ii. 293 ; Fosh, i. 202 ; in the matter of the taillage or Pauli, 33); although Buss infers Danegelt, which will be mentioned from William of Canterbury (S. T. i hereafter (15-7). a.d. 1162. RESIGNATION OF THE CHANCELLORSHIP. 63 — the Archbishops of - Mentz and Cologne being at that very time, as Henry was aware, Chancellors of Ger- many and Italy respectively. 11 The chancellorship must, indeed, from a regard to decency, have been less splendid and martial in the hands of the Arch- bishop than it had been in those of the Archdeacon ; but there was nothing in its proper duties which might not very well be reconciled with his new functions. And, at least, if the offices were incom- patible, the time for declaring them so was ill-chosen, unless it were intended to bear a peculiar significance. On the one hand, Becket might have stated his con- viction before the King had taken the irrevocable step of raising him to the primacy ; or, on the other hand, he might have waited until he should be able to say from sufficient experience that one man could not perform, or ought not to combine, the two duties. The resignation was, in truth, nothing less than a declaration of what M. Michelet styles " the incurable duality of the middle ages, distracted between religion and the State." b The Archbishop could no longer serve the King as Iris officer : he must take up a position of his own. c Henry could not * Diceto, 534. (This and other passages are printed by Dr. Giles from a MS. in the British Museum, ■without being aware that they are from Diceto.) Alexander IIT. desired a bishop of Soissons to re- sign the chancellorship of France, on the ground that it was incom- patible with the care of his diocese (Ep. 882, Patrol, cc.) ; but this was in 1171, after Becket's death. b Hist, de France, iii. 167. c Dr. Lingard's remark here is hardly in keeping with his usual care to abstain from the more vulgar sort of fallacies : " A more certain path would certainly have offered itself to ambition. By con- tinuing to flatter the King's wishes, and by uniting in himself the offices of Chancellor and Arch- bishop, he might, in all proba- 64 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. but feel that lie was deceived. Not a word Lad the Chancellor breathed as to retiring from his service until by the King's earnest exertion he had been seated on the throne of Canterbury ; and then all at once the " duality " was proclaimed. Becket was no longer the servant of the Crown, but purely the representative of the Church ; he was independent of the King ; he might become his antagonist, and this seemed very like a preparation for coming out as such. While, however, he was so eager to divest himself of the Chancellorship, he was in no hurry to give up another preferment which to many eyes appeared less reconcilable with his new dignity — the archdeaconry of his own diocese ; nor was it until after much delay, and much urgency on the King's part, that he was persuaded to resign it. The panegyrical biographers in general omit this passage of the story, and the apologists of our own day appear to find it somewhat of a difficulty. "This," says Dr. Giles, "is another point of which modern historians have availed themselves to malign his character ; but the account of it is so meagre that it may be difficult to ascribe to the affair its true cha- racter." a But why, we may ask, is the account so meagre ? And if the reason of this be that the eulo- gists of Becket thought it well to suppress all notice of the affair, we cannot quite agree with Dr. Giles in inferring that therefore the Archbishop's behaviour was bility, have ruled without control both in Church and State " (ii. 118). But ambition is a perverse thing ! a Life and Letters of Becket, i. 135. A.D. 1162. BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 65 blameless. The fact may possibly have been, as Arch- deacon Churton states' in his valuable little work on our early Church history, that Becket was actuated solely by unwillingness "to appoint a friend of the King's to be Archdeacon of Canterbury." a Certain it is that Geoffrey Ridel, the person eventually appointed, was a friend of Henry, and proved to be an opponent of the Archbishop. 6 But we cannot think that Archdeacon Churton's is the necessary construction of the passage in Diceto, who, without saying anything of Bidel, or of the King's wish to recommend him, merely tells us that Becket for a time put off his resignation of the archdeaconry, and then " at length handed it over, as the King desired." c But, on the other hand, we do not believe, with Mr. Sharon Turner, that a love of the emoluments attached to the office was his motive, or even one of his motives, for wishing to retain it. The Archbishop's next acts were of a nature to stir up numerous and powerful enemies against him. Many of the possessions of his see had been alienated to lay hands, and these he determined to resume, — in order, according to Grim, that he might be able to increase liis charities/ but more probably with a view of asserting the rights of his office to the full extent in which he conceived them. The alienation had most likely been in many cases wrongful and informal, and, if so, there were courts to which an appeal might have been made " 1st ed., p. 343. b See Appendix VIII. c " Transtulit tandem sicut rex petiit" (Col. 534). Wendover speaks of Eidel as one of Beekefs chaplains (" clerico suo "), ii. 297. d p. 19. 66 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. for redress — as Lanfranc had recovered many manors for the see from Odo of Bayeux, who had seized them as Earl of Kent. a But Becket was at no time fond of quiet and tardy measures ; he proceeded at once, hy main force, to oust the farmers and seize the lands, declaring that no one had any right to call him to account for such acts. b If it be true, as Fitzstephen says, that he had fortified himself with the King's per- mission before entering on these proceedings, 0 there can at least be no doubt that the licence was used in a manner which Henry had not anticipated ; and there was no want of unfriendly whisperers to inflame his mind against the Archbishop. It was said that Becket had spoken disrespectfully of Henry's youth, levity, and violent temper ; that he had boasted of his own ascend- ency over the King ; d and all his actions were repre- sented in the most invidious light. " The ungodly," says John of Salisbury, " strove by their malicious interpretations to darken the change which the right hand of the Most High had wrought, ascribing it to superstition that he led a straiter life. His zeal for justice they traduced as cruelty; his care for the interests of the Church they attributed to covetousness ; his contempt of worldly favour they styled a hunting after glory ; his courtly splendour was falsely called pride. That he followed the will which had been taught him from above, was branded as a mark of arrogance ; that in the maintenance of his right he often seemed ■ Gervase, 1G55. b Herb., 85. c S. T. C, i. 208. d Arnulf. ap. Lupum, Ep. i. 85, p. 126 ; Grim, 20. A.D. 1162. BEGINNING OF TROUBLES. 67 to go beyond the bounds of his predecessors, was held to be a token of foolbardiness. Nothing could now be said or done by him without being perverted by the malice of the wicked, insomuch that they even per- suaded the King that, if the Archbishop's power should go forward, the royal dignity would assuredly be brought to nought — that, unless he looked to it for himself and his heirs, the Crown would be at the disposal of the clergy, and kings woidd reign only so long as the arch- bishop should please." a At Christmas, 1162, the Archbishop, accompanied by Prince Henry, who was still under his charge, went to Southampton for the purpose of meeting the King on his landing in Euglaud. The accounts of their inter- view are very contradictory. One of the old writers represents Henry's behaviour as extremely cordial ; b another speaks of it as showing, by its coolness, that the days of Becket's favour were over ;° while a third tells us tbat the King concealed his real feelings towards him under a show of great respect and affection.' 1 Nor are the moderns better agreed in their accounts of the meeting ; for while Dr. Giles assures us tbat Henry was gratified by finding that his nominee was in high repute for piety, we are told by M. Thierry that he put on an air of contempt " at seeing, in a monk's frock, the man whom he had made so much of when attired as a Norman courtier, with dagger at his side, plumed cap on his head, and shoes with their long points turned • S. T. C, i. 37G-7 : cf. Gerv., 1G70; Fitzst., 207-8 ; Anon. Lamb., 83. b Herb., i. 87. c Diceto, col. 134. d Anon. Lamb., 84. F 2 68 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. back, like rams' horns."" And the reports of the impression which the meeting made on those who witnessed it are naturally no less difficult to reconcile. But whatever Henry's demeanour at Southampton may have been, he still left his heir-apparent in the Arch- bishop's hands ; and when Becket, on preparing to set out for the Council of Tours, a few months later, resigned the charge of his royal pupil, it is said by Herbert that he spent some days with the King on terms of the most friendly intercourse. b At Tours, an assembly of seventeen cardinals, a hundred and twenty-four bishops, and four hundred and fourteen abbots, met in Whitsun week, 1163, under the presidency of Pope Alexander III., 0 to declare in his behalf against Cardinal Octavian, who in 1159 had been elected in opposition to Alexander, and, under the name of Victor IV., was acknowledged as Pope by the Em- peror Frederick Barbarossa. Throughout his journey to this council the Archbishop of Canterbury was every- where received with honours such as were usually paid to a sovereign. On the announcement of his approach to Tours, a multitude of prelates, clergy, and laity flocked forth to meet him. He was received outside the gates by all the cardinals except two, whom the Pope retained for the sake of form ; and on his entering the palace in which Alexander was lodged, the Pope himself, " who scarce riseth up to any one," left his private apartment and received him in the hall. At the sessions of the * iii. 110. — There is a learned France.' history of this fashion as to shoes b Herb., 88. in the Introduction to vol. xvi. of c Hardouin, Concilia, VI. ii. the 'Eecueil des Historiens de la 1596, 1601. A.D. 1163. COUNCIL OF TOURS. 69 council he was placed on the Pope's right hand, so as to hold precedence of all other archbishops ; and his lodging was thronged by ecclesiastics and nobles eager to pay their court to hirn. a It is said by William of Newburgh b that on this occasion he resigned liis archbishopric into the Pope's hands, on the ground of having been irregu- larly advanced to the dignity, and that Alexander gra- ciously restored it ; but if such a resignation ever took place, it was, as we shall see hereafter, most probably at a later time. 0 An attempt which the Archbishop made to procure the canonization of his predecessor Anselm was but imper- fectly successful.* 1 There is a letter of Alexander to him, stating that the canonization of Anselm had been de- ferred at the councd on account of the multitude of similar claims, but desiriug him to lay the matter before the English bishops, and leaving it to their decision. 6 Perhaps the Euglish bishops were not disposed to proceed with the canonization of a prelate whose enrolment in the catalogue of saints must at that time have seemed less a homage to his unquestionable merits than a con- secration of resistance to the temporal power ; or, indeed, the troubles which so speedily followed are enough to account for the abandonment of the attempt. But, from whatever reason, the canonization of Anselm was de- ■ Herb., 88-90 ; Hardouin, VI. ii. 1601-2 ; lleuter, i. 332. b ii. 10. ■ Sue Baron., 1103, 18; Pauli, 34. Professor Reuter, however, believes that such a scene took place at Tours (i. 330 ). d It was in support of this that John of Salisbury drew up bis Life of Anselm, abridged from Eadmer, and embellished with ad- ditional miracles. ■ Alex. ap. Foliot, Ep. 337. 70 LIFE OF BECKET. ■ Chap. V. layed until the reign of Henry VII., when it was decreed by Alexander VI., at the instance of Cardinal Morton.* Becket returned from Tours with a confirmation of the privileges of his see, b and perhaps with a mind somewhat inflamed by a discourse in which Arnulf of Lisieux had asserted the unity and independence of the Church c — although, in his denunciation of secular "tyrants," the politic orator had probably meant only to point at the Emperor and his allies, and had certainly not intended to endanger his own relations with King Henry. But that his later course of proceedings had been concerted at Tours with Alexander/ is an idea which must seem very improbable, if we consider how undesirable any breach with the sovereign of England and of half the territory of France must then have appeared to an exiled Pope. Ever since the Archbishop's elevation, attempts had been actively carried on to influence the King against him ; and soon after his return from Tours some things fell out which might have sufficed to provoke Henry, even without any commentary from the whisperers of the court. It was apparently about this time that, in preaching before the King, he descanted on the " bound- less " superiority of ecclesiastical to secular power in a » The bull, dated 1494, is in Wilkins (iii. 641). Mr. Morris (who, by the way, supposes He my the Sixth to have been king in 1494) tells us that additional ho- nours were bestowed on St. Ansclm in 1720 by Clement XI. " at the prayer of King James IH." ! (p. 412). "> Herb., 90. 0 Johnson, Canons, ii. 48, ed. Ang. Cath. Lib. The speech may be found in the Concilia, or hi Patrol, cci. d As is said by Carte, ii. 579, and by Inett, ii. 239. a.d. 1163. THE ARCHBISHOP'S CLAIMS. 71 style which not unnaturally startled a prince among whose predecessors and relatives the Hildebrandine doctrine as to such matters had never found much ac- ceptance ; a and the view which the Primate took of his own position and of the rights of the clergy was soon amply illustrated. Of the cases in which he attempted a resumption of property which had belonged to his see, b the most remarkable were two connected with grants from the Crown. In one of these cases the Archbishop claimed the custody of Rochester Castle, on the ground that it had been bestowed on one of his predecessors ;° in the other he required Roger, Earl of Clare, to do him homage for the castle and " lowy " of Tunbridge, although the Earl's family had held it of the Crown for almost a century, having originally acquired it from the Conqueror in exchange for the castle of Brionne, in Normandy. 11 ■ See Roger, 112 ; Anon. Lamb., 85-6. b Carte supposes that his pro- ceedings were grounded on the thin 1 canon of Tours, which was di- rected against the alienation of Church property (i. 570 ) ; but the abuses denounced in that canon {" Siquis laico in sseculo reraanenti ecclesiam, decimam, ob- lationerave eonccsserit ") appear to be of a different kind from those which Becket attacked. c By William the Conqueror, according to Herbert, 86 ; but the grant seems rather to have been made by Henry I. in 1126 ^Flor. Vigorn. Contin., ii. 85). d Fitzst., 208; Herb., 86; Di- ceto, 536; Gervase, 1384; Wen- clover, ii. 298. I have followed Diceto and Gervase in placing these claims after the Council of Tours. It is said that the domain round Brionne was measured with a rope, and that, the rope being brought to England, a like circuit was measured with it round Tun- bridge (Guil. Gcmetic. contin. ap. Bouquet, xii. 575). Lotey = leucu or leuga, "qua3 vulgo banleuga, dicitur, sive, ut dicam Latinius, bunnum leugx," says Herbert, 86. " Leuga, quae vulgo bailie vocatur" (Gervas. 1670). See Camden's ' Britannia,' transl. by Holland, Lond. 1610, p. 350; Hasted, 'Hist, of Kent,' ii. 308, folio edit. 72 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. These two cases, so curiously contrasted, gave indications of an alarming principle, which indeed the Archbishop was not unwilling openly to avow. Everything that had ever been given to the Church was to be claimed, while nothing that had been parted with was to be abandoned ; and documents were to be reckoned valid or worthless, according as they made for or against the ecclesiastical claims. Nobles and knights, nay, the King himself, began to feel themselves insecure in their possessions, while the chaplains of the court, and other clergy who depended on lay patrons, trembled lest they should be ejected from their preferments." About the same time a quarrel arose as to the church of Eynesford. The Archbishop, considering himself entitled to the patronage of all churches situated on estates held under his see, presented a clerk named Laurence to Eynesford ; whereupon William, the lord of the place, " objecting to the right of nomination, ex- pelled Laurence's people," b and for this the Archbishop excommunicated him. It would seem not only that William believed himself to be in the right, but that he really was so, as the Church of Canterbury afterwards ac- cepted the advowson of Eynesford by way of donation from him; c while, even if the Archbishop's title to the patronage had been better founded than it appears to have been, it had at least been long dormant. 11 And, lest we should be too » Grim, 20. b FitzBt., 208 ; Giles, ' Life and Letters,' i. 1G2-3. See Hasted's ' Kent,' i. 300. c See Gervase, 1G75 ; Carte, i. 580. d The Archbishops were very ready to claim patronage which did not belong to them. Thus, Fitzstephen, in relating this, says A.D. 11C4. WILLIAM OF EYNESFORD. 73 much shocked at the violence of William's proceedings, it ought to be remembered that not only were they in the usual style of the rough-handed barons of that age, but that the Primate himself had just given examples of precisely similar violence in cases of disputed possession. William was a tenant of the King as well as of the Arch- bishop ; and, when excommunicated by one of his feudal superiors, he appealed to the other. On this Henry ordered Becket to recall his excommunication, reminding him that, according to a principle established by William the Conqueror, 3 the tenants-in-chief of the Crown ought not to be excommunicated without the Sovereign's leave." The Archbishop for a time stood on his rights, declaring that the King had nothing to do with such spiritual matters as excommunication or absolution ; and although at length, on finding that the King was very angry, he agreed to do as was required, the concession was so un- gracious that Henry exclaimed, "Now I owe him no thanks for it." c In another case the Primate appeared as a sort of Hampden. The King, in a council at Woodstock, pro- posed to add to his revenue certain moneys which had been customarily paid to the sheriffs throughout England that they were patrons of the churches on the estates of their monks, as well as of their barons ; but in the case of churches founded ! by the monks this was an usurpa- tion of Theobald ; and although Becket, in accordance with his usual policy, retained it, his successor, Itichard, was obliged to give it up. See Gervase, 10G7, 1675. * Eadincr, Hist. Novorum, c. 1. (Patrol., clix. 352.) b Lest, it was said, the King should, unawares, communicate with excommunicate persons. Di- ceto, 53G. See Fuller, i. 2U9. c Fitzst., 209. 74 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. — a sum of two shillings on every hide of laud — and Becket stood forward to resist the proposal. 8. The money, he said, was not paid as a due, but voluntarily ; it might be refused if the sheriffs and their officers should behave improperly, or should fail to perform their duty in the defence and police of the country, and therefore must not be reckoned as part of the royal revenue. " By God's eyes," said Henry, furiously, "it shall be paid as revenue, and registered in the King's books ! " " By those same eyes," answered Becket, " so long as I live no such payment shall be made from all my lands, and not a penny of the Church's right ! " By this opposition the project was defeated ; and so, says Grim, the King was led, out of resentment on account of the Archbishop's behaviour, to turn his anger against the clergy. 6 He was not long without a very fair pretext for inter- fering with them. A number of outrages had lately been perpetrated by members of the clerical body. It was said that more than a hundred murders had been committed by clerks since the beginning of Henry's reign ; c and, without insisting on the exact statistical accuracy of this statement (which Dr. Lingard d thinks it worth while to assail), we have abundant evidence that the " disorderly manners of men in orders " e — " mur- derers, thieves, robbers, assassins, and practisers of other atrocities " — had become a crying nuisance. The eccle- siastical tribunals claimed exclusive jurisdiction over the a See Appendix IX. b Grim, 21-2 ; Koger, 113-4 ; Gamier, 65* ; W. Gaat., 6. " Will. Neubrig., ii. 16, p. 130. d ii. 127. e Grim, 34. A.D. 1163. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 75 clergy in cases of every kind ; and thus these " ton- sured' 1 demons, workmen of the devil, clerks in name only, but belonging to Satan's portion," were exempted from the judgment of the secular courts. The exemption extended to the minor orders, and hence there had grown up a prodigious multitude of " acephalous " b clerks, without title, duty, or settled abode, who led a roving, disreputable life, and were ready for any violence. The question of the clerical immunities had come before Henry immediately after his accession to the Crown. Osbert, Archdeacon of York, had been charged with having administered poison in the eucharistic cup to his Archbishop, William ; and King Stephen, not- withstanding the strenuous opposition of Archbishop Theobald and his brethren, had insisted that a charge of such atrocity should be investigated in the secular court. Before a trial could take place, however, Stephen was succeeded by Henry, whereupon the prelates took ad- vantage of the newness of the young King's power to wrest the cause out of his hands and assert the right of the Church to judge it. The indignation of the King and his nobles is described by Theobald himself as ex- cessive ; nor was the sequel of the affair likely to mitigate it. The accuser was unable to establish the charge — rather, it would seem, in consequence of the technical difficulties interposed by the ecclesiastical law than of any substantial defect in his case — and the Bishops * " Coronatoram," Herb, in Quadril., 33. Dr. Giles reads " earaeterizatorum " \_Qy. "eaute- rizatorum?"] (Herb., 102.) b Literally headless, — so called as being subject to no superior. 76 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. decided that the accused should submit to canonical purgation ; whereupon he declared that he preferred to clear himself " in the face of the Roman Church " rather than in England/ Such an affair, in which an eccle- siastic accused of a very serious crime was not only able to withdraw from secular justice, but escaped conviction in the spiritual court through the peculiarities of the canon law as to evidence, and eventually removed his case to the judgment of a foreign potentate, must have strongly impressed on Henry's mind the inconvenience of the ecclesiastical immunities ; and the impression had been deepened by the experience of ten years. He wished to put an end to the disgraceful state of things which had arisen, by subjecting clerical offenders against the public peace to the same jurisdiction with other criminals, and, with a view to this, he now required that clerks accused of any outrage b should be tried in his own courts ; that, on conviction or confession, they should be degraded by the Church, and that they should then be remanded to the secular officers for the execution of the sentence which had been passed on them. 0 On the other hand the Archbishop, although unsupported by his • Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 122 (written in the name of Theobald to the Pope). " Rex Henrieus successit, de cujus manibus, vis cum summa difticul- tate, in manu valida, et cum indig- natione regis et omnium procerum, jam dictam causam ad examen ecclesiasticum revocavimus .... cum actor, secundum subtilitatem legum et canonum, accusationem non posset implere." In another letter (108) Theobald writes to the Pope : — " Osbertus Ebora- censis archidiaconus in purgatione defecit. Quisquis vobis suggesserit aliter, non credatis." b " In latrocinio, vel murdra, vel felonia, vel iniqua combus- tione, vel in his similibus.'' E. Hoveden, 282. c Fitzst, 209; Anon. Lamb., 88 ; Diceto, 537. A.D. 1163. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 77 brethren in general, who dreaded the risk of a breach with the State while the Church was divided by a schism, 3 considered himself bound to offer the most strenuous resistance to a proposal which tended to lessen the privileges of the hierarchy ; and on this quarrel the whole of the subsequent history turned. On the one side it was argued that the ecclesiastical discipline had been proved altogether insufficient to check the excesses of the clergy ; that there was no warrant in the Mosaic law for exempting them from the punishments to which other men were liable ; that the penalties of the spiritual courts were not fitted to deter persons inclined to offences of the kind in question. " Those," it was said, " would care little for a loss of orders " [the heaviest of all the spiritual sentences] " whom a regard for their orders could not restrain from the commission of such enormities. In proportion to their superior dignity and privileges, their criminality was greater than that of other men, and their punishment ought rather to be heavier than lighter. It would be a strange novelty in law, and a very new fashion of sanctity, if the privileges of the clergy should thus be made a screen for villanies by which the peace of kingdoms is disturbed, the justice of kings outraged, and all that is holy profaned." b The arguments on the other side were of various » Fitzst., 210. William of Can- terbury speaks of them as forget- ting that they " were set over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up the plantation of vices " (G) ; a strange representation of their de- clining to shelter criminals from justice ! b Herbert, 103-4, 109. 78 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. kinds. No one, it was said, ought to be twice punished for the same offence, — as clerks would be, if, in addition to degradation, they had to undergo the doom of the secular court. Clerks degraded for one offence would afterwards be in the condition of laymen, and liable to the usual punishments of laymen for future misde- meanors [so that they had only one life more than other men] : but degradation was the utmost that could be allowed for one crime, and by a clerk degradation must be felt as the heaviest of all punishments a — an assertion which had of late been abundantly disproved by experience. There were many references to Scripture, some of them strangely unfortunate. Thus the plea against visiting an offence with bodily as well as spiritual penalties was supported by the supposed authority of the prophet Nahum. b The arguments of this kind which seem most likely to have been effective were some which rested on a restriction to the clergy of words which would, in truth, have been equally applicable to all Christians — as where it was said that it would be shocking to touch the life or limbs of those for whom » Grim, 36 ; Fitzst., 210 ; Will. Cant., 12 ; Gamier, 27 ; Herb., vii. 106, &c. b " Dicit enim Naum propheta, Non judicabit Deusbisin idipsum." There are no such words in Nalmm, but they may perhaps be a reminiscence of i. 9, " Non con- surget duplex tribulatio," or of i. 12, " Afflixi te, et non affligam te ultra." In Job xxxiii. 14, we have " Semel loquitur Deus, et seeundo idipsum non repetit." But I have not been able to find the words in question, although St. Bernard also seems to refer to them as Scripture — " Deus judicari bis in idipsum, quod ipse non facit, pati- atur." Ep. cxxvi. 12. A.D. 1163. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 79 Christ had died. a In a like spirit, Becket insisted on the profanity of binding behind the back hands which had consecrated the Saviour's body b — an argument which, at best, would not have been available for any order below the priesthood, while it overlooked the cir- cumstance that the hands in question had not been exclusively devoted to sacramental acts, but had been the instruments of such crimes as robbery or murder. The main strength of the cause was probably sup- posed to lie in the department of ecclesiastical law- — a department more beyond the cognizance of ordinary persons than either reason or Scripture. We are told, however, that, even in that age, the King's demands were warranted by the advice of learned canonists and jurists ; c and we know (whether the uncritical twelfth century knew it or not) that the authorities on which the Archbishop relied were in reality altogether futile. " Gratian," says Fleury (and we must remember that Becket had probably been a hearer of Gratian at Bo- logna), " inserted in his ' Decretum ' novel maxims concerning the immunities of the clergy. In proof of this he cites several articles from the False Decretals, d and the pretended law of Theodosius, 6 adopted by ■ Grim, 34. h Herb., vii. 105. c "Quorundam fretus consilio utriusque juris ae habere peritiam ostentantium." Ib., 103. d It may be well to explain to some readers that these ' De- cretals ' were a great forgery, exe- cuted towards the middle of the ninth century, by which pretended letters of the early bishops of Rome were made to countenance the advanced pretensions of the hierarchy. e Rather read Constantine ; for the only connexion of the law with Theodosius is the circum- stance of its appearance in tho 80 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. Charlemagne/ "in order to extend excessively the j urisdiction of the bishops. With these he combines a mutilated article from a novel of Justinian, which, as a whole, says the very contrary. 1 " This constitution, how- ever, thus altered, was St. Thomas of Canterbury's chief ground for resisting the King of England with the firmness which drew on him persecution and mar- tyrdom." c Nothing, as appears to us, can be plainer than that the Archbishop's cause was decidedly wrong. d " My Lord," he is represented as having told Henry, " the Holy Church, who is the mother both of kings and of priests, hath two kings, two laws, two jurisdictions, and two controlling powers ;" e but his view as to the rights and functions of the two respectively shows a great encroachment of the spiritual on the secular. The true distinction would seem to be that the Church takes Theodosian Code (t. vi. p. 303, ed. Lugdun. 1665). In this law Con- stantine the Great is represented as enacting that one party in a suit might, without the consent of the other, carry it before the Bishop at any stage of the pro- ceedings. The law is generally regarded as spurious ; yet it has lately found defenders in Haenel and Walter (Kirchenr., 382). a See Fleury, xlvi. 8. This is in the spurious Capitularies of Bene- dict, lib. ii. 366 (Patrol, xcvii. 787). See Gieseler, II. i. 79-80 ; Hallam, Middle Ages, ed. 8, vol. i. 508, and Supplem. Notes, 183. b See Appendix X. c ' Diseours,' at the end of Hist. Eccl., liv. lxiv. (t. v. 5, ed. Paris, 1844) : cf. liv. lxxi. 6. d William of Newburgh plainly says that such was his opinion (ii. 16, pp. 130-3) ; nay, even Eoger of Pontigny (129) and Herbert of Bosham seem to have thought so, notwithstanding their devotion to Becket. Herbert does full justice to the King's motives. " Nothing can be more certain than that each had a zeal of God, the one for the people, the other for the clergy ; but which zeal was according to knowledge, it is not for fallible man, but for the God of know- ledge, to judge" (109). e Herb., 104. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 81 cognizance of misdeeds in their character of offences against God, while the State deals with them as offences against society. And the penalties inflicted by the two judicatures are properly different in their nature and in then object : the secular sentence exacting the forfeit which is due to society, while the spiritual sentence does not indeed pretend to clear the sinner's account with God, but aims at disposing him to seek the Divine for- giveness by hearty inward penitence. In cases where secular law could not reach, or did not care to prose- cute, an offence, the ecclesiastical judgment might be enough ; but, where secular law put in a claim, the Church had no right to bar this claim, inasmuch as the offence, under different aspects, was liable to both laws. In the times with which we are concerned, the spiritual courts had taken it on themselves to inflict such penalties as imprisonment in a monastery, banishment under the name of pilgrimage, and forfeiture of money or other property ; a and when it was objected that these punishments were not ecclesiastical but civil, Becket replied that the Church represented Him to whom the earth and the fulness thereof belong — that there can be no limits to the punishments of that King whose power is infinite. b But it seems evident that such pre- tensions could not safely be admitted ; that bishops could have no power to fine, banish, or imprison, except by the concession of the State ; and that, although the * The Bishops gained largely by pecuniary commutations for other punishments. See Ep. 346', p. 186. >> Herb., 10C-7. Q 82 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. State might allow them to administer such penalties, and might for a time be content to leave the clergy wholly in the hands of ecclesiastical judges, it was entitled to resume its control over them whenever such a change might seem expedient. Indeed, no other answer is needed to the claims set up by Becket for the exemption of the clergy from secular courts than such as is furnished by a letter of his immediate successor, written at a time when the clergy had begun to feel that their immunities were attended by considerable inconveniences. For the Church's claim to exclu- sive jurisdiction over all cases which concerned the clergy, had .not only the effect of withdrawing clerical robbers and murderers from the secular tribunals, but also the robbers and murderers of the clergy, so that (as was most signally instanced in Becket's own case) the murderer of an ecclesiastic was subject to no other than ecclesiastical punishments ; and the effect of this came to be so seriously felt that Archbishop Bichard en- deavoured to procure an alteration in the law. He argues that misdeeds ought to be punished in any case. " I should be content," he says, " with the sentence of excommunication, if it had the effect of striking terror into evil-doers ; but, through our sins, it has become ineffective and despised. The slayers of a clerk or of a bishop are sent to Borne by way of penance : they en- joy themselves by the way, and return with the Fope's full grace, and with increased boldness for the commis- sion of crime. The King claims the right of punishing such offences ; but we of the clergy damnably reserve it to ourselves, and we deserve the consequences of our CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 83 ambition in usurping a jurisdiction with which we have no rightful concern. Scripture and the decrees of the Church a2ree that certain enormities ought rather to be punished by the judges of this world than by those of the Church. If the judgment of the Church be insuffi- cient, let the secular sword supply its shortcomings. There are two swords which beg each other's aid and mutually help each other ; and if one of them supply the other's deficiency, this is not to be regarded as a double contrition or punishment. It is the public in- terest that those should be restrained by the material sword who neither fear God, nor defer to the Church, nor dread the censure of the canons." a The Arch- bishop's argument was intended to protect the clergy from violence, but it is evident that it is equally appli- cable to the protection of the laity against the violence of clergymen. b As to the question of Scripture and primitive usage, it is manifest that the directions to admonish an offend- ing brother, to "hear the Church," to settle differences "before the saints, and not before unbelievers," were * Trivet, 83-5; or Pet. Bles., Ep. 73. Giraldus abuses Richard for having lowered the Church (Ang. Sac, ii. 523). Cf. Pet. Bles., Ep. 5. b A letter of Eugenius III., on a decree passed by a German diet in 1152, that plunderers of ecclesias- tical property should not be ex- communicated unless they were first convicted by a lay judgment, contrasts remarkably with the tone of Becket and his friends. No- thing is said as to the iniquity of a double judgment ; but the Pope declares that, if the decree stand, there will be an end of all dis- cipline ; with discipline, of religion ; and with religion, of salvation. (Ep. 521, Patrol., elxxx.) Yet the secu- lar courts did not attempt in this case, as the ecclesiastical courts in England did, to arrogate to them- selves all jurisdiction and power to punish. G 2 84 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. intended for all Christians, and not for the clergy alone ; that the last of them was given with reference to the peculiar circumstances of a period when the public tribunals were heathen, and that such directions have nothing to do with the nature or the amount of punish- ment for such crimes as robbery and murder. It was, therefore, a strange abuse to found on these texts a claim of comparative impunity for clerks who should be guilty of outrages against person or property. The questions of ecclesiastical law in general, of Ro- man civil law, and of earlier English law, may be con- sidered as decided against the immunities. a In Saxon times both clergy and laity had been subject to mixed tribunals — the archdeacon sitting with the secular judge in the court of the hundred, and the bishop with the earl in the county-court. b This arrangement had, indeed, been abolished by William the Conqueror, who ordered that the jurisdictions should be separated. 0 But it woidd seem that, notwithstanding the new law, the separation * See Appendix X. The first council of Macon, a.d.581, declared the clergy exempt from secular judgment, "absque causa crimi- nali, id est, homicidio, furto, aut maleficio " (Can. 7, ap. Hardouin, iii. 452 ) ; and such was generally the limitation of their exemptions. See Collier, i. 372, seqq. ; Inett, ii. 246 ; Twysden, Histor. Vindi- cation, 43, ed. Corrie ; Planck, ' Gesch. der Christlicheu Gesell- schaftsverfassung,' i. 172 ; Mar- tineau, 330, seqq. ; and for the Anglo-Saxou laws, Kemble, ' Sax- ons in England,' ii. 437. Lobell (' Gregor. v. Tours,' 325-8) traces the growth of exemptions among the Franks. Charlemagne ex- empted the clergy from secular judgment ; hut this exemption was not such as Becket contended for, inasmuch as it was a gift be- stowed and revocable by the se- cular power, and the Emperor was supreme judge of clergy as well : of laity. See Gieseler, II. i. 77. b Phillips, ii. 68. c Wilkius, i. 3G8. See Ap- pendix XI. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 85 of the courts was not generally carried out before the latter part of Henry the First's reign. a And in what- ever degree the law of William may have contributed towards that exemption from secular judgment which the clergy had at length all but completely b established for themselves during the troubled reign of Stephen, Becket is never found to have appealed to it. If, in- deed, he had relied on the Conqueror's law, he might have been told in answer that experience had abundantly proved the necessity of its repeal. But he woidd have scorned such a foundation for his pretensions : he claimed the immunities as an inherent right of the clergy. 0 The defences which have lately been set up for the Archbishop's conduct in this matter vary according to the views and position of their ingenious authors, who might, perhaps, be safely left to refute each other. By some writers the nature of tbe claim to immunity for the clergy is veiled as far as possible by descanting on other matters in which the State might have been disposed to encroach on the Church. Thus Dr. Lingard endeavours to confine our view to the probability that the lay and the spiritual courts were interested in drawing cases away from each other, for the sake of benefiting by fees.' 1 » See Iuett, ii. 251-2 ; Southey, Vind., 351 ; comp. Blackstoue, iii. 71, with Lingard, ii. 123. "Of clerical exemption from the secular arm," says Mr. Hallam, " we find no earlier notice than in the corona- tion oath of Stephen, which, though vaguely expressed, may be con- strued to include it. ' (" Ecclesi- astiearum personarum et omnium clericorura, et reram eorum, jus- titiam et potestutem .... in munu episeoporum esse perhibeo et con- firrno.") Middle Ages, ii. 21. Conip. Martineau, 321. b The qualification is introduced here on account of the case of Osbert (above, p. 75). c Southey, Vindiciae, 355. - 1 ii. 120. 86 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. Another very able member of the Roman communion tells us that the immunities of the clergy were right in ages when the temporal courts had recourse to wager of battle and other ordeals ; but that, since these trials have been disused, and since other changes have taken place in civil society, they have rightly been everywhere abolished a — an argument in which it is forgotten that Becket claimed the immunities as an absolute right, independent of all social considerations. A highly- respected writer of our own Church insists on the severity of ecclesiastical punishments — for example, that some clerks were sentenced by the spiritual courts to depri- vation of all their dignities, and confinement in a mo- nastery for life under a rigid system of penance. b But it is clear that this is far from meeting the case. The ecclesiastical discipline would seem to have been much neglected, and, at all events, it was found insufficient to restrain from frequent crime. Whatever it may have been, it is certain that it was looked on, both by clergy and by laity, as less severe than the secular punishments ; and it is certain that it was grievously ineffective. We need hardly advert to the fallacy of If. 31ichelet, who tells us that "the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was in those days an anchor of safety ;" that " the Church was almost the only way by which the despised races of the vanquished could recover any degree of ascendency ;" that " the liberties of the Church were then the liberties of the world :" c or to that of Dr. Giles, who endeavours to recommend his hero by representing him as a kindred * Walter, Kirckenr., 399. b Cliurton, 345. '■ iii. 1G2. CLERICAL IMMUNITIES. 87 spirit to our modern philanthropists and mitigators of the criminal code. 0. Great as were the blessings which the Church in the middle ages conferred on mankind by acting as a check on the tyranny of the strong, there was no attempt in the case before us to exercise any such function. It was not for the protection or for the eleva- tion of the oppressed Saxons that Becket laboured ; it was not to mitigate the barbarous punishments which in that age were usual, and perhaps necessary : it was to establish for his own class a superiority over all other men. Mr. Froude, indeed, is right in denying the truth of the opinion which he ascribes to " Protestant historians," that " the Archbishop could have been influenced by no motive but a wish to secure impunity to offending clergy- men ;" b but the real charge against Becket is something different from this, — namely, that he set up and obsti- nately maintained, as a right of the Church, a claim which was without any real foundation, and which, in its working, had been proved to be seriously hurtful, not only to social order, but to the character of the clergy themselves. There was no pretence that the secular courts — them- selves in a great measure composed of ecclesiastics — were likely to deal unfairly with clerks who might be accused before them. There was no attempt on their part to meddle with matters which were pro- perly of spiritual cognizance. Nor was this one of the cases in which it is necessary to distinguish between the worthlessness of a party and the justice of a principle * Life and Letters of Becket, i. 186-7. b P. 17. 88 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. V. involved in his cause. None but persons duly convicted of crime were in danger from Henry's intended reforms. The question was simply whether clerks should enjoy a comparative impunity for offences against the public peace ; and as long as Henry could have any ground for saying that the clergy were especially favoured — that the ecclesiastical discipline failed to restrain them from crime — so long was there a just reason for complaint on the part of the secular power and of the people. 3 ■ Johnson points out that so long as the laity were allowed to compound for murder by paying a wehrgeld (or pecuniary compensa- tion), they had no reason to com- plain of the ecclesiastical treat- ment of criminal clerks as too lenient ; but that a change had been made by the introduction of capital punishment for lay mur- derers, which he refers to the reign of Henry I. Canons, ii. 5G. A.D. 1163. ( 89 ) CHAPTEE VI. COUNCILS AT WESTMINSTER AND CLARENDON. — Oct. 1163— Oct. 1164. The King summoned the bishops and abbots of the realm to meet him at Westminster in October, 1163, and laid before them his views as to the necessity of reform. Among the subjects of his complaint were the proceedings of archdeacons and rural deans, whom he accused of extorting a revenue greater than his own by oppressive exactions from the clergy and vexatious suits against the laity. a But he insisted chiefly on the im- munities of the clergy, which he denounced as hindering the execution of his coronation oath to do justice and to correct offenders ; b and he desired the concurrence of the assembled dignitaries in the measures which he proposed for the remedy of the prevailing evils, so that a Anon. Lamb., 88 ; Fitzst., 213. The complaints against the Archdeacons are countenanced by a letter of John of Salisbury to Nicolas de Sigillo : " Erat, ut me- mini, genus hominum qui in ecclesia Dei archidiaconorum cen- sentur nomine, quibus vestra dis- cretio omnem salutis viam quere- batur esse praeclusam. Nam, ut dicere consuevistis, diligunt mu- nera, scquuntur retributiones, ad injurias prout sunt, ealumniis gau- dent, peccata populi comedunt et bibunt, quibus vivitur ex rapto, ut non sit hospes ab hospite tutus. Qui in eis praestantissimi sunt, debent utique servare legem Domini, sed non faciunt" (Ep. 166). John goes on to congra- tulate Nicolas on having had his eyes opened to the merits and the solvability of Archdeacons by his own promotion to that venerable class (as Archdeacon of Hunting- don ; see Foss, i. 305). b Grim, 35. 90 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VI. tilings might be restored to the condition in which he represented them as having stood during the reign of his grandfather Henry L a The clergy withdrew for consultation, and the question was discussed with argu- ments such as have been reported in the preceding chapter. The bishops — " not pillars of the Church, but reeds," as one writer calls them b — were inclined to temporise and to yield ; but the primate, by forcibly representing the case as one of duty to the Church and of faitlifulness to their trust, succeeded in animating them with something of his own spirit, and, on returning to the King's presence, they declared that they could not give an unqualified assent to his demands. Henry, provoked by their appearance of unanimity, 0 asked them one by one whether they would obey the customs of his ancestors ; the Archbishop replied that they would, " saving their order," and the bishops severally made the same declaration, with the single exception of Hilary of Chichester, who, alarmed by the King's evi- dent anger, thought to escape the difficulty by substi- tuting the words bona fide for salvo ordine. This change, however, instead of appeasing Henry added to his exasperation. 11 He burst out into violent abuse of Hilary, and furiously told the ecclesiastics that they were banded in a conspiracy against him, that there ■ Gamier, 27 ; Koger, 11G. b S. T. C, ii. 254. c Herb., 109. d The violence of Henry's rage is often mentioned. Peter of Blois, in his interesting character of him, says, " Oculi ejus orbiculati sunt — duin pacati est animi, columbini et simplices ; sed in ira et turbatione cordis quasi seintillantes ignem, et in impetu fulininantes." Ep. G6, Patrol., ccvii. 197. A.D. 1163. COUNCIL OF WESTMINSTER. in was poison in their words. " By God's eyes ! " lie swore, "you shall not say anything of saving your order, but shall agree outright and expressly to my constitutions." a It was in vain that the Archbishop reminded him that the reservation was always made in the episcopal oath of fealty ; b the King abruptly quitted the meeting without the usual parting salutation to the bishops, leaving them in extreme terror as to the consequences which might follow from their resistance to his will. The Bishop of Chichester suffered from both sides for his unlucky attempt at conciliation, for, as the bishops were retiring to then lodgings, the primate severely rebuked him for the concession which he had ventured to make without the authority of his brethren. On the following morning Henry sent to demand of Becket the surrender of Eye and Berk- hampstead, and left London without again seeing the clergy. 0 He soon after summoned the Archbishop to wait on him at Northampton, and an interview took place be- tween them outside the walls, as Henry professed to consider that the town was not large enough to hold the numerous trains of followers by which each of them was attended. The King reproached Becket with ingrati- tude for the favours which he had shown him. " Were a Roger, 117; Herb., 109-110; Summa Causae, S. T. C, ii. 255. b Thorn., Ep. iii. 3G ; Herb. 110. To this it might have been answered that the reservation was now interpreted as implying the immunities, whieh Henry had not before supposed to bo included under it. c Herb., 111. Carte remarks severely on the inconsistency of the Archbishop's retaining the military charges with his profi s- sions on resigning the civil office of Chancellor, i. 583. 92 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VI. you not," he asked, " the son of one of my villeins ? " " Of a truth," was the answer, " I am not sprung from royal ancestors," as neither was blessed Peter, the prince of the Apostles, to whom the Lord deigned to give the keys of the kingdom of heaven and the principality of the whole Church." " True," said the King ; " but he died for his Lord." "And I, too," answered Becket, " will die for my Lord, when the time shall come." "You lean too much on the ladder which you have mounted." b "I trust in and lean on the Lord ; for cursed is the man that putteth his hope in man." The conversation was long ; but, as the Archbishop refused to give up the reservation on which he had before insisted, they parted without coming to any agreement. 0 The prelates, in general, were greatly alarmed, and dreaded a breach with the King. Intrigue, too, was busy among them. Arnulf, Bishop of Lisieux, a man highly regarded for his ability, eloquence, and learning, but crafty, d scheming, and utterly dishonest, came over from Xormandy about this time, and, by way of ingra- tiating himself with Henry, under whose displeasure he had for some time been suffering, suggested that the King should fdrni a party among the clergy, as the most effectual means of thwarting the primate. 6 Roger of York, the ancient enemy of Becket, Hilary of Chi- ■ " Atavis editus regibus." (Horat. Od. i. 1.) He quotes the same words in a letter to the Bishops, S. T. C, iii. 178. b " Tu nimis affigeris et inni- teris scansilibus tuis." « Roger, 11S-9. d Eob. de Monte, a.d. 1141. ' Grim, 25 ; Roger, 119 ; Gar- nier, 68* ; W. Cant., G. See Ap- pendix XII. A.D. 11G4-. INTRIGUES OF ARNULF. 93 Chester, and Foliot, who had lately been translated to London, readily lent themselves to this scheme. Robert of Melun, the successor of Foliot in Hereford, and Eobert, Bishop of Lincoln, joined the party," while other prelates were by no means disposed to follow the Archbishop in all his courses. 13 A secret agreement was made, we do not know with how many bishops, by which they gave up the obnoxious reservation. " Thus," says Fitzstephen, " those who had the highest reputa- tion for learning became the most ready to crush the liberty of the Church ;" 0 and Grim imputes to these prelates the blame of Henry's subsequent acts; for how (he asks) should the King suspect himself to be in the wrong, when all but the Archbishop were with him? d The King's influence among the clergy soon mani- fested itself in various pretensions which were set up in opposition to the primate. The Archbishop of York » R. Hoveden, 282, b. b M. Thierry says that Henry gained the Norman bishops by various arguments, " et peut-etre par des insinuations des desseins pre'sume's do VAnglais Rocket centre tous les grands d'Angle- terre, enfin, par plusieurs raisons que les historiens ne detaillent pas" (iii. 116). The omissions of the old historians arc extremely convenient for imaginative mo- derns. As to one of the bishops, " dont les noms, purement Fran- cais, indiquent assez leur originc,'' M. Thierry was not aware that ho was really an Englishman, and de- rived his surname from having long taught with great renown at Melun. John of Salisbury tells us that he himself had studied under " Ma- gistro Roberto Moludensi ; ut no- mine designetur quod meruit in scholarum rogimine (natione si- quidem Angligena est)." Metalog. ii. 10, where a character of him as a teacher is given (Cf. iv. 24). After the quarrel with Becket, John sneers at Robert, as if his re- putation were abovo his merits (Epp. 175, 183), and proposes a plan for winning him over by means of his vanity (Ep. 183). c 213. d 37. 94 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VI. renewed some claims which his predecessors since the Conquest had asserted for their see as equal in dignity to Canterbury." Clarembald, a Norman, who had been thrust by the King on the monks of St. Augustine's at Canterbury as abbot, maintained, as some earlier abbots had done, that his community was exempt from the archiepiscopal jurisdiction, and required that the primate should give him the pastoral benediction in his own monastery without exacting any profession of obe- dience. 1 ' And Foliot, who on his translation had evaded a renewal of his profession to the metropolitan see, c now claimed independence of Canterbury, on the ground of the ancient ecclesiastical eminence of London, which he is said to have deduced from the days when it was the seat of an archflamen of Jupiter ! d Whatever we 3 These claims were founded on the letter by which Gregory the Great had directed that Augustine, the apostle of the Anglo-Saxons, should found archiepiscopal sees at London and York, each with twelve suffragans under it (Beda, i. 29 j ; but this scheme, arranged in ignorance of the changes which had taken place in England since the withdrawal of the Romans, was never carried out. Augustine established himself in the capital of Kent, where he had been first received, as London was in another kingdom. York, after having had one archbishop, who was driven from it, did not recover its metro- political dignity for more than a century (Godwin, 650") ; and the number of suft'ragaus was always far greater in the southern province. The claims of York had been as- serted by Thomas I. against Lan- franc, and had been revived by Gerard, Thomas II., and Thur- stan, but without success. For the York side of the question, see Stubbs, in Twysden. b Diceto, 534. See Append. XIII. c Becket at Tours had urged the Pope to make him renew it, and had been told that this was needless ; but Foliot took advant- age of the omission. See S. T. C, iv. 20, 247-8, 255. d S. T. C, iv. 236 ; Job. Sarisb., Ep. 289. This claim (which John treats with much humour) was pro- bably grounded on the False Decre- tals, where St. Peter is represented as charging Clemeut, bishop of A.D. 1104. INTRIGUES AND NEGOTIATIONS. 95 may think of these several pretensions, there can be little doubt that they were precisely such as Becket would have been likely to raise, and to maintain with his characteristic tenacity, if his position towards his opponents had been reversed. Assiduous attempts were made by bishops, nobles, and others, to win over the Archbishop to compliance with the royal wishes. The danger of the Church — the cha- racter of Henry — Becket's old friendship with him, and the hope which he might have of recovering all his former influence with increase, if these quarrels could be laid to rest — such considerations were continually pressed on him. It was urged, too, that although the King was desirous, for the sake of his own honour, that the bishops should withdraw their reservation, he had no intention to take advantage of this to the prejudice of their obli- gations or of the Church's rights.* But against all such importunities the Archbishop stood inflexibly firm, until he was waited on by Philip, Abbot of rAumone, b an envoy from the Pope, with the Count of Vendome, and the Bishop of Hereford. These personages earnestly sob- cited him to comply, the abbot professing that for this course he had the authority of the Pope and the cai-dinals ; Rome, to establish primates, patri- archs, and archbishops in places where there had heen arcli-flamens (Hardouin, i. 4G). The passage was adopted into Gratian's Decretum, Dist. lxxx. c. 2. An earlier bishop of London, Richard, had set up pretensions to the pall, which was the symbol of metropolitan dignity, but had been defeated by the opposition of St. Anselm. See Anselm. Ep. iii. 152. a Grim, 26 ; Herb., Ill ; Arnulf., 150-1 ; Gamier, 68*. b See Appendix XIV. 90 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VI. and at length he yielded to their entreaties." Grim seems to throw doubt on the truth of the envoy's assertion. 1 * The fact may have been, as Lord Lyttelton suggests, 0 that the Pope had in general terms directed Philip to recom- mend conciliatory measures, but without intending that conciliation should be carried so far. The Archbishop, however, was persuaded, and, in an interview at Oxford or Woodstock/ intimated his submission to the King, who thereupon declared that, since the refusal to accept the customs had been public, the assent to them must be equally so. As Becket's compliance had been ob- tained by the assurance that the King had no thought of pressing the matter beyond a mere formal submission — nay, that he had sworn this to certain cardinals — the demand that his acknowledgment should be publicly made took him wholly by surprise. 6 In January, 1164, the prelates and temporal nobles met at the royal palace of Clarendon, near Salisbury, under the presidency of John of Oxford, an ecclesiastic who enjoyed Henry's confidence, and was much em- ployed by him in political business/ It would appear that the business of the council lasted three days ; g but, amid contradictory reports, it is impossible to ascertain in what order it was transacted. The Archbishop, on » Gamier, 69* ; Gervase, 1385 ; W. Cant., 7. 26-7. « ii. 353. See Pauli, 39; Mil- man, 463 ; Buss, 247. d Woodstock, according to Gar- nier (69*), and Eoger (123) ; Oxford, . according to Herbert, 113. e Grim, 27 ; Eoger, 121 ; Ger- vase, 1385. 1 Herb., 114 ; AVendover, ii. 298. The day is variously given. See Pauli, 40. 6 Foliot, iii. 171. .A.n. 1164. COUNCIL OF CLARENDON. 97 bein (Oct. 2G, 11U3.) 108 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. of peace, a the time passed until the beginning of October, 116-1, when the Primate was summoned to answer before a council or parliament at Northampton for his behaviour to John the Marshal, an officer of the Koyal Exchequer. 11 » Koger, 128 ; Hoveden, 252, b. b Fitzst., 220. The Marshalsea of the Exchequer was a hereditary office, from which the family de- rived its name. John was father or elder brother of the more cele- brated William Earl of Pembroke (Dugdale's Baronage, 599 ; Grif- fiths, n. on Inett, ii. 327), and was one of the nohles present at Cla- rendon. A.D. 1164. ( 109 ) CHAPTER VII. NORTHAMPTON. — Oct. 1164. The national assembly at Northampton was to be of the most solemn character. Citations were addressed to all bishops and abbots, to earls, barons, high officers of the realm, " and to all of every kind who were of any authority or name." a But with regard to the highest in dignity of all, a remarkable exception was made : the Archbishop of Canterbury did not receive the usual summons, as the King, from an unwillingness to use the customary greeting, had for some time ceased to write to him ; but his attendance was peremptorily ordered by a precept addressed to the Sheriff of Kent. b As he approached the town, on Tuesday, the Gth of October, he was met by some of his servants, who had been sent on before, with the complaint that the lodgings intended for his train had been occupied by the King's people — an affront which was said to have been autho- . rised by Henry himself. On receiving this report, the Archbishop at once halted, and sent a message to the King that he would go no farther unless the lodgings were given up. The King, who was engaged in hawking * Roger, 132 ; Garnier, 77*. b Fitzst., 219. 110 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. along the Nene, immediately ordered that his servants should make way for the Primate's household ; a and it seems more likely that the intruders had presumed on his known feeling towards Beeket than that he had in any way sanctioned their act. The Archbishop himself found hospitality in the Cluuiac monastery of St. Andrew. 6 On the following morning he proceeded to the castle, Wednesdav, w here he was detained for some time while October/, the King was hearing mass. At their meeting, Henrv did not offer the usual kiss," although the Arch- bishop made demonstration of his willingness to receive it. At the Archbishop's request, he ordered that William de Courcy should give up a lodging which he had ventured to retain, notwithstanding the command of the preceding day ; but he absolutely refused Becket's petition for leave to carry his complaints against Boger of York to the Pope ; neither the Archbishop nor any one else, he declared, should have Ins license to cross the sea. d The case of John the Marshal was then entered on. This nobleman had brought before the Archbishop's Court a claim to part of the Manor of Pagham, in Sussex, winch belonged to the See of Canterbury ; and • Roger, 132 ; Fitzst., 218. b See as to it, Dugdale, 'Mo- nast. Angl.,' v. 185-6. e "Osculi consuetam Anglk gra- tiam " ( Fitzst., 21 8;. I Lave seen (but forget the title of) a volume of travels by a Frenchman, who visited England in the end of the 17th century, and expresses his surprise at the fondness of the English for such salutations — a proof, seemingly, that an exchange of manners has since taken place between the two nations. d Fitzst., 210 ; Roger, 133. A.i). 1104. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. Ill as the suit appeared to be going against him, he had taken advantage of a law (apparently one of the Clarendon constitutions a ) which enabled suitors, in such circumstances, to remove their cases into the King's Court by swearing that they had failed to obtain justice. A writ had thereupon been issued, by which the Archbishop was summoned to answer to the charge of injustice ; but on the day appointed, instead of appear- ing in person, he sent four knights, with letters from himself and the Sheriff of Kent, in which it was stated that John had failed in his evidence, and that his oath on removing the suit, instead of being duly made on the gospels or on relics of saints, had been sworn on a tropary which he produced from under his cloak. b The King, however, had not admitted this excuse, and the Archbishop was now required to answer, not only for his alleged refusal of justice, but for his nonappearance at Westminster, which was charged as treason against the Sovereign. As John himself was not yet in attend- ance, being detained in London by the business of the Exchequer, the question of treason was to be first exa- mined ; and to this the council proceeded on the second day of its sittings, when in addition to the nobles Thursday of England, and to some from Normandy, all the 0ctober 8 - • See p. 98. b Fitzst., 219; Foliot, v. 275; Roger, 130. The Trnparium was so called from containing Tropes, which were properly certain vcr- siclcs sung at mass on parti- cular festivals before the Introit, or alternately with the versieles of the Iutroit. They are now dis- used in the Roman church. (See Dncange, S. v. ; Guerangcr, Insti- tutions Liturgiques, i. 200 ; Daniel, Codex Liturg., i. 116.) Mr. Sharon Turner makes the tropary " a book of songs,' - and is followed by Mr. Fronde (p. 85), while another late writer still further improves it into "a jest-book! " 112 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. bishops were assembled, except Walter of Rochester, who did not arrive until later, Nigel of Ely, who was paralytic, and William of Norwich, who absented himself out of dislike for the King's supposed designs, and expressed a wish that he had as good an excuse as his neighbour of Ely. 1 The Archbishop's defence — that he had been ill and unable to travel — was rejected as insufficient to excuse his neglect of his liege lord's summons ; and it was unanimously adjudged that he was " at the King's mercy," — a phrase which implied the forfeiture of all his effects, unless the King should be pleased (as was usual in such cases) to accept a fine by way of commu- tation. A lively discussion now arose between the prelates and the barons — each party endeavouring to shift on the other the duty of pronouncing sentence. The barons argued that, as the culprit was an ecclesi- astic, it was not for laymen, but for his own brethren, to sentence him. " Nay," answered a bishop, " it is rather your business ; for this is not an ecclesiastical but a secular judgment : it is not as bishops, but as barons, that we sit here ; we are all peers and barons alike. If you speak of our orders, you must have regard to his orders too ; and even because we are bishops, we may not judge our metropolitan and lord." At length the King hi anger put an end to the debate by ordering the bishop of Winchester to deliver the judgment, and the aged prelate unwillingly performed the task. The Arch- a Fitzsi, 220; Gervase, 1391. I afterwards speaks of the Bishop But the authorities are not quite of Norwich as present, 347. agreed as to the absentees. Alan I A.D. 116-4. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 113 bishop had been disposed to resist the authority of his judges, but submitted at the entreaty of the bishops, who all, with the exception of Foliot, joined in giving security for his payment of 5001. — the fine which was inflicted in lieu of forfeiture. 8. The original question as to his treatment of John the Marshal was allowed to fall to the ground. b Henry, however, had not yet done with Becket, to whom he bad declared that he meant to reduce him to the condition in which he had found him. c His own wish was to attack the Archbishop on subjects connected with the ecclesiastical privileges ; but, as his advisers represented that the bishops would probably be unwilling to take a part against what was regarded as the cause of the Clmrcb, he consented to change bis policy, and had recourse to charges of a personal kind.' 1 The nature of these charges and the manner in which tbey were prosecuted have been freely censured by writers who are decidedly unfavourable to Becket ; e they were, in truth, chosen as the only available weapons against an opponent who had given the King just cause for displeasure, but seemed likely to escape if other means of prosecution had been employed. First a demand was advanced for 3001, which Becket had * Fitzst., i. 221 ; Grim, l. 40 ; Roger, i. 133; Gamier, 77*; b Roger, i. 134. Becket's bio- graphers, who delight in tales of judgments on his opponents, state that within a year John lost two sons, for whom he had intended to provide out of the church's pa- trimony, and himself also dud. (Grim, i. 40 ; Gamier, 32.) The Archbishop also mentions these deaths, which he aseribes to John's having wrongfully got Mundeham (in Pagham) from the King, iii. 220. 1 Roger, i. 130 ; Gamier, 28. d Roger, i. 137. « As Inett, ii. 258 ; and Mr. Martincau, 341. I 114 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. received as warden of Eye and Berkhampstead. He replied that he had spent that sum and much more on the repairs of the castles, and of the Tower of London ; but, as the King denied that he had sanctioned the ex- penditure, the Archbishop declared that a question of money should not be a bar to peace, and gave three securities for the payment, — his old adversary, William of Eynesford, being one.* The proceedings of the third day opened with charges Friday, about two sums of 500 marks each, connected 0cU 9 " with the war of Toulouse, — the one lent by Henry, the other borrowed by the Chancellor from a Jew. on the King's security. Becket affirmed that the first of these sums was a gift, but the King demanded a judgment, and it was decided that, as the Archbishop could produce no evidence in support of his statement, he must pay the money. The King then asked for securities, and, on Becket's answering that he had pro- perty far more than sufficient to meet the demand, Henry jeeringly reminded him that all his moveables had been confiscated on the preceding day, and inti- mated that he must find security or be arrested. Five sureties were therefore bound, each for a himdred pounds. b These demands were followed by one of more alarming magnitude, — that the Archbishop should ac- count for the revenues of vacant sees and abbeys which had come into his hands while Chancellor, in- cluding those of the archbishopric itself. The amount of this demand is variously stated. Herbert, according • Fitzst.. i. 221-2. b Fitzst., i. 222 ; Herb., vii. 137. a.d. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON'. 115 to the ' Quadrilogus ' (which is very inaccurately printed), is made to rate it at 230,000 marks ; in Dr. Giles's edition (which, although very far from immaculate, is probably more correct here) his words are " about 30,000 ;" while others speak of it as 40,000 or 44,000. a The Archbishop replied that he had not received notice to answer to any charge except that which concerned John the Marshal, and protested against being thus hurried into a trial of such serious importance. The King, however, declared, with violent oaths and tln'eats, that he would endure no delay beyond the morrow. It was now clear to the observant courtiers that the Archbishop's ruin was deter- mined on ; and from this time they ceased to visit him. 6 On the morning of the fourth day the Archbishop held a consultation with the other prelates. Saturday, The Bishop of Winchester advised that the 0ct - 10 - King's avarice should be gratified, and offered to give liberal aid for the purpose. A composition of 2000 marks was accordingly proposed to Henry ; but he re- fused it, 0 and by his order the bishops were shut up to resume their deliberations. The opinions which they now expressed were various as the characters of the speakers. The Bishop of London began by advising that, in consideration of past favours, and of the dangers » Quadril., 48 ; Herb., vii. 137 ; S. T. C. iv. 271 ; vi. 196. Perhaps the editor of the Quadrilogue may have mistaken " circa " for " cc." 30,000 pounds, which Roger names (i. 140) as the amount, would not differ much from 44,000 mark*. John of Salisbury, in a letter ad- dressed to Becket as Chancellor, mentions a report that the King had given him the income of three vacant bishoprics, "ad libera- tionem vestrara." (Liheratio = salary — Ducange, s. v.) Ep. 75. b Fitzst., i. 222 ; Roger, i. 134. c Fitzst., i. 222. i 2 116 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. which threatened the Church, the Primate ought to yield up his see, if it were ten times as much, and to submit himself to the King, who might possibly by such a compliance be induced to restore him. Hilary of Chichester in ornate language, Eobert of Lincoln with a blunt simplicity, and Bartholomew of Exeter tendered similar counsel, while Henry of Winchester and others, more or less distinctly, advocated an opposite course. " If," said the Bishop of Winchester, " an archbishop, the Primate of all England, give bishops an example of yielding up their authority, and the care of the souls committed to them, at the nod and threat of a prince, what is to be expected but that the whole state of the Church should be confounded by arbitrary will, and that as is the people so should be the priest?"* It was argued that no question could now be raised as to the Archbishop's administration of funds while Chancellor, inasmuch as at his election to the primacy an express declaration of his discharge from all secular obligations had been required by the Bishop of Winchester on the part of the Church, and had been granted, in the King's name, by Prince Henry and the Grand Justiciary. b At length Becket desired leave to speak with the Earls of Cornwall and Leicester, and the doors were opened for their entrance. The Archbishop announced to them that he and his brethren had not yet been able to come ■ Alan, i. 223 ; Gervas, 1390. Eoger (139), and Gamier (41), represent this sort of talk as hav- ing passed on the last day of the council, and the Bishop of Win- chester as having then advised a resignation. b Herb., vii. 138 ; Fitzst. 223. See Appendix XVII. A.D. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 117 to a determination, and that they requested the King to grant them a further delay. The Bishops of London and Rochester accompanied the Earls to the Court, and it is said that Foliot falsified his message so as to mislead the King into supposing that an answer of sub- mission might be expected. On this supposition Henry returned an answer by the Earls, and the Bishop of London was put to the blush by the exposure of his artifice which naturally followed. 8. Throughout Sunday, the 11th of October, the Arch- bishop remained within his monasteiy, and employed the greater part of the day in anxious deliberations. In the course of the following night the agitation of his mind brought on an attack of an illness to which he was subject, and on the morning of Monday he was unable to appear at court. The King, sus- pecting that the illness was feigned, sent the Earls of Cornwall and Leicester to visit him, and to ask whether he would appear and would give bail to abide a trial as to the revenues ; to which he answered that he would appear next day, even if he should be carried on his couch. b In the mean time he was told that Henry was swearing with even more than usual vehemence, that some of the courtiers had conspired to kill him, and that the King had declared an intention of either putting him to death, or depriving him of his eyes and tongue, and imprisoning him for the remainder of his days. 0 Of these reports a part would seem to have been a mere ■ Alan, i. 344-5; Gervas., 1391. b Roger, i. 135 ; Herb. vii. 138 ; Gamier, 34. c Grim, i. 42 ; Eoger, i. 135 ; Garnier, 35. 118 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. invention, and the rest to have been greatly exag- gerated. 8 The 13th of October — Tuesday — was the last and most memorable day of the council. 6 Early in the morning the Archbishop was waited on by some bishops, who urged him to avert the dangers of the Church by throwing himself unreservedly on the King's mercy, and represented to him that, if he should persist in his refusal, he would incur at once the charges of treason and of perjury, for breach of bis feudal duty and of bis engagement to obey the Constitutions of Clarendon. To this he replied that he had been deeply wrong in swearing against God, and that it was better to retract his oath than to consent to laws which were contrary to the Divine law. He, therefore, charged the bishops to stand by him in rejecting the constitutions ; he rebuked them for having thus far joined with laymen in judging him, theh father, and charged them, on their obedience to the Roman Chm'ch, to do so no further ; and he enjoined them, if any violence should be offered to him, to lay the sentence of excommunication on the authors of it. The only one of the bishops who answered was Foliot, who at once appealed to Home against this exercise of authority ; and the bishops withdrew, with the exception of those of » " Je ne sais si li reis l'oot fait appa- reillir, Qu'il vulsist l'arceuesque faire occireulier; Mais einsi li alerent le jur souent nuncier. Puet eel estre, li reis le uoleit esmaier Que il le plust mielz parmanaces plaissier." Gamier, 40. b By Alan of Tewkesbury (S. T. C, i. 346), and others, it is strangely said to have been the hundredth anniversary of the Norman in- vasion. It was really (as Mr. Morris mentions, p. 139) the anni- versary of the Translation of Ed- ward the Confessor, which Beeket had performed with great solemnity a year before. A.o. 11G4. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 119 Winchester and Salisbury, who remained to comfort the Primate. a By way of preparing for the expected con- flict, the Archbishop then, by the advice of a " religious man," proceeded to the altar of St. Stephen in the mo- nastic church, where, solemnly arraying himself in the pall, which was usually reserved for high festivals, 11 he celebrated the mass of that saint, beginning with the introit Etenim sederunt principes (" Princes also did sit and speak against me "). His performance of this service was interrupted by a profusion of tears and sobs, and in the course of it he solemnly commended the cause of his Church to St. Stephen, the Blessed Virgin, and the patron saints of Canterbury. As some of the King's servants had been present, this act was forthwith reported at court, with the commentary (surely very warrantable, although it has been treated as the suggestion of bitter malice) thatBecket intended a parallel between himself and the protomartyr. 0 On leaving the altar, the air of " Herb., vii. 140-1 ; Gervas., | 1391. b " Hanc quidam missam, prater ! morem, eo die, quia fcstus non erat, j cum pallio celebravit " (Herb., in Quadril. 53). Dr. Giles adds, — " Nisi quia beati Calixti papa; et martyris natalicium fiiit " (which looks like an Interpolation), and makes nonsense of tlie passage, by omitting "praiter morem " (vii. 142). c Roger, i. 135 ; Fitzst., i. 225 ; Alan, i. 346 ; Herb., vii. 142 ; Gar- nier, 35 ; Gervas., 1391. The ad- viser is said to have told him that after this mass nothing could hurt him (Garn., Roger). Gervasesays that he used the mass of St. Ste- phen, not with reference to his own circumstances, but because the altar was St. Stephen's. But why was that altar chosen? According to Gamier, Foliot afterwards told the Pope that Becket celebrated this mass " pur sorcerie .... et de- spit le rei." 1. c. Becket was never backward to claim a parallel with a yet more sacred example than St. Stephen ; and this is carried out in the most extravagant (and, to modern taste, most offensive) manner by the old biographers. Herbert's ' Liber Melorum ' is 120 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. contrite humility which lie had worn during the celebra- tion was exchanged for a look of stern resolution — " the face of a man at once and the face of a lion," as Herbert describes it with an allusion to the vision of Ezekiel.* It was his intention to proceed to the court barefooted, arrayed in his pontificals and bearing the cross in his hand, in the hope that by such an appearance he might awe those who had ventured to become his judges ; but at the entreaty of some Templars, whom he highly re- garded, he reluctantly gave up this and went on horse- back, wearing his ordinary dress, but secretly carrying the consecrated Eucharist on his person. b As he passed along the streets of Northampton, crowds of people, sup- posing that he was on his way to certain death, pros- trated themselves, and with prayers and tears besought his blessing. The great gates of the castle were opened at his approach, and were hastily shut again as soon as he had entered. The Archbishop dismounted in the court, took his cross from the bearer, Alexander Llewellyn, and entered, attended by a single clerk, the doors imme- diately closing behind him. c The prelates who were assembled in the hall, on seeing him with the cross in his hand, were alarmed, as it appeared to them a sign that he intended to brave the King and to claim for himself the character of a champion of Christ against the expressly devoted to it ; and the writer usually, there and else- where, speaks of himself, like St. John, as " the disciple which wrote these things." • vii. 142. (Ezek. i. 10.) b Eoger, i. 136 ; Fitzst., i. 225 ; Herb., vii. 142-3; Gamier, 37. Modern writers, however, have for the most part followed less accu- rate authorities, who represent him as having retained his pontificals. c Roger, i. 136 ; Fitzst., i. 223. A.D. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 121 power and the violence of His enemies." The Bishop of Hereford requested leave to carry the cross as his chap- lain ; but the offer was declined. " My Lord of London," said the Archdeacon of Lisieux b to Foliot, " why do you allow him to carry the cross himself?" "My good friend," was the answer, " he was always a fool, and will always be one." c Foliot, however, endeavoured to wrest the cross from the Archbishop's hands, saying that it was his own privilege, as dean of the province, to carry it ; and a somewhat unseemly struggle ensued, in which Becket, being the younger and the stronger man, had the better. " Brother," said the Bishop of Winchester, " let the Archbishop keep his cross ; for it is right that he should carry it." To this Foliot made an angry answer ; and, when the Archbishop had taken his seat, with the cross in his hands, he again urged him to lay it down, lest the King should regard it as a sword drawn against him. Becket replied that the King's sword was an instrument of war, but the cross a sign of peace, and therefore he would not let it go. d Roger of York was the last prelate who entered the hall, having delayed his appearance in order that he might not be supposed to have been concerned in ad- vising the King's proceedings. His cross was borne before him — an order which Becket had obtained from • S. T. C, iv. 257. b Hugh of Nunant. He after- wards forsook Bucket, and in 1187 became bishop of Lichfield. See Herbert, vii. 3G4. There is a life of him in the ' Angliu Sucra.' c Fitzst., i. 225. Others repre- sent these words as spoken directly to Becket. d Koger, i. 137 ; Alan, i. 346 ; Garnier, 38-9; Herb., vii. 143; Gervase, 131)2 ; Hovedeu, 283. 122 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. the Pope, that he should not use it beyond his own province, being for the present eluded by an appeal.* Eoger, in an angry tone, renewed the remonstrances which had been made against the Archbishop of Canter- bury's cross, and advised him to lay it down, lest the King should be provoked. " If the King's sword can kill the body," said Becket, "my sword smites spiri- tually, and can send the soul to hell." b The King, on hearing how the Archbishop was armed, had withdrawn into an inner room, where he remained throughout the day. 0 The bishops and nobles were summoned into his presence, and Becket was left in the hall, deserted and shunned by all but two or three of his clerks. From the King's chamber there was a con- tinual sound of loud and angry voices, and when from time to time the door of communication was opened, that some of those from within might descend into the hall, the noise was so terrible that the Archbishop and his companions crossed themselves by way of seeking protection. 4 Herbert took an opportunity of suggesting that, if any violence should be attempted, the Arch- bishop should resort to excommunication ; but Fitz- stephen reproved this counsel, and desired him rather to imitate the saints and martyrs of old in patient en- durance and forgiveness of injuries. In saying this, he was interrupted by one of the King's officers, who told him that he must not speak to the Archbishop ; where- » Fitzst., i. 226 ; Alex, ad Thorn, in S. T. C, iv. 8 ; ad Eoger. ib. 44. b Grim, i. 43 ; Hoveden, 283 b. c Gervase, 1392. d Herb., vii. 145. A.D. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 123 upon he significantly pointed to the cross — an action of which he was long after reminded when he visited his master in exile at Fleury. a On the entrance of the bishops into Iris apartment, the King complained of the injury which the Archbishop had done him by coming to his Court as if it were that of a traitor and a persecutor rather than of a Christian sovereign. The bishops hastened to clear themselves from the suspicion of any complicity in this or the Pri- mate's other proceedings. 1 * They told the King that Becket had rebuked them for joining in judgment against him ; that he complained of the fine of 500Z. as unjust, seeing that custom had fixed in every county a rate of commutation for goods and chattels forfeited to the King's mercy, and in Kent, where the property of his see lay, this composition was only forty shillings ; that he had forbidden them to take any further part in the proceedings against him, and had appealed to the Pope. On hearing this, Henry sent the Earls of Lei- cester and Cornwall to ask the Archbishop whether it were true that he had acted so, in violation of his alle- giance to the Crown, and especially of his oath to ob- serve the Constitutions of Clarendon, by which, among other things, the bishops were bound to attend the King in all trials except such as involved life. The Earls were also charged to inquire whether he would give in • Fitzst, i. 226-7. b Herb., vii. 144. The impu- tation on the King implied in car- rying the cross was afterwards insisted on by Henry's envoys to the Pope fK. Wendover, ii. 307), and by Foliot in the letter which has been often mentioned (S. T. C, v. 279). 124 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. the accounts of his Chancellorship, and would abide a judgment in that matter. The Archbishop, sitting with the cross in his hands, heard the message, and replied to it with calmness — that he had always been faithful to his duty as the King's liegeman ; that he had been cited to answer as to the affair of John the Marshal alone, and ought not to have been called on to defend himself against any other charge ; that he had served the Kiug faithfully in secular offices, had spent all the revenues in his service, and had even contracted debts for it ; that he had received a full acquittance from all secular obligations at the time of his election ; a that he had made his appeal against being judged by the bishops, and would keep to it, placing himself and the Church under the protection of the Pope. The Earls withdrew, and some of the barons and courtiers, with significant looks and tones, began to talk loudly, so that the Arch- bishop might hear, of oppressions and barbarous acts which had been committed by the King's ancestors on both sides against contumacious ecclesiastics." The King endeavoured to force the bishops to join in judging the Primate, but they pleaded the prohibition which had been laid on them. Henry's exasperation became more and more outrageous, so that even the Archbishop's enemies were alarmed for the conse- quences. 0 Eoger of York left the council chamber, and, a Hoveden makes bim say also that, on hearing Bccket's refusal that he had often given in his to give an account, the King accounts (283 b) ; but this seems , •• D'ire deuint vormeilz plus que carbuns to be a mistake. sur cenure." b Fitzst., i. 230-2 ; Eoger, i. 134. —(44.) c Gervase, 1392. Gamier says , A.D. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON. 125 on reaching the hall, said to two of his chaplains whom he found there, " Let us withdraw ; for it is not fit that we should look on what is to he done here as to him of Canterbury." One of the chaplains, however, replied that he would wait to see what God's will should deter- mine ; that the end could not be better than if the Primate were to give his blood for the right. 3 Roger then turned to Becket himself, and entreated him for the sake of the other bishops to comply with the King's will. " Hence, Satan ! " was the only answer. b Others of the bishops also attempted to prevail on the Primate, but found his resolution immoveable. 0 At length an expedient was devised by which the bishops might escape the necessity of joining in the judgment. The King agreed to excuse them on con- dition that they should appeal to the Pope against the Primate for perjury — a measure by which some of them led him to believe that Becket's deposition might be procured. d They then returned to the hall, and Hilary of Chichester, in the name of all, told the Archbishop that, as he and they had pledged themselves to the con- stitutions, and as he had now violated his oath, they regarded him as perjured, renounced their obedience to liim, and appealed against him. e " I hear what you say," answered Becket, "and, with God's blessing, I will be present at the trial of your appeal." There was some curious casuistry in the words which followed. » Alan, i. 347. h Gamier, 44. « Alan, i. 347. d Gamier, 42; Herb., vii. 146; Gervas., 1392. e Gervas., 1392. 126 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. The first of all duties, he said, is that which we owe to God. The concessions which he and the bishops had made at Clarendon implied by their very terms a reservation of the Church's rights, since nothing against these could be ob- served " in good faith," " without evil device," or " loy- ally ;" nor could an infringement of the Church's privi- leges be part of the " dignities " of a Christian king. The Pope had sent back the constitutions rather with repro- bation than with approbation. 11 " If," he continued, " we fell at Clarendon, we ought now to rise again ; if we there swore wrongly, unlawful oaths are not to be observed." b In the mean time the barons had determined that, as the Archbishop had refused to abide a trial in the King's Court, his contumacy must be punished with imprison- ment: 0 and, as the bishops took their seats on the side of the hall opposite to the Archbishop, the Earl of Leicester, at the head of a body of nobles and others, entered to pronounce the sentence. The Earl advanced until he reached the place where the Archbishop was sitting, but Becket did not rise to receive him, and regarded him with a haughty look. Speaking slowly, and with evident unwillingness, from a recollection of their former friendship, the Earl recounted the benefits which Becket had received from the King, and the unworthy return which he had made. " Hear, then," he said, "your sentence." "Nay, son Earl," interrupted Becket, " do you first hear me." He repeated his ob- jections to the proceedings against him, and declared 3 "Potius improbatoe quani up- I b Fitzst., i. 235 ; Garnier, 41. probata;."— Fitzst, i. 235. I c Hoveden, 283 b. A.D. 1164. COUNCIL OF NORTHAMPTON*. 127 that, even if laymen might judge a bishop, no sentence could be pronounced on one who had appealed to a higher tribunal. " What ? " asked the Earl, " how can you decline the King's judgment, since you hold your estates from him in fee and barony ? " "I hold nothing in fee or barony," was the answer ; " but whatever the Church has, she holds in free and perpetual alms, with- out being subject to any earthly dominion." And he went on to declare, that, as much as the soul is more pre- cious than the body, so much and far more was the Earl bound to obey God and him rather than any earthly sovereign ; that the priesthood is superior to royalty as much as gold to lead ; a that as the son must not condemn the father, he declined all judgment from a secular tri- bunal, and charged the Earl in God's name, under pain of anathema, to proceed no further, since he had appealed to the Pope, who alone was competent to judge him. b Eaising his crosier aloft, he proceeded slowly to leave the chamber, followed by Herbert of Bosham. c A tumult of voices arose in mockery and reproach. Among the foremost of his assailants were Eanulph de Broc, a Since Gregory VII. 's time, the ingenuity of the hierarchical party had been exercised in finding illus- trations of the superiority of eccle- siastical over temporal power. Becket retails Gregory's expres- sions as to this, with the instances (partly fabulous) by which they were enforced. (S. T. C, iii. 373-4.) Gregory declared the two powers to be the work of God and the devil respectively. ''Hardouin, vi. 1471.) Honorius of Autun regards Abel as a type of ecclesiastical authority, and Cain of secular. (De Apos- tolico et Augusto, c. 1, Patrol., clxxii.) b Grim, i. 47 ; Roger, i. 141 ; Fitzst., i. 235 ; Alan, i. 348 ; Herb., vii. 147; Garnier, 44-5; Hove- den, 283 b ; Gervas., 1393. Foliot strongly argues that in a secular cause the Archbishop ought not to have declined the King's judg- ment. (S. T. C, v. 275, seqq.) « Herb., vii. 148. 128 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. and Earl Hameliu, the King's bastard brother, who cried out that he was going away as a traitor. At this, the Arch- bishop's impatient temper broke loose. He reminded De Broc that one of his near relations had been hanged (a misfortune, says one of the biographers, which had never befallen any of the Beckets a ) ; and to Hamelin he applied the most hateful terms, adding that, but for his orders, he would prove him a liar in single combat. From the council chamber the Archbishop passed into the hall, where many of the King's servants and persons of inferior condition were collected. A pile of firewood lay in the way, and against this he incautiously struck his foot, so that he had difficulty in saving liimself from a fall. Immediately the uproar became louder than before. Cries of " Perjured !"" Traitor !" " Stay and hear your judgment ! " with hootings and yells of insult, sounded from, every side ; the way was hindered by the crowd ; wisps of the straw with which the floor was covered, and other light missiles, were thrown at him. " The clamour of abuse and tumult," says Grim, " was no less than if the four quarters of a city were on fire, or entered by an enemy." It seemed as if the Archbishop might be torn in pieces, when the King, who had been informed of the scene which was passing, sent orders that he should be suffered to depart without hindrance. In the courtyard the Archbishop mounted his horse, but on reaching the outer gate of the castle a new difficulty occurred, — the gate was locked, and the porter « Will. Caut., ii. 13. The bio- graphers in general say nothing of Beekot s answers to De Broc and Hamelin. According to Gamier, " Le sainz huoin ne (list mo', lhni< u'lant e'en ala." — .6. a.i,. NORTHAMPTON. 129 had quitted his post. 3 In this emergency, however, the attendant who had been holding the horse observed a large bunch of keys hanging near the gate, and, either by miraculously choosing the right key at once, b or by trying them one after another until he found it 0 (for both accounts are given by various biographers), he opened the gate, and the Archbishop issued forth. 1 ' Immediately after, a herald appeared, commanding, in the King's name, and under pain of death, that no violence or insult should be offered to him, — a command which Foliot, in reproaching Becket with his ingratitude to Henry, compares to David's charge, " Deal gently with the young man Absalom." 6 The multitude without the castle, who had been anxiously waiting for the result of the day, and had even supposed the Archbishop to be already killed/ received him with enthusiasm. He rode through the crowded streets, with his cross in his hand, bestowing his benediction as he passed.* 5 ' On reaching St. Andrew's monastery, he entered the chapel, and, as the hour of nones was passed, he celebrated that office and vespers together ; 11 after which, having deposited his crosier beside the altar of St. Mary, he proceeded to the refec- * Gervase tells us that he was busy iu beating a boy. (1393.) h Roger, i. 142 ; Gamier, 47. c Alan, i. 349. d Grim, i. 47-8 ; Koger, i. 142 ; Fitzst. i. 230. c Fitzst., i. 236 ; Foliot, iii. 280 ; H ived., 284 ; Garnier, 40*. ' Alan, i. 349. B Fitzsteplien seems to say that he took up Herbert of Bosham be- hind him. " Suum ascendens, ma- gistium Herbertuin, qui equum liroprium, propter pressuram ni- miam, tarn eito habere non poterat, seeum ad hospitium transvexit." (i. 230.) But Herbert himself says, "cum essenius in equis." (vii. 148.) b Roger, i. 143 ; Garnier, 40. K 130 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. tory. Here he was waited on by many members of his household — knights and youths of gentle birth, who, in fear of the King's anger, requested with a mixture of grief and shame that they might be released from his service ; and, having obtained his consent, they left him. 8 These, says Herbert, might be excused, as laymen, and therefore more within reach of the King's indignation ; but he and others of the biographers reflect severely on the learned clerks, as many as forty in number, who, having been entertained by the Archbishop in his pros- perity, deserted him, " swallow-like," on the approach of the storm. b As the usual companions of his table had disappeared, the Archbishop (of course with an intended reference to the parables) ordered the crowd from with- out to be called in, and entertained as many of them as could find room. His demeanour at supper was cheerful, and he addressed to his attendants a few words of exhor- tation on the duty of enduring insults quietly. " It is," he said, " the mark of a higher character to bear such tilings, and of a lower to do them. As they are masters of their tongues, so are we masters of our ears. It is not against me that evil is spoken, but against Him who takes note of the evil as spoken against himself." c In the passage of the ' Tripartite History,' which according to the custom of the time was read during the meal, a persecuted bishop was represented as quoting the text " When they persecute you in one city, flee ye to another;" and at the moment the eyes of the Arcb- » Fitzst., i. 237. b Herb., i. 149 ; Eoger, i. 136. r Fitzst., i. 236 ; Eoger, i. 143. A.D. 1164. NORTHAMPTON. 131 bishop met those of Herbert, as if the words suggested the same thought to both. a Before the end of the meal the Bishops of London and Chichester appeared, and proposed that the Arch- bishop should make his peace by resigning to the King for a time the manors of Otford and Mundeham. He replied that the King already had one manor which rightfully belonged to the Church of Canterbury, and that, rather than resign even his claim to that manor, he was willing to expose his head (which he touched as he spoke) to any hazard. 1 " He then sent the Bishops of Rochester, Hereford, and Worcester to request the King's safe conduct for his return to Canterbury, and permission to go abroad. 0 These envoys found Henry in good humour, but he deferred his answer until the morrow ; and late in the evening Becket was informed by two great noblemen (probably the Earls who have been already often named) with the strongest protesta- tions of their truth, that some powerful and audacious men had conspired his death. 11 Everything seemed to point to the expediency of flight. The Archbishop signified his intention of spending the night in the chapel ; his bed was prepared behind the high altar, and the monks, on going to sing the * Herb., vii. 150, says that the passage was the account of the persecution of Pope Liberius. The text in question, however, is not quoted there, but by the Arian Bishop Deraophilus, on being turned out of Constantinople by Theodosius. Cassiodor. Hist. Trip., ix. 10. b Alan, i. 350. c One writer speaks of return to Canterbury ; another of " egres- suin de terra." Fitzst., i. 237 ; Alan, i. 350 ; Herb., vii. 150. d Joh. Sarisb. S. T. C, i. 330. K 2 132 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VII. compline office, saw him apparently asleep. 3 But while these things were done to prevent suspicion, the means of escape were provided ; horses were in waiting without the walls of the monastery ; and in the middle of a dark and stormy night he passed through the unguarded north gate of Northampton." ■ Garnier, 48. b Koger, i. 144. For defences of his flight see Joh. Sarisb. in S. T. C, i. 330 ; Anon. Lambeth., ii. 98 ; Joh. Sarisb. Opera, ed. Giles, ii. 82 ; Buss, 325. A.D. 11G4. ( 333 ) CHAPTER VIII. THE BEGINNING OF EXILE. — Oct. 1164-Jan. 1165. The Archbishop was accompanied in his flight by two monks of Sempringham and by one of his own lay domestics. 3 After having ridden about five-and-twenty miles, in rain so heavy that Becket's clothes were saturated with water, and he was fain to lessen the weight of his cloak by twice cutting off the lower part of it, they rested for some hours at a village which is called by the biographers Graham or Grabam ; b and early on the following morning they entered the city of Lincoln, where they found lodgings at the house of one James, a fuller by trade, who was " known to the brethren." c Here the Archbishop disguised himself in a monastic dress, and assumed the name of Brother Christian, or Dearman. d From Lincoln he descended the Witham * Roger, i. 144. See Ap- pendix XVIII. b Roger, i. 145 ; Herb., vii. 162 ; Gervase, 1393. The editor of Robert of Gloucester inserts in brackets the letters nt in the middle of the word Graham; but the position of Grantham does not very well agree with the descrip- tion. Perhaps Grertham, near Oakham, or Gretton, may be meant. " Grim, i. 48 ; Herb., vii. 162. The word fullonit becomes in the printed Gervase (1393) Fulconis,a.s if it were a proper name, while in the Quailriloguc (63) and in Dr. Giles's edition of Alan (8. T. C, i. 351) it is feloms 1 d Both names are given. Sober 134 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. about forty miles, to a lonely hermitage among the fens, belonging to the monks of Sempringham," where he remained three days for the purpose of recruiting his strength ; and in the mean time measures were taken to facilitate his farther progress. Travelling by an unusual route, and chiefly during the night, he was received by a succession of friendly monks who had been secretly warned of his coming ; and at length he reached Eastry, near Sandwich, a manor belonging to the monastery of Christchurch in Canterbury. 15 At this place he waited a week for the means of passing over to the Continent ; and we are told that a small opening was made from his chamber into the church, so that without being seen he was able to share in the offices, to see the elevation of the Host, to receive the pax from a clerk who was in the secret, and to bestow his blessing on the people. 0 On All Souls' day, before daybreak, he embarked at Sandwich in a little boat managed by two priests, and in the evening he reached the opposite coast. d On the same day a party of bishops and others, whom the King had commissioned to plead his cause with the Pope, crossed the sea from Dover. of Gloucester is amusing on the change of name : — " Forth rod this holi man As a frere. and let him clepen FrerS Christian. For he nolde lie nozt; Christene he was, And he was adrad to beon ikaowe if me clipede him 1'homas."— 59. m It is called by the biogra- phers Haverolot, which seems to mean Haverholme. See the Mo- nasticon, vi. 949. b Koger, i. 145-6; Herb., vii. 162-3; Gamier, 49-50; Gervase, 1393 ; Hoveden, 283, b. c Alan, 352 ; Gervase, 1393 ; K. Glouc, 58. d Job. Sarisb. in S. T. 0., i. 330. See Appendix XIX. A.D. 11 04. THE ARCHBISHOP'S FLIGHT. 135 The biographers tell us that, while the Saint found the water delightfully calm, his enemies were tossed about by a violent tempest, so that Foliot in terror threw off his cloak and hood — a contrast which brings to Herbert's mind the exemption of Israel from the Egyptian plagues. 1 Into the probability of this story it is needless to inquire ; but we may learn something as to Herbert's veracity from the fact that, in a passage which he seems to have forgotten, he had already described the Arch- bishop as having suffered from the roughness of the voyage ; b nor can there be any doubt that, if the contrast had been reversed, an explanation favourable to the great hierarchical hero would equally have been put on it. 0 The Archbishop did not yet consider himself out of danger. The news of his ilight had by this time spread, and every traveller from England was naturally looked on with suspicion. The Count of Boulogne was to be dreaded, because Becket, while Chancellor, had on religious grounds opposed his marriage with King Stephen's daughter, the Abbess of Rornsey, who by the death of her brothers had become heiress to that county.' 1 » Fitzst. i. 238; Herb., vii. 169. h vii. 1G3. c The inference of the bio- graphers, for instance, is very different when they have to relate the speedy passage of the Arch- bishop's murderers to England. Quadr., iii. 12. d Bee Alex.III.,Ep.ll4 (Patrol., cc.) ; Herb., vii. 1GG. It is to the part which Henry took in this marriage of a nun that the Afflig- liem eontinuer of Sigebert traces the troubles of his latter years ( Patrol. , clx. 29 1 ) . The Countess, after having borne two children, returned to the monastic life " unde invita discesserat." Rob. de Monte, ib. 511. 136 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. The Count of Flanders and the other chiefs of the country had already received letters from Henry, de- siring them to aid him in seizing the " traitor." a It seemed well, therefore, to avoid the ports, and the fugitives landed on the sand, about a league from Gravelines. The Archbishop, unused to walking on rough ground, and encumbered by his long dress and clumsy monkish shoes, stumbled, fell, and cut his hands ; whereupon he lay down on the ground, de- claring himself weary and unable to go any farther. A boy was sent to the next village in quest of a horse, and the length of his absence gave occasion for all manner of apprehensions. At last, however, he returned, bringing with him a beast such as Father Blackhal would have styled " a lasche jadde," b and with no other equipment than a halter made of hay. The monks spread their cloaks by way of a saddle, and the Archbishop mounted ; but after riding a little — as Johnson gave up talking French to Paoli on " finding that he did not do it with facility," 0 — he judged it " easier and more respectable" d to betake himself to his feet again. Various other incidents of his journey are related — • Herb., vii. 166. b Gilbert Blackhal, a Koman Catholic priest of Scotch birth ami French education in the seven- teenth century, wrote ' A Brief Narration of the Services done to three Noble Ladies,' ■which was printed for the Spalding Club, Aberdeen, 1844. This had lately been noticed in the ' English Keview ' at the time when the articles on Becket were written ; and I have retained the mention of Blackhal here, because it may possibly be the means of directing some reader to a very amusing and curious book. « Boswell, iii. 82, ed. 1835. d " Tolerabilius et honestius." Koger, i. 146-7. A.D. 1164. THE ARCHBISHOP'S FLIGHT. 137 how, as be was passing through a town, a woman struck with his appearance, and compassionating his evident weariness, rushed into her house, and returned to present him with a stick — which, although sooty, greasy, and scorched, from having been employed for drying fish in a chimney, he accepted graciously, and gladly made use of; a how he was near betraying himself by the interest with which he looked at a falcon on a young knight's wrist — a relapse into his earlier tastes for which Alan supposes that the ex-Chancellor may have suffi- ciently atoned by the anxiety to which it exposed him ; b how, at a hostelry where he spent a night, the landlord discovered him, although he took no precedence of his companions, by his lofty and noble look, the whiteness of his long and slender hands, c and the air with which he distributed morsels from his plate to the children of the house ; how the landlady, being informed of her husband's suspicions, began to distinguish " Brother Christian " above her other guests by especially waiting on him, and placing apples, nuts, and cheese before him ; and how the Saint had much ado to keep the worthy couple from indiscreetly betraying his secret to others, who might have been less disposed to reverence him. At length the party reached the Cistercian mo- " Roger, i. 147. b "Forte timor ille hujus vani- tatis culpam ipso tempore potuit diluere." The Knight said, " Either that is the Archbishop of Canterbury, or some one very like him." " Do you think that Archbishops of Canterbury tramp in this style?" asked some one; but tlie question is variously as- cribed to the Knight's companion, to one of Becket's companions, and to the Archbishop himself. Roger, i. 147; Fitzst. i. 238; Alan, i. 352. c See Appendix XX. 138 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. nastery of Clair-Marais ; but feeling themselves still insecure, they left this place by night in a boat, and proceeded onward to a cell on a little island, belonging to the abbey of Sithiu or St. Bertin. a Here they were joined by Herbert of Bosham, who had been charged by Becket at Northampton to repair to Canterbury and endeavour to secure some portion of the archiepiscopal rents, which were then in course of payment. The King, however, had lost no time in ordering that the Primate's property should be placed under custody, as the pending appeals to the Pope prevented a confisca- tion ; and Herbert had only been able to lay hands on a hundred marks, with some silver plate. b After having spent three days at the cell, the Archbishop removed, at the abbot's invitation, to the great abbey of St. Bertin, e which was close to the town of St. Omer ; and as his arrival there took place on a Wednesday, he carried with him a large fish, which had miraculously jumped out of the water into his bosom, in order that the arrival of the party might not press too heavily on the fast-day provisions of their hosts. d Sixty-seven years before, Anselm of Canterbury had visited St. Bertin's, when driven from England for a cause which was identified with that of Becket under the name of the Church's liberty ; e and in the same a Chron. Sithiense, ap. Bouquet, xiv. 473 ; Alan, i. 353 ; Herb. vii. 170. b Herb., vii. 151, 1G7-8. c Chron. Sith., 1. c. d Alau, i. 353. Mr. Buss is so indifferent a " Catholic " as to omit this miracle; not so Mr. Morris, 156. e Eadmer, Vita Ansclmi, p. 19, ap. Anselm. ed. Gerberon ; Annates de Marg., a.d. 1103, ap. Gale, ii. A.D. 1164. ST. BERTIn's. 139 monastery Theobald had since found a refuge when banished for attending a papal council in defiance of King Stephen's command. a At St. Bertin's the Arch- bishop had an interview with the Grand Justiciary De Luci, who, during the late troubles, had been engaged on a pilgrimage to Compostella, and was now returning by an indirect way, for the sake of transacting some business for his master with the King of France and the Count of Flanders. b This old friend strongly urged him to return to England, and undertook to make his peace with the King ; but finding his advice ineffectual, he became angry, and told the Archbishop that he must no longer reckon on his support. " You owe me homage," said Becket, " and must not speak to me in this style." " I return you my homage," answered De Luci. " I did not give it to you as a loan," rejoined the Archbishop ; and on these terms they parted. c In the mean time Henry's envoys, the Earl of Arundel, the Bishop of London, and Kichard of Ilchester, arch- deacon of Poitiers, who were charged with a letter re- questing that the fugitive might not be harboured in France, had an audience of the French King at Com- piegne. Louis VEL had in his earlier days come roughly into collision with the Church by invading the right of • Gervase. 1364. b Fitzstephen says merely, " a domino rege Fraiieoruin rediens " (i. 239) ; Grim and Roger state that he was on a mission to the Count of Flanders (i. 40, 147). I have combined these statements with Gander's — " De saint Jame par Flandres sun chemin acuilli." (p. 51), which accounts for the non-occurrence of the Justiciary's name at Northampton. c Grim, i. 49 ; Roger, i. 148 ; Gamier, 81. 140 LIFE OF BECKET. I Chap. VIII. election to bishoprics, and otherwise," and had once been placed under a solemn interdict. His character, however, had undergone a change, and, from the time of the disastrous crusade in which he embarked at the instance of Pope Eugene and St. Bernard, while his reputation as a Sovereign had sunk, his devotion to the Church had become more and more submissive and super- stitious. His rivalry to Henry b and Ins religious feelings combined to engage him in the interest of Becket. Soon after the breaking out of the troubles he had sent an assurance to the Archbishop that, if his fortunes should take him into France, he might reckon on being received " not as a Bishop or an Archbishop, but as a partner of his kingdom ;" c and Becket, in thanking him, had pro- ■ See St. Bernard's strong lan- guage against him, Epp. 224, 22G. b John of Salisbury writes from France to the Archbishop a little before the Council of Northamp- ton : — '' Regeni nostrum Franci timent pariter et oderunt, sed tamen quod ad illos quieto et alto somno dormire potest.'' (Ep. 134, col. 114.) Walter Mapes mentions a curious conversation with Louis: — " Contigit ut cum rege moram facerem aliquamdiu Parisius, mecumque tractaret de regum divitiis, inter sermones alios dixit, Quia sicut diversse sunt re- gum opes, ita multis distiucta; sunt varietatibus. In lapidibus pretio- sis, leonibus et pardis et elephantis, divitUB regis Indorum ; in auro pamrisque sericis imperator Bizan- ciis et rex Siculus gloriautur ; sed homines non habent qui sciunt aliud quam loqui ; rebus enim bellicis inepti sunt. Imperator Romanus, quern dicunt Alemannorum, ho- mines habet armis aptos et equos bellicos, non aurum, non sericum, non aliam opulentiam. Karolus enim magnus, cum terram illam a Saracenis conquisisset, omnia prae- ter munitioues et castella pro Christo dedit archiepiscopis et episcopis, quos per civitates con- versus iustituit. Dominus autein tuus, rex Angliie, cui nihil deest, homines, equos, aurum, et sericum, gemmas, et fructus et feras et omnia possidet. Nos in Francia nihil habemus nisi pattern et vinum et gaudium." — De Nugis Curia- lium, 215-G. c iv. 253. Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 134, col. 113, c. a.d. 1164. MISSION TO THE FRENCH KING. 141 tested that, next to the King of England, there was "no mortal man in whom he more trusted for good, and honour, and support.'" 1 The King's behaviour to the English ambassadors was a strong declaration as to the part which he was resolved to take. When their master's letter was read, in which Thomas was designated as " late Archbishop of Canterbury " b — " Who then," said Louis, " has deposed him? I am a King as well as the King of England ; but I should have no power to depose the meanest clerk in my dominions." To the demand that he should give Becket up, in compliance with an agreement between the two Sovereigns for mutual sur- render of fugitives, he answered that he knew of no such agreement, but that, if one existed, it could not imply the delivery of the Archbishop, who was not the English King's vassal, but rather his lord and patron. The Earl of Arundel c reminded the King of the damage which Becket had done to France in the war of Toulouse ; but Louis replied that in this the Chancellor had acted as a faithful servant of his Sovereign, who had since requited him most unworthily. And at last, when the envoys requested him to write to the Pope, desiring him not to favour Becket, he not only refused, but despatched a messenger with a request that Alexander would show his love for him by treating the banished Archbishop with love. d • iii. 383. b " Qui Cantuariensis fuit Archi- epiacopus.'' Bouquet, xvi. 107. The letter dues not appear to be in Dr. Gilea s collection. ' William de Albini, who bad married the widow of Huiry I. d Grim, i. 50-1 ; Roger, i. 149-50; Herb. vii. 171 ; Gurnicr, M-i. 142 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. From Compiegne the envoys, reinforced by Eoger of York, the Bishops of Chichester and Exeter, and others, proceeded to the court of the Pope at Sens ; but so strong was the general feeling in favour of Becket — (for Henry was popularly believed abroad to have usurped the whole administration of the Chmch) a — that the prelates of the party thought it well to disguise themselves as members of the Earl of Arundel's household. 11 Herbert of Bosham and another of Becket's train were appointed to watch the movements of the Ambassadors and to counteract their efforts. They arrived at Com- piegne a day later, and were received by Louis with the most gratifying affability and sympathy. " The King of England," he said, " ought, before treating such a friend and so eminent a person as the Archbishop so harshly, to have remembered the verse ' Be ye angry, and sin not.' " " Perhaps, Sir," said Herbert's com- panion, " he would have remembered it if he had heard it as often as we have done in church." At this sally * The chronicler of St. Bertin's says that, with the assent of " Ro- derick " of York, the Bishop of London, and Richard, Archdeacon of Poitiers [all rnemhers of this legation], with all his harons, Henry, " contra jus fasque pro suis gratibus omnem dignitatem et ecclesiastics discipline cen- suram sibi violenter usurpavit." (a.d. I0G4. Bouquet, xiv. 473.) Another chronicler says that the Archbishop was banished " propter veritatem et mansuetudinein et justitiam " (Audr. Marcianensis, ib. 422) ; and the historian of Ve'zelay, "Contigit ut [Thomas] usurpanti regi in morem Ozi® jura ecclesiastica velut alter Jonas [Azarias?] constanter restiterit." (Patrol, cxciv. 1644.) b Fitzstephen, 240. Grim and Roger say that the first mission returned from the King of France, and that Henry then sent a second to the Pope. (i. 51, 151.) But this seems very unlikely, and more espe- cially as the first envoys were all included in the legation to the Pope. A.D. 1164. AUDIENCES OF LOUIS AND THE POrE. 143 the King condescended to smile, and lie dismissed the messengers with an assurance of safety for the Archbishop throughout all his dominions, declaring it to be one of the " royal dignities " of France to defend the persecuted, and especially those who were suffering for the Church. 8 On reaching Sens, Herbert and his companion were admitted in the evening to a private interview with the Pope, to whom they detailed the course of the Arch- bishop's labours, perils, and sufferings. Alexander lis- tened with interest, and even with tears. " Your master," he said, "although he is yet living in the flesh, may claim tbe privilege of martyrdom." b The following day was appointed for the audience of the English King's ambassadors, who had arrived at Sens on the day before Herbert. The Bishop of London opened the case by strongly blaming the Trimate for the evils which had arisen. In allusion to the flight from Northampton, he quoted the text " The wicked fleeth when no man pur- sueth." " Spare, brother," said the Pope. " I will spare him, my Lord." " I do not mean that you should spare him, but yourself," rejoined the Pope : " it is clear that without cause you hate and persecute an innocent man ;" and so much was Foliot confused by these words, that he paused and said no more. c The next speaker was Hilary of Chichester, whose delight in the music of his own eloquence is a subject of frequent amusement to the writers of the opposite party. • Herb. vii. 172. The speech 124. as to royal dignities seems also to b Herb. vii. 174. have done service on other occa- c Roger, i. 151 ; Alan, i. 35G. sions. See S. T. C, i. 370 ; iii. 144 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. His grammatical acquirements, however, were not on a level with his rhetoric, and the portentous word oportue- bat excited the laughter of his hearers. " You have got badly into port at last," cried one of them ; and, after a vain attempt to recover himself, the unlucky orator broke do\vn. a The Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Exeter followed, and the King's cause was wound up by the Earl of Arundel, who avoided an exhibition like that which had been made by his diocesan, by speaking in his native tongue, the only one which he professed to under- stand. His speech, which was marked by skill, vigour, and judgment, made a far greater impression than those of the ecclesiastics. He reminded the Pope of King Henry's good service and attachment ; he allowed the Archbishop's high merits, and requested that the Pontiff would study to restore harmony, for the sake both of the Church and of the kingdom. b It was remarked that (with the exception of Foliot's mistake) the speakers refrained from attacking Becket, and preferred to insist on the merits of Henry ; so that, although the Arch- bishop's clerks were present, and ready to speak in their master's defence, the Pope declared no defence to be necessary, inasmuch as nothing had been said against him. To the repeated praises of the King, Alexander uniformly answered that he was glad to hear so much in » Alan, i. 356 ; Herb. viii. 244. Gamier' s account of the speeches may be quoted — " Deuant la pape esturent li messagier real, Alqnant diseknt bien, pluisur diseient u.al, Li alquant en Latin, tel ben, tel anomal, Tel qui fist persouel del uerbe imper- sonal, Singuler e plurel aueit tut par igal." (55.) b Alan, i. 35C-8; Gervase, 139(J. A.D. 1164. henry's ENVOYS AT SENS. 145 his commendation, and that he prayed God to increase his virtues. 8 Finding the result of the audience unsatisfactory, the ambassadors attempted to gain Alexander by private solicitations ; but they found him inflexible, although they were authorised to make various tempting offers, such as that Peter-pence, which had hitherto been exacted only from the villeins in England, should in future be paid by other classes, and should be secured to the see of Eome for ever. b He refused to depose the Archbishop or to send him back ; " for," says Herbert, " for one to contend in an island against the king of the island is as if a chained prisoner were to contend against his gaoler." 0 And, although he had promised at the public audience to send two cardinals to England, agreeably to the desire of Henry, who had reason to believe such dignitaries to be not inaccessible to money, he absolutely refused to commit to these legates the final decision of the matter in dispute ; never, he said, would he abdicate his office by granting a commission in which the appeal to himself should not be reserved. 4 The ambassadors hurried away from Sens, partly be- cause the King's instructions had limited their stay there to three days, so that they could no| w ait, as the Pope desired them to do, until they should be able to hold a discussion in his presence with Becket himself; and partly because they had reason to believe that some kuiglits of the neighbourhood, " out of favour to the • Fitzst., i. 241. b lb. c vii. 176. d Roger, i. 151 ; Alan, i. 358 ; Gamier, 50 ; Gervase, 1396. L 146 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. Archbishop and of hatred to themselves," as Herbert says, had formed a design of attacking and plundering them. 3 On the fourth day after their departure, the Archbishop of Canterbury entered the city. From St. Bertin's he had sent a request that the Count of Flanders would grant him a safe conduct, but the an- swer was equivocal or worse, so that, on receiving it, he resolved to set out at once and by night. b He was accompanied to Soissons by the Abbot of St. Bertin's and by Mdes, Bishop of Terouanne, a prelate of English birth. 0 The French King, on being informed of his arrival, waited on him at his lodgings, and pressed on him zealous offers of support ; d and now, by the munifi- cence of Louis, he appeared with a train of three hun- dred horsemen. The advancing and the retiring parties had seen each other by the way, on the opposite banks of a river, and Guy, Dean of Waltham, had been de- tached by the English ambassadors to observe the Primate's reception by the Pope. 6 Alexander IIT. was a Churchman of the highest hierarchical school. His views as to the relation of a Herb., vii. 176 ; Fitzst,, i. 251. Cornp. Giles, Life and Letters, i. 288. « b Grim, i. 49-50 ; Eoger, i. 149 ; Gamier, 52. c Eoger, i. 149 ; Sigeb. Contin. Valeellens. in Patrol., clx., 386. This Miles was nephew and suc- cessor of another of the same name. Daunou, who wrote a notice of him in the ' Hist. Litt. de la France' (xiii. 286-7), was not aware of his English birth. d Gervase, 1397. e Grim, i. 51 ; Fitzst., i. 242 ; Herb. vii. 177. It is said that at Lille there is a house which boasts of having been St. Thomas of Canterbury's lodging (whether at this time or on Ins return, does not appear), and bears the in- scription " Sancto Thomas Can- turbicnsi, hujus aidis quondam hospiti, sit laus, honor, et gloria.'' Digby, Mores Catholici, x. 369, ed. 1. A.D. 1164. ALEXANDER III. 147 sacerdotal and secular power had been memorably ex- pressed some years before, when, as legate of his prede- cessor Adrian, he exasperated Frederick Barbarossa and the princes of Germany by asking, " From whom but the Pope does the Emperor hold his crown ? " a He had proudly refused the invitation to submit the question of his election to a council convened by the Emperor, and in consequence of this it was that, while his rival Octavian was acknowledged and upheld by Frederick, Alexander had been obliged to leave Italy as a fugitive. It was, therefore, natural that the Pope's sympathies should be with the champion of the clerical immunities, and the power of the king in whose dominions he had found an asylum contributed to sway him in the same direction. There were, however, contrary forces, which acted on him with considerable strength. He had reason to fear the Eniperor and the Antipope ; for, although his ori- ginal opponent Octavian, or Victor IV., had died in April, 11 04, a successor, Guy of Crema, had been set up, under the name of Paschal III., and was sup- ported by the Imperial influence. A breach with the King of England was to be dreaded above all things. Henry had been earlier and firmer in his support of Alexander than Louis, who, indeed, had been mainly secured to that Pope's interest through the influence of the English King. b His wealth, which exceeded that of 1 Otto de S. Bias. c. 8, ap. Miliar tervention of Coclestinc III. for tor. Rer. Italic. Scriptures, vi. Richard I. in his captivity). Pagi b Pet. 151cs., Ep. 114, in Patrol., thinks this letter inconsistent with ccvi. 1 2G-t (written in the name of one in which Archbishop Theobald Queen Eleanor, to request the in- urges Henry to join Alexander, on L 2 1-48 LIFE OF BECKET. Cn,\r. VIII. any other sovereign, was essential to the maintenance of the Pope's cause ; and with such considerations, both from the past and from the future, to sway him, we may imagine the apprehension with which the Pope must have learnt that an emissary of Henry had been long at the Imperial Court, 8 and must have heard the hints which were broadly uttered by the lay members of the late legation, that their master, if provoked, might possibly transfer his obedience to Paschal. 1 Moreover, although in their general views Alexander and Becket were agreed, they differed widely both in the choice of a primary object and in character. To the English Primate the whole cause of the Church seemed to be bound up in the struggle for the immunity of the English clergy from temporal laws and courts, while the Pope was mainly intent on asserting the pretensions of the Papacy against the Empire : and whereas the most striking characteristic of Becket was the bold impetu- osity of his spirit, Alexander's great strength consisted in a patient and indomitable tenacity, which, after years of exile from Italy, and a far longer term of exclusion from his own city, enabled him at length to humble the pride of Frederick, not only before the see of St. Peter, but before the new-born independence of its Lombard allies. Hence, although in other circum- stances the Pope might have been ready to act with the ground that the French church was said to have already acknow- ledged him (Joh. Bar., Ep. 48; Pagi in Baron., xtx. 178 ». But Theohald mentions this only as a report, and says nothing of the French King. * iv. 254. b Herb., vii. 175 ; Milman, iii. 478. A.D. 1164. ALEXANDER III. 149 vigour and steadiness for the maintenance of Becket' s cause, it is evident that lie had been alarmed and annoyed by so unseasonable an outbreak of differ- ences between the Primate and the Kino- of England. Although, therefore, the conduct of Alexander, if we limit our view to the controversy which is now before us, will probably appear to us vacillating, crooked, double, and pusillanimous, a wider consideration may perhaps suggest a somewhat more favourable estimate of it, and we may even doubt whether, in the same circumstances, Becket would have obtained from the great hierarch Gregory VII. himself any more constant and open support than that which he received from Alexander. Yet this is no justification of that policy by which Gregory and Alexander alike were ready to sacrifice their friends for the sake of their own greater objects ; and those writers have indeed undertaken a difficult task who feel themselves bound to defend alike the tortuous caution of the Pope and the headstrong vehemence of the Archbishop. Either Becket was too narrow, or Alexander was too unscrupulous. Alexander, on receiving the first reports of the diffi- culties in which the English Primate was involved, had earnestly exhorted him to patience and conciliation in his dealings with the King. a The feelings of the Papal Court, soon after the Council of Westminster, are thus represented by an emissary of the Archbishop in a letter to his master : " They all extol in you that courage of which they feel themselves in every way » Thorn., Epp. 108, 200, &c. 150 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. devoid. They are all in such a state of imbecility that they seem to fear God less than men. So much are they affrighted by a number of things which have happened all at once, that at this time they would not dare to offend any prince in any point — especially the King of England — nor, even if they could, would they attempt to succour the Church of God, which is in danger all over the world." a The utmost help that could at that time be obtained from the Pope was a recommendation of the Archbishop and his Church to the prayers of some Cistercian communities. 11 When, however, Becket visited him at Sens, Alexander was disposed to take a more decided part. The King of F ranee's letter and the imposing cavalcade of three hundred were not without their effect on him. As the Archbishop approached the city, he was met by a number of cardinals on horseback, (although it is said that the greater part of those dignitaries had been gained by King Henry's money,) and, on his entrance into the Pope's presence, Alexander, as formerly at the Council of Tours, rose up to receive him. 0 A day or two later he was again admitted to an audience for the purpose of stating his cause — a task which devolved on " iv. 251. There is a similar picture of the papal court, with strong allusions to its venality, in a letter of John of Salisbury, written about the same time. Ep, 134, col. 114. >> S. T. C, iv. 255 ; vi. 248. There is among Foliot's epistles ( Ep. 378 ) a strange forgery, purporting to he a letter from Alexander in the first year of his pontificate, telling the King of England, with much abuse of Becket, that the Arch- bishop is degraded, and urging Henry to expel him from the kingdom. « Fitzst., i. 242. A.D. 1164. INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 1.31 the Archbishop himself, as his clerks, although there were many learned canonists and eloquent speakers among them, declined it, out of fear lest they should render themselves especially obnoxious to the King.* The Pope placed him at his right hand, and, as he was about to rise for the purpose of speaking, desired him to remain seated. After a short opening, in which he declared himself willing to endure anything rather than consent to the demands which were made against the liberties of the Church, the Archbishop threw him- self on his knees, and, instead of the present which was customary in such cases, b spread out before the Pope the parchment which he had received at Clar- endon. The Constitutions were then read aloud, and the Pope emphatically expressed his disapproval of them. Some, he said, might have been borne with, although none were good ; but ten out of the sixteen he pronounced abominable, as being contrary to ancient canons and to all that was holy, and he anathematized all who should observe them. 0 William of Pavia, a cardinal who was supposed to be under especial obli- gations to the English King and to have planned the deposition of Becket, endeavoured to entangle him in disputation ; but the Archbishop, whose fluent and ele- gant Latin is said to have been no less admirable than his readiness in argument,* 1 broke through all his sophis- tries " like a spider's web," to the admiration of the * Roger, i. 152 ; Gamier, 57. b Gamier, 57. c The Constitutions are given by Herbert, in S. T. C, viii. 201, with notes of the Pope's approval or censure. d Gamier, 57-8. 152 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. whole assembly." The Pope strongly reproved Becket for having joined with the other English prelates in consenting to the Constitutions, even for a moment : a submission, he said, which amounted to renouncing their priesthood, and reducing the Church to the condition of a bondmaid. But he declared that the Archbishop's subsequent conduct had atoned for his passing weakness ; " and thus," says Herbert, " having first rebuked him with the severity of a father, he dismissed him with the sweetness of a mother's consolation." b On the following day the Archbishop was again ad- mitted to an interview with the Pope. He broke out into lamentations over the unhappy condition of the Church, and traced all her calamities to his own promo- tion, effected as it had been, not by a free canonical election, but by the intrusion of royal power. He pro- fessed that he had long been weary of his office ; that, from a wish not to give a precedent of sacrificing the Church's rights in order to appease a prince's anger, he had withstood the advice of liis brethren who wished him to resign it : but that he had only reserved his resignation until he should be in the presence of the supreme Pontiff, — in whose hands he now placed the See of Canterbury, beseeching him to appoint to it a successor more capable of benefiting the Church. So saying, he drew off the archiepiscopal ring, and delivered it to the Pope ; and the tears with which he accompanied the action affected all who were present. He then with- drew, and the conclave debated as to the acceptance of * Roger, i. 153. t> vii. 181 : cf. Alan, i. 361. A.i>. 1164. INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 153 his resi "-nation. Some of the Cardinals — "and these," says Alan, "were of the Pharisees'" 1 — bribed by the King of England, according to other writers — regarded it as the best means of extricating trie Church from the difficulties which beset her. But the opposite counsels prevailed ; the champion of the Church, it was said, ought to be restored, " even if unwilling," and to be assisted by all possible means. b And Becket received his office anew from the hands of the Pope, — a mode of appointment which precluded all scruples as to the regularity of his former title. 0 Alexander assured him of his constant support and sympathy, and commended liini to the care of the Abbot of Pontigny, a Cistercian monastery, about twelve leagues from Sens, which appears to have been chosen as a retreat by the Arch- bishop himself. d " Hitherto," he said, " you have lived in abundance and luxury ; but, that you may learn to be in future, as you ought to be, the comforter of the poor, and as this lesson can only be learnt under the tuition of poverty herself, who is the mother of religion, we have thought fit to commit you to the poor of Christ." e One of the King's ambassadors, John of Oxford, in his way homewards visited Henry's mother, the Empress Matilda, whom he endeavoured to prejudice against the Archbishop/ Our knowledge of this visit is derived from a letter in which Nicolas, master of a hospital at Mont S. Jacques, near Kouen, reports to Becket three inter- « i. 362. b lb. c See Appendix XXI. 1 Herb., 197 ; cf. iv. 243-4. Alan, i. 303 ; see Appen. XXII. ' According to Becket's enemies, Matilda had opposed his appoint- ment to tlio primacy (S. T. C, vi. 187). LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. views to which he himself and Herbert of Bosham were shortly after admitted by the Empress. 8 Matilda, after some hesitation, received from these envoys a letter with which the Archbishop had charged them, and requested them to read it aloud to her, as she did not wish her own chaplains to know of it. After hearing the contents, she professed that her son had kept her in ignorance of his designs, " because he knew that she was favourable to the liberty of the Church rather than to the royal will." At a later interview, she desired that the Consti- tutions of Clarendon might be read to her in Latin and explained in French. " The woman is of the race of tyrants," says Nicolas, " and approved some of them," — among others, that which prohibited the excommunication of the King's tenants without his leave ; to which Nicolas replied that Scripture says, " Tell it to the Church," not " Tell it to the Kiug." She disapproved, however, of the greater number, and especially of their being reduced to writing, and enforced on the bishops » Thorn., Ep. 346. This letter is placed by Mr. Fronde in January, 1166, as he connects it with a later mission of John to the Pope. Dr. Giles follows Mr. Froude in his date (iii. 340). But the letter evidently belongs to Christ- mas 1164; and I find that Dom Brial dates it accordingly (Kecueil des Historiens, xvi. 226). The words " Joannes de Oxeneford, qui, ex consilio episcoporum vcstrorum ad curiam reversus, et a curia veniens, per dominant imperatri- cem trausituni fecit " (iii. 188; are somewhat difficult. Mr. Froude, omitting " de consilio episcopo- rum," renders them, " John of Oxford, who on his way from Eng- land to the court, and on his re- turn, paid a visit to the Empress " (132). But unless we change the position of " reversus " and " ve- niens," the meaning seems rather to be that, after having left Sens in company with the other envoys, he returned to that city alone, and thence took his way to the Em- press, not having visited her before. A.D. 11G4. THE EMPRESS MATILDA. 155 by an engagement to observe them. Her skill in de- fending her son seems to have somewhat perplexed the envoys, and they were unable to gainsay her arguments as to the practical mischief of the clerical immunities. " She shows great discernment and reason in detecting the origin of the troubles of the Church ; for she said some things in which we quite went along with her. The bishops indiscreetly ordain clerks who are without titles to any churches ; whereby it comes to pass that a multitude of persons in orders, through poverty and idleness, fall into discreditable courses : for one who has no title to a benefice has no fear of deprivation. He does not fear punishment, because the Church will de- fend him ; nor does he dread the Bishop's prison, since Bishops would rather that crime a should pass unpunished than take the trouble of doing their duty as pastors or keeping him in custody." b It does not appear how, after having admitted the truth of these remarks, the envoys justified their master's proceedings : but they secured from the Empress a promise of her mediation with the King. They also report an interview with Arnulf of Lisieux, who told them that, but for his debts, he would openly avow his sympathy with the Archbishop, and character- istically promised to befriend him in so far as it might be possible to do so without compromising himself. 0 It was on Christmas eve that the King of England heard from his envoys the report of their ill-success at * " Commissum," Brial. The other editions) read " conversum." b Mr. Fronde omits all after " For one who," &c. — a somewhat important omission. ' Thorn., Ep. 346. Matilda re- appears in connexion with a pro- posal that liecket should have a conference with her, a.d. 1160'. Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 182. 1.36 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. the Papal Court. On the morrow of the festival, he issued orders that the Archbishop's property and the revenues of the See of Canterbury should be confiscated,* and that all Becket's kindred, clerks, and servants, with those who had harboured hirn in his flight, should be banished ; the same oppressive measure which had been threatened against Foliot, in order to overcome his op- position to Becket's election, being now enforced against the Primate himself. The Bishops were commanded to withhold from the clerks attached to him all the income of preferments within their respective dioceses, 15 and were required to bind themselves by a solemn promise that they would not quit the kingdom, hold communication with the exiles, appeal to the Pope in any matter what- ever, or receive any rescripts from hhn. Peterpence were to be gathered into the royal treasury, and to be kept there untd further order. It was forbidden to mention the Primate in the public prayers. The sheriffs were charged to arrest and imprison all persons who should appeal to the Pope ; and any one who should be caught in bringing letters from the Pope or the Archbishop was either to be hanged, or to be put into a crazy boat and turned adrift to the mercy of the waves. 0 The chief instrument in the execution of these mea- ■ Becket accuses Foliot of having shared in the spoil (iii. 175). See below, p. 160. b As to the operation of this, see Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 140. c Eoger, i. 15G ; Fitzsi, i. 243 ; Joh. Sarisb., in S. T. C, i. 331 ; Will. Cant., ii. 15; Anon. Lamb., ii. 100 ; Herb., vii. 198-200 ; Gar- nier, 66-8 ; Henr. ad Erfiscopos et Vicecomites, ap. Foliot, Epp. 481-2. M. Thierry represents these orders as given immediately after the flight (iii. 134) ; while Baronius (1164. 42) refers to this time an- other set of orders, which really belong to the year 1169 (p. 229, below). Sec Natal. Alex., xiii. 170, ed. Bingen, 1788. a.d. 11 04-5. MEASURES AGAINST BECKET. 157 sures was an old and persevering enemy of the Arch- bishop, Banulf de Broc, to whom Henry entrusted the care of the archiepiscopal property. The original cause of this baron's enmity may probably have been a claim raised by Becket to the castle and lordship of Saltwood, which the King had bestowed on Banulf in fee on their being forfeited by Henry of Essex, whereas the Arch- bishop contended that they ought to have then reverted absolutely to the see of Canterbury, under which they bad before been held." We have already seen that de Broc was foremost in insulting the Archbishop at North- ampton, and he now performed his commission with an eager and superfluous barbarity. " Those," says Grim, " of whom God especially styles Himself the Father and Judge — orphans, widows, children altogether inno- cent and unknowing of any discord, aged men, women with their little ones hanging at their breasts, clerks and lay folk, of whatever age or sex, of the Archbishop's kindred, and some of his friends " — were seized in the depth of winter and mercilessly transported beyond sea, after having been obliged to swear that they would seek him out and present themselves before him, in order to add to his afflictions by the sight of their misery. 1 * Some of the Archbishop's connexions, indeed, found ■ S. T. C, iii. 220. See Hasted's Kent, iii. 404, folio ed. b Grim, i. 54 ; Fitzst., i. 255 ; Joh. Sarisb., in S. T. C, i. 331 ; Herb., vii. 198 ; Tliom., Epp. iii. 288. "Qua; justitia," asks John of Salisbury, " proscripsit inno- centes sine delectu professions et I ordinis, setatis et sexus? Quia unquani tanta immanitate dis- traxit eopulam nuptiarum ? " (Ep. 193, col. 210-1.) Herbert mentions Ralph de la Serra as having been banished, "cum parentibus suis, jam magis sepulchro quam exilio aptis," although he neither be- 158 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. VIII. means of concealing themselves in England ; a some of the wealthier, who conld afford to do so, compounded for permission to remain ; and the biographer Fitzstephen obtained an exemption from the general sentence by composing for the King's use a curiously rhymed Latin prayer, which he presented to Henry in person. b Those on whom the sentence of banishment was executed were absolved from their oath by the Pope, and such of them as were less able to travel remained in Flanders/ But many found their way to Pontigny ; and Herbert tills much space with a long oration, in which the Arch- bishop's eruditi are said to have endeavoured to soothe his grief at the piteous spectacle of the multitude which was suffering for his sake, and with one of still greater length which is described as the reply. The cause for which the exiles suffered, however, procured for them a welcome in foreign lands, so that many of them were longed to the family nor to the household of the Archbishop. He afterwards became Dean of Rheiins (vii. 365). » Fitzst, i. 245 ; Herb. vii. 198. ' b Fitzst.,i. 245-6. Of this prayer a very small specimen may be enough : — " Rex cunctorum sa?culorum. Rex arcis etherise. Rector poli, rector soli, regum Rex altis- sime, Qui et maris dominaris, conturbas et ex- citas, Et quum placet, stratum jacet, motum ejus mitigas." Fitzstephen at a later time (pro- bably after the reconciliation with the King) visited Becket at Fleury. | (See above, p. 123.) Another William, who is styled " of Salis- | bury," and is described as a i priest, and one of the Archbishop's chaplains, after having been al- lowed to stay in England, was imprisoned in Corfe Castle, in re- venge for a fresh act of provocation on his master's part, but was set free at the intercession of the Pope and Foliot. See Fitzst., i. 245 ; S. T. C, hi. 7, 317; iv. 118; v. 6; Job. Sarisb., Ep. 184, fin.; Diceto, 548. < Thorn., Ep. 22; Herb. vii. 211. Most writers omit to state that the actual suffering was thus mitigated. a.d. 1165. BANISHMENT OF BECKET'S FRIENDS. 159 better provided for than they had been in their own country : a nor was assistance from Henry of Winchester and other friends in England wanting, notwithstanding the royal order to the contrary. b Some of the clergy would seem to have been appointed to ecclesiastical benefices in France and elsewhere. 0 The women and children were received into convents, and the men were entertained by princes and nobles, by bishops, abbots, and clergy, d with a hospitality from which we should not think of detracting did not the exaggerated praises of some writers compel us to observe that the motives of it at first may not have been altogether free from factious- ness, 6 and that its warmth subsided long before the necessity was at an end. f The benefices of the banished or deprived clergy were committed by the King to the custody of the Bishop of » Joh. Sarisb., Epp. 137, 211, 214, &c. ; Herb., vii. 214 ; Fitzst., i. 243. b Fitzst., i. 268. c The Pope desires the Bishop of Troy es to give Herbert the priory of his church ( dp. Thorn., Ep. 289) ; and in another letter he requests Louis to bestow an abbey on the ftichbishop, for his support until better times should come. (Ap. Fol., Ep. 380.) d Gamier, 05 ; Chron. Sithieuse, ap. Bouquet, xiii. 473. e It is amusing enough to find ' Bucket expressing warm thanks for the kindness shown to his friends by the King and the Queen- mother of Sicily (Ep. 192), while in one letter he begs the Bishop- elect of Syracuse to intercede with these royal persons for the recall of the banished Archbishop of Palermo, Stephen de la Perche, as a measure which would gratify the King of France (Ep. 150 ; cf. Ludov., Ep. 452, ap. Bouquet, xvi.j ; and in another letter he speaks of the Sicilian King's power in ecclesiastical matters as the bad model which the King of England was imitating (Ep. 29, p. 93 1. For the " Sicilian Monarchy," see above, p. 100. ' Arnulf had warned Bccket betimes that this would probably be the case, and had cautioned him accordingly as to his conduct (ed. Giles, p. 150 . In sonic cases there may have been very sufficient IGO LIFE OF BECKET. Ciup. VIII. Loudon, who is blamed by the opposite party for neg- lecting: to aive anv relief to those who were in distress for their adherence to the Archbishop, and for allowing his officials to make undue profits by the renewal of leases. But, after having held this trust about a year, the bishop was compelled by the Pope to resign it. a reasons for growing tired of the guests. Thus, in the beginning of the exile, John of Salisbury re- ports to his master that he had asked the Bishop of Clialons on-the Marne to take in one of the clerks. " He acquiesces readily, and only begs that you will send him some respectable person [aliqueru pro- bum hominem]. Yet he will re- ceive whomsoever you send. But whenever you send one, pray in- struct him to behave with modesty ; for the people of this kingdom are modest." (Job. Sarisb., i. 197, ed. Giles.) • Fitzst., i. 249-250. ( 161 ) CHAPTER IX. PONTIGNY. — Dec. 1164— Easter, 1166. Sixty-six years before the time when Becket found a refuge at Pontigny, the order of Citeaux had been founded by Eobert of Molesme, on the principle of a strict and literal conformity to the monastic rule of St. Benedict. Its monasteries were to be planted in lonely places ; the monks were to eschew all pomp, pride, and superfluity ; their services — unlike those of the elder society of Cluny, whose ritual was distinguished by splendour— were to be simple and plain. Some of the ecclesiastical vestments were discarded, and those which were retained were to be of fustian or linen, without any golden ornaments. No painting or sculpture was to be admitted into their churches ; the windows were to be of plain glass, and no high towers were to be erected. They were to have only one iron chandelier ; their censers were to be of brass or iron ; no precious metal was allowed, except one chalice and a tube for the eucharistic wine, which were, if possible, to be of silver- gilt, but might not be of gold. The dress of the monks was white, agreeably to a pattern which the Blessed Virgin showed in a vision to the second abbot, Alberic ; then- fare was rigorously simple, and from the ides of Sept- ember to Easter they were allowed to eat but one meal M 162 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. daily. For some years the severity of the rule pre- vented any great accession of numbers ; and the third abbot, an Englishman, named Stephen Harding, had begun to despair of the continuance of the order, when, in 1113, St. Bernard joined it accompanied by more than thirty of his relations and others, whom his ex- hortations had persuaded to embrace the monastic life. Immediately a new impulse was given to the order. The same year saw the foundation of La Ferte, the " eldest daughter " of Citeaux ; a Pontigny, founded by Hugh of Macon, afterwards Bishop' of Auxerre, followed in 1114 ; and in 1115 the number of the four "chief daughters," to whom a large influence was assigned in the general affairs of the order, was completed by the foundation of Clairvaux and Morimond. After having tin-own out these swarms, the Cistercian society increased with great rapidity, being mainly forwarded by the saintly repute of Bernard, who, for a quarter of a century be- fore his death in 1153, exercised a virtual dictatorship over the whole of Western Christendom. In 1151 the number of its monasteries exceeded five hundred, and at this time the young order surpassed all other monastic communities in reputation and popularity. Pontigny, the second daughter of Citeaux, was one of the monasteries which had been desired by the Pope to put up special prayers for the Archbishop of Canter- bury at the beginning of his struggle with the King, b and the abbot, Guichard, had been especially engaged • Cbaillou des Barrcs, L'Abbaye de Pontigny. Paris, 1844, p. 14. b See p. 150. A.D. 116*. PONTIGNY. 163 in his interest by his friend John, Bishop of Poitiers. a The great church of the abbey, a severe and majestic structure of a style intermediate between the Ro- manesque and the Gothic, founded in 1150, and pro- bably completed about the time of Becket's retreat, 15 still remains entire amid the shattered conventual build- ings, to connect our age with his, although the chapel in which he is said to have performed his devotions has been destroyed, and the only memorial of liiin is a wretched picture of his murder. Since his time Pon tigny has served as a home to two other banished pri- mates of England : Stephen Langton, in the reign of John ; and Edmund Rich, who died an exile in 1242, and whose relics are enshrined behind the high altar. 0 It was on St. Andrew's Day that Becket arrived at Pontigny, and he remained there nearly two years, being supported and clothed, with his attendants, at the expense of the community . d Shortly after his arrival, he requested that he might be furnished with a monastic habit, hallowed by the papal benediction ; for, it is said, he wished to mark his renewed appointment to his office by becoming a monk, like the archbishops before him. The Pope complied with his request, and the bio- graphers, in reporting some pleasantries which passed on the occasion of first trying on the dress, take occasion to inform us that the Archbishop's spare figure was so * Foliot, Epp. 243-4. b Sue Uluiillou dea Barres, 31 ; Fergusson, Handbook of Archi- tecture, 689. " Cette admirable Eglise, due a. la munificence du Comte [Thibault] dc Champagne, semble etre d'un seul jet." Ch. des Barres, 35. e See Chaillou des Barres, 10j-8. d Eogtr, i. 154. M 2 1G4 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. stuffed out by the unsuspected shirt of hair that all the world supposed him to be a portly man." He now en- deavoured to conform in every respect to the strict rule of the Cistercians, but his mortification was carried on, as it had been at Canterbury, with a studious attempt at concealment. His table was placed by itself in the refectory, so that he was safe from the general observa- tion. Viands suitable to his dignity were served on it, but he privately instructed the monk who waited on him to place among them the coarse and unsavoury pulmentaria of the Cistercian dietary ; and to these for a time he restricted himself, allowing the more delicate food to be carried away for beggars b — from whom M. Thierry might probably claim a portion for distressed Saxon refugees. Nor did he refuse even to share in the bodily labours of his hosts ; for we are told that he made hay and engaged in other agricultural works, which not even sickness could persuade him to intermit. 0 Gamier and Grim add other and more wonderful details of his mortification and devotion, borrowings (we sus- pect) somewhat too largely from the stock austerities of ■ Alan, i. 363-4; Herb., vii. 197. " Vidcbatur grossior," says Alan, " qui fuit macilentus, sed jocundus facie." The view which the biographers give — that he looked stout, and was thin — that he was rigorous in diet, yet seemed to fare sumptuously — is something almost doectic, and with this agrees a story of a miracle, told by Hoveden. One day, as he was dining with Tope Alexander, one who knew his custom of living on bread and water, although dainties were served up to him, placed on the table a cup of water. The l'ope tasted it, and found it ex- cellent wine ; whereupon, saying " I thought this was water," he set it before the Archbishop ; and immediately it became water again ! Hoved., 298. h Grim, i. 57 ; Herb., vii. 214. c Gervase, 1400. A.D. 1165. LIFE AT PONTIGNY. 105 the haeiologists. It is said that he was wont to lock himself up in an oratory, where he employed his time in exercises which might be guessed at from his loud and frequent groans ; that he used to stand for hours chilling himself in a stream ; that instead of occupying the bed which was prepared for him, " with clean and costly coverings, as was meet for an archbishop," he spent much of the night in prayer, and then used to rouse his chaplain Eobert of Merton, and submit him- self to him for discipline ; a that when the chaplain returned to his couch, weary with exertion and unable to flog any longer, the saint tore his own flesh with his nails, until at length, in a state of exhaustion, he lay down on the bare floor, and, with a stone for his pillow, yielded himself to a short slumber, which the galling cilice and the gnawings of his multitudinous vermin rendered a pain and an additional weariness rather than a refreshment. b That he soon fell ill, is certain ; and then, it is said, he was haunted by visions of malignant cardinals bent on plucking out his eyes, of savage men cutting off his tonsured crown, and other such terrible phantasms. 0 Herbert, who does not mention any other cause of his illness than the unwholesome diet, tells us that he him- self discovered this cause with some difficulty, and that, in obecfience to his remonstrances, the Archbishop re- * Robert was sworn to keep this secret until after his master's death. Grim, i. G3. b Grim, i. 55, 62-3; Gamier, 102-3. These details are in part given in connexion with his resid- ence at Sens, hut are, no doubt, to be equally understood of his stay at Pontigny. c Grim, i. 58 ; Gamier, 94. 1G<3 LIFE OF BECEET. Chap. IX. turned to his Canterbury practice of placing bis mortifi- cation rather in the scantiness than in the plainness of his food, 4 — eating (we may suppose) his morsel of pheasant and drinking bis sip of wine with abstinence, while tbe brethren of Stephen Harding and Bernard might be gluttonous over their beech leaves and their bran. b Altbough, however, the Archbisbop's personal habits were thus severe, bis general style of hying was such that his friend the Bishop of Poitiers thought it neces- sary to urge on him repeatedly a reduction of his establishment " Your wisdom," he says, in one of his letters, " ought to know that no one will think the less of you if, in conformity to your circumstances and in condescension to the religious house which entertains you, vou content vourself with a moderate number both of horses and of men, such as your necessities require." c 3Iuch of his time was now given to study, d in which his chief associates were Herbert of Bosham and a learned canonist of Piacenza named Lombard, who was after- wards Archbishop of Benevento. 6 Herbert tells us that * vii. 215-6. b Alau. Altissiod. in Vita Ber- uardi, 18 Patrol, clxxxv.). c S. T. C, vi. 250 (cf. ib. 255) ; Froude,570. See Appendix XXIII. d Fitzstephen tells us that dur- ing Lis exile be caused copies of many rare books to be executed in French libraries, for the enrich- ment of that of Canterbury, i. 244. ' This person has been con- founded with Herbert of Bosham, in consequence of a mistake in the Quadrilogus (p. 157), and the error runs through many works, down to Mr. Froude's (p. 116). It is cor- rected by Dr. Giles in the Preface to S. T. C, voL viii., before seeing which I had myself detected it. (See British Magazine, xxx. 51.) Mr. Morris has adopted another error, tliat of identifying him with Humbert, afterwards Pope Urban HI. (p. 199.) (Comp. Xos. 2 and 19 in the ' Catalogus Eruditorum,' S. T. C, vii. 362-7.) A.D. 1165-G. LIFE AT PONTIGNY. 107 he occupied himself especially with the Psalter and the Epistles, " as being two spiritual eyes, the mystical and the moral : the one perfectly teaching ethics, and the other contemplation." a But the main direction of his reading Avas such as his wisest friend, John of Salisbury, could not regard without fear for the effects which it might be expected to produce on the Archbishop's peculiar temper. " Laws and canons," he wrote, " are indeed useful ; but, believe me, these are not what will now be needed — ' Non hoc ista sibi tempos spectacula poscit.' Virg. Mn. vi. 37. For in truth they do not so much excite devotion as curiosity. . . . Who ever rises pricked in heart from the reading of laws, or even of canons ? I would rather that you should ruminate on the Psalms, and should peruse St. Gregory's books of ' Morals,' than that you should philosophise after the manner of schoolmen. You would do better to confer on moral subjects with some spiritual man, by whose example you may be kindled, than to pry into and discuss the contentious points of secular learning. God knoweth with what intention, with what devotion, I suggest these tilings. You will take them as you please." b The study of • " Theoriam," Herb., vii. 19G, 218. b Job. Sarisb., Ep. 138 (written about the beginning of February, 1165). Dr. Lingard seems to agree in thinking that the Archbishop's studies had an unfavourable effect on him, and quotes this letter (ii. 148), but wrongly refers it to the time of his residence at Sens, — not without a motive, as we shall see hereafter. Mr. Turner, after citing the passage given in the test, adds, " Becket excommunicated this bishop " (i. 258) ; and Lord Camp- bell, who (as his manner is) bor- 168 LIFE OP BECKET. Chap. IX. ecclesiastical law as it then was — " developed " by forgery, ignorance of antiquity, and the usurpations of the clergy, which had been advancing for centuries, — and lately reduced to method by Gratian, in accord- ance with the principles of the False Decretals and With the highest hierarchical pretensions — was especially fitted to bring out the defects of Becket's character, by filling his mind with exaggerated notions. And a tutor who was " Lombard by nation as well as by name " a was likely, from republican as well as from ecclesiastical feeling, to give especial prominence to whatever might lead to the depreciation of the royal power ; while the Archbishop's rigid manner of life would arm him with a stern determination to carry out his ideas of duty, without abating in any point of what he conceived to be his dignities and the rights of the Church. About this time the correspondence becomes very copious and important. Unhappily, however, the edi- tors have done little for it ; nay, the late editor appears to have done all that was in his power to prevent the possibility of reading it with ease or pleasure, and even to throw impediments in the way of understanding it. Alan of Tewkesbury, indeed, in making his collection, attempted " with labour and study," as Herbert says, to rows the quotation from Mr. Turner without acknowledgment, says, still more pointedly, that John " was excommunicated for his pains," ?'. e. for writing the letter (i. 8G). This misstatement is very injurious to Beekct, who, if we may judge by the freedom with which John con- tinued to admonish him, would seem to have taken the expostula- tion in good part. He excommuni- cated Joscelin, Bishop of Salisbury, and John (of Oxford), Dean of Salisbury; but John of Salisbury was his steady adherent, and was not a bishop until after Becket's death. * Herb., vii. 3G2. THE CORRESPONDENCE. 109 digest the letters in chronological order ; a hut a glance at Mr. Fronde's re-arranged list will show that, as might have been expected, the good monk's success was very imperfect ; and hence the old edition, in which Alan is implicitly followed, can by no means be relied on as a guide to the dates or relative position of the letters. But if Alan be unsatisfactory, what is to be said of Dr. Giles ? It really seems as if this editor were ani- mated by a malignant desire to worry and baffle his readers — at once to multiply their toil and to mar the re- sults of it. He divides his four volumes of correspondence into two pairs — placing Becket's letters b at the be- ginning of the first, and those of Foliot at the beginning of the second ; excluding the letters of John of Salis- bury c and Arnulf, which are published in other volumes of his ' Patres Ecclesise Anglicanae ; ' and distributing the epistles of other writers between the portions which bear the names of Becket and Foliot respectively. These arrangements would, of themselves, be enough to make considerable hunting necessary in any attempt to read the correspondence with understanding — more es- pecially as many epistles addressed to Becket are an- nexed, not to his letters, but to those of Foliot, so that a letter and the reply to it may be more than three a See p. 6. b As Lard Campbell (i. 99) gives Becket credit for all the merits of the letters which pass under his name, we may mention that Her- bert speaks of them as " quas vel ipscmet scripsit, vel aliqui de eru- dilis suis, de ipsius mandate, sub j ejus nomine " (vii. 231). Some of | the letters which are given in Dr. Giles's 8th volume, as written by Herbert in the Archbishop's name, were probably rejected drafts. c Dr. Giles's edition of John is worthy to keep company with his ' S. Thomas,' except that it is yet more carelessly printed. I 170 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. volumes apart from each other, while many pieces which are essential to the completeness of the Becket cor- respondence must be sought in the separate works of John and Arnulf. But the difficulty of finding our way is strangely increased by the internal order of the classes ; for this is regulated, in the case of the letters from Becket and Foliot, by the rank of the receivers ; in the others, by the rank of the writers. The clergy take precedence, and after the most insignificant of these come emperors, kings, and queens, from whom the scale descends by due gradations to the rest of the laity. For this, indeed, a precedent had been given by a late voluminous baronet, who published the letters of his cor- respondents in then- strict heraldic order. But in the volumiuous baronet's case such a disposition had a mo- tive, as he was thus enabled to parade in the most im- posing style the greatness of the personages whom he had drawn into writing to him ; whereas in the present case it is no less without an object than it is absurd and vexa- tious. Dr. Gdes, it is true, professes to have consulted the taste of some possible students. " It was thought," he says, " that readers might like to see how many letters were written by the different authors ; for which reason tbe arrangement of all the subordinate writers has been made with a reference to their dignity." a But, without venturing to deny the existence of any such statistical virtuosi, we must think it unreasonable that to their very eccentric tastes the editor has sacrificed the convenience, and much more than the convenience, of all who wish to ■ S. T. C. iii. pref. is. THE CORRESPONDENCE. 171 read for the sake of historical information. And so utterly indifferent is Dr. Giles to any purposes of utility, that he has not even taken the trouble to put into their proper order the letters addressed to the same person by Becket or Foliot, or those of the same writer in the rest of the correspondence. There is, indeed, Mr. Froude's table to guide us about the old edition, and Dr. Giles has furnished another, which (not to speak of its frequent incorrectness) is so meagre as to be practically useless ; so that the laborious reader may, if he will, pick out his way, after some fashion, through the four octavos of Becket and Foliot, the three volumes of John and Arnulf, and the corpulent little quarto, by the help of two lists which do not agree with each other — while many of the letters do not appear in either list ; a but we need not say how different this painful and groping process is from that of reading smoothly onwards in a collection digested by an intelli- gent and careful editor, according to the order of dates. In neither of the editions is there a single note to assist the reader, nor has Dr. Giles even condescended to supply an index ; while as to care of text, accuracy of printing, and such like matters, both the old and the new editions are as choice specimens as could readily be found of the method forcibly described by Mr. Carlyle in his ' Cromwell ' — " editing, as you edit waggon-loads " Moreover, Dr. Giles sometimes repeats the same letter in two plaees, thus : — Thorn. 320 = Foliot, 430. „ 321 = „ 433. Thorn. 322 = Fol. 428. „ 323= „ 432. „ 168 = Joh. Sar. 151. Fol. 197 = part of Fol. 292. 172 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. of rubbish, by turning the waggon upside-down." The only publication in which as yet any part of the corre- spondence can be read with comfort is the sixteenth volume of the ' Recueil des Historiens de la France,' where Dom Brial has bestowed his skill and labour on so much of it as he deemed suitable for a collection of French history ; a but unhappily this is only a small part of the large and valuable mass which still demands the attention of some competent and conscientious scholar. b If the reader should be afraid to embark on the great and almost trackless ocean of the correspondence, he may gain some idea of it from Mr. Froude's volume, in which many of the letters are translated with spirit, if not always with accuracy. 0 We cannot say that, as a whole, it gives a favourable idea of the time. There is abundance of violence, falsehood, and insincerity ; mean a See p. 209 of the volume in question. b The Abbe Migne has reprinted Dr. Giles's publications in his ' Pa- trologia,' but apparently without any other improvement than the correction of some of the grossest misprints. That even this, how- ever, is something, may appear from the following specimen. In one of Becket's letters, where Wil- liam of Pavia is spoken of, the old edition has merely " declinabimus judicium" (326), where Dr. GUes gives us " Sed vobis ut vobis vora- citcr lull, ipsius in eteruum de- clinabimus judicium" (iii. 131). M. Migne's reading is — " Sed no* ut vobis veraciter dicimus," &c. (exc. 513). I had myself, before seeing this, conjectured the same amendment, except that perhaps we ought to read dico, as being nearer in form to the word which Dr. Giles has printed in black letter. Such transitions from the singular to the plural are not un- common : thus, in S. T. C, iii. 189, we find " scrib/m««....confundam«* ....opto ;" and in St. Bernard, Ep. 100, " hortandu* vobis et obse- craudu* esaeti* ;" Ep. 307, " Super statu corporis mei cognovi ros esse sollicitum." c I have generally based my ex- tracts on Mr. Froude's version, making the necessary corrections. THE COERESPONDEXf E. 173 selfishness and artifice, trying to veil themselves under lofty professions and language ; cant, too evidently known by those who used it to be nothing better than cant ; strange tossing to and fro of Scripture perverted by allegory and misapplication. On the part of the Pope there is temporizing and much which must be called duplicity ; the cardinals and other high dignitaries appear corrupt and crafty ; Becket is arrogant, intemperate, and querulous ; Henry at once violent and slippery ; Louis weakly hypocritical ; Foliot smooth, politic, and tricky. The most vehement enemies of Rome might enrich their abuse of the Mediaeval Church from the langunge and imputations which her eminent members lavish on each other. She appears distracted by schism and faction, corrupted and degraded by a multiplicity of evils, pitiably subjected to the variations of temporal affairs, and attempting to assert herself against the world, not by leavening it with a higher and purer element, but by setting up pretensions unfounded, mischievous, and of a rival worldliness. The best letters of the whole cycle are those of John of Salisbury. This eminent man had in his youth been a pupil of Abelard,' and perhaps may have derived from that teacher something of the independent spirit which appears throughout his writings. b At a later time he had been secretary to Archbishop Theobald, in whose name many of his earlier letters are written, and towards the end of that patron's life he had been in some trouble with the King, partly in consequence of Arnulf's machi- • Job. Sarisb. Metalog., ii. 10, I b Tosti, Storia di Abclardo, 108, 17 ; iii. iuit. I Nap. 1801. 174 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. nations. 11 Unlike most of those with whom he is asso- ciated in the correspondence, he is free from cant, and writes with apparent honesty ; he is genial, learned, and sensible. Although a strenuous adherent of Becket, he is by no means blind to his faults, or sparing in reproof of them ; b while his ill opinion of the plausible Bishop of London finds vent in a variety of amusing ways. John had been banished or compelled to withdraw from England about the time of the Council of Westminster ; c and, until he was followed by his master into France, had been indefatigably employed as his agent in that country. It was now in his power to return to England, on condition of swearing that he had not acted against the King — an oath which he believed that he might safely take ; but he had reason to suspect that it might be unfairly interpreted, and the Pope advised hiui on this account to decline the terms. Nor would he consent to make his peace by abandoning the Archbishop, although he declared that he had stood by him only when justice and moderation were on his side, and that, whenever Becket had appeared to exceed the bounds of right, he had firmly " withstood him to the face." d He thera- fore remained an inmate of the abbey of St. Bemi, at Bheims, which was then under the headship of Peter of » Job. Bar., Epp. 96, 112, 115, 121. b "Novit cordiurn inspector, et verb[or]um judex et operant, quod saepius et asperiua quam aliquis J mortalium corripuerim dominion archiepiscopum de his, in quibus ab iuitio doruinum regein et suos zelo quodam inconsultius visus est ad amaritudinem provoeasse, cuin pro loco, et tempore, et personis, multa fueriut dispensanda" (Ep. 141). c See Appendix XXJU. ' Job. Sarisb., Epp. 111-2, 163-4 a.d. 1165. EMBASSY FROM THE EMPEROR TO HENRY. 175 La Celle, one of the most learned men of the age, and long after the successor of John in the bishopric of Chartres. a In Lent, 1165, Henry crossed from England into Normandy, where he received an embassy from Frede- rick Barbarossa, headed by Reginald, archbishop-elect of Cologne and chancellor of Italy. b The ostensible object of this mission was to ask one of the King's daughters in marriage for the Emperor's son, and another for his kinsman, Henry the Lion, of Saxony ; but it was also connected with ecclesiastical affairs, as Alexander's late treatment of Henry suggested the hope that the King might be won to the side of the Imperialist anti- pope. 0 From Normandy the Germans followed tbe King into England, where, although received with formal honour, they were regarded with coolness on account of their connexion with the antipope ; the Earl of Leicester refused to kiss the " arch-schismatic " of Cologne, and the altars on which they had celebrated mass were thrown down, or purified from the contamination of their rites. d On their return to Germany, however, they were accom- panied by John of Oxford and Kichard of Ilchester, and » Ep. 300, fin. See Peter's high estimation of John's letters, Ep. 70 ; (Patrol., ccii.) b Bob. de Monte, a.d. 165; Pauli, 59. See Luden, Gesch. des Deutschen Volkes, xi. 633. Rau- mer gives a very favourable cha- raeter of Reginald, Gesch. d. Hoheust., ii. 85. c Rauiner, ii. 192. d Diceto, 539 ; Wendover, ii. 312. There is a letter from Regi- nald to the King of France, excus- ing himself fur having been unable to wait on him, and requesting hiin not to abet "the schismatic Roland " (i. e. Alexander). Rec. des Hist., xvi. 120. 176 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. Reginald boasted that he had won to the antipapal party the King of England, who would bring with him more than fifty bishops from his wide dominions." At Whit- suntide a great diet was held at Wiirzburg, where the Emperor exacted of his prelates an oath to support Paschal as Pope, and to renounce Alexander, with all who should be chosen to succeed him ; and in this oath, according to documents issued by Frederick, and to a letter of one of Becket's agents, the English envoys joined in their master's name.' The truth would seem to be, that these statements represent as absolute an engagement which was only conditional, and dependent on the course which the Pope should take in the dis- putes between the King and the Primate ; c but it is clear that the affair, however qualified, was discreditable to Henry and injurious to his reputation. Eotrou de Beau- mont, formerly bishop of Evreux, and now archbishop of Rouen, a kinsman of the Eari of Leicester, was com- » iv. 2G4 ; viii. 267. b Hardouin, vi. ii. 1614-C ; Iiee. des Hist. xvi. 493 ; compare Becket Ep. iii. 9 ; Job. Sarisb., Ep. 148. Dr. Lingard wrongly places these transactions in 1107 (ii. 150), and Carte in 11G8. i. 609. c Brial, in Kec. des Hist., L c. ; Nat. Alexander, xiv. 155 ; Lyttel- ton, ii. 417-8 ; Buss, 451. Dean jMilman supposes that Henry went so far as to exact of his subjects an abjuration of Alexander ; and that, although " William of Can- terbury alone of Becket's bio- graphers asserts this (ii. 19), it is unanswerably confirmed by Beck- ' et"s letter, 38" (Lat. Christ, iii. 484). That such a fact, if real, should be omitted, not only by the biographers but by the chroniclers, is hardly conceivable. But, al- though William mentions it imme- diately after the Wiirzburg pro- ceedings, the connexion which leads him to do so seems rather to be one of subject than of time ; and Becket's letter is placed later, both by the old editions (1. iv. 47) and by Mr. Froude, who dates it in 1170 (p. 630). To that time I believe that William of Canter- bury's statement also relates. See I below, p. 229. A.D. 1165. DIET OF WURZBUKG. 177 missioned to assure a cardinal that the King had never promised the Emperor to desert Alexander for the Anti- pope, and would make no concession to the Germans, " even if they were to labour three days at it," except in accordance with his duty to the Pope and to the King of France." Henry himself wrote to the same cardinal, in explanation and vindication of his acts ; b and John of Oxford, whose behaviour at Wurzburg had given rise to the general belief, was sent to swear before Alexander that he had done nothing " against the faith of the Church and the honour and interest of the Pope." 0 The state of affairs had by this time encouraged Alexander to return to Italy: he quitted Sens in April, 1165 — being accompanied by Becket as far as Bourges d — sailed from Maguelone in September, and, after having touched in Sicily, entered his capital on the 23rd of November. 6 Early in 11C8 Henry again passed into his continental territories, where he remained until 1170. At Anp/ers, where he kept the festival of Easter/ John of Salisbury, Herbert of Bosham, and others of Becket's clerks, were admitted to an interview with him, in consequence of a request made by the French King and nobles, that they might be allowed to return to their country, or, at least, to enjoy the income of their preferments. John of * iv. 148. Comp. Foliot, v. 240. b vi. 281. c Job. Sarisb., Ep. 204. d Alan, 305. * Jaffa, Kcgcsta Pontificum, 703-G. f We follow Mr. Froude as to tbe year of this interview. In the narrative of Fitzstephen it bolds a later place, but with the vague date of "alkpiando" (i. 204). Dr. Giles places it in 11 G7. ii. 121. N 178 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. Salisbury, who was first called into the royal presence, was willing to swear fidelity, but refused to desert the Archbishop, or to accept such of the usages as were con- demned by him and by the Pope ; whereupon he was ordered to withdraw. Herbert was then summoned, and it is satisfactory to get a glimpse of the biographer, as painted by another hand than his own. " Now," said the King, " we shall see a specimen of pride." " Master Herbert," says Fitzstephen, " was tall and handsome in person, and somewhat splendidly attired, having on a tunic of green cloth of Auxerre, with a mantle of the same, hanging down, after the German fashion, from his shoulders to his ankles, and adorned with suitable appur- tenances." a After having greeted the King, he took his seat ; and on hearing the terms which had already been proposed to John, he answered boldly by crying up the Archbishop as the King's most faithful friend, inasmuch as he would not allow him to go wrong, and by strongly reprobating the " customs." The audacity with which he spoke provoked the King to exclaim, " Is this son of a priest to disturb my kingdom and disquiet my peace ? " " It is not I that do it," answered Herbert, "but neither am I the son of a priest, as I was born before my father became a priest, nor is he the son of a King whose father was no King when he begot him." " Whosesoever son he is," said a baron, " I would give half my land that he were mine." But we cannot wonder that a King » I must guess at the meaning I bus suis," as Mr. Froude (116) of " ornatum decenter coutingenti- I omits the words. A.n. 1166. NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE KING. 170 " whose father had been no King" was provoked to in- dignation by Herbert's language and deportment, or that the attempt at accommodation consequently came to nothing.* A negotiation which the Archbishop himself opened with the King about the same time, or perhaps somewhat earlier, had no better result. It began in the most conci- liatory manner. The envoy was a Cistercian abbot, named Urban, — " a man," according to Herbert, " both in name and in deed urbane ; Urban in name, urbane in reality, urbane also in speech ; for none but such an one was fit to perform such an embassy." This fascinating person bore with him a letter of corresponding blandness, — " a most sweet letter, containing supplication alone, and nothing, or very little, of reproof;" for the Archbishoj) "had sought for words profitable, sweet, and pacific, and wrote in most gentle terms, in order that, if possible, the King's heart might thereby be softened." Henry, how- ever, answered roughly ; and Urban was again charged to convey to him a verbal message of somewhat sterner tone, with a letter " containing a little of austerity, in which the Archbishop reproved the King, but as yet in compassion and in the spirit of meekness." The King's second reply was (as might have been expected) rougher than the first ; and the Archbishop, finding (says Her- bert) that oil had no effect, proceeded " like a disciple of the true Samaritan " to pour in wine. A third letter • Fitzst. i. 2G5 sqq. John of Balrebnry complains that lie had spent thirteen pounds and lost two horses in this fruitless journey. Ep. 168, col. 160 c. 180 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. IX. was written, in a tone of severe rebuke and lofty eccle- siastical dignity ; and for this, too, a bearer of suitable character was employed, — a monk named Gerard " the shoeless," — tattered, mortified, of a burning zeal, and fully disposed to take advantage of the licence which was usually allowed to such personages. The last com- munication incensed the King to fury, and so the nego- tiation ended. a And now the reader — if the story of Becket is not altogether new to him, and if his previous acquaintance with it has been derived from certain sources — may expect that we should tell him how King Henry pro- cured the removal of the exile from Pontigny. We are sorry to keep our reader waiting ; but we must tell things in their proper order. • Herb., vii 222-3. The first i second, Ep. 178. See Pagi in letter seema to be Ep. 179 ; the | Baron, sis. 2G1. A.D. 1166. ( 181 ) CHAPTEE X. VEZELAY. — a.d. 1166. Although the Pope had returned to Rome, he was still far from feeling himself independent of persons and circumstances. Frederick Barbarossa was preparing for a great expedition into Italy, and it was inexpedient to alienate the King of England ; moreover, as Alexander was ill provided with money, the English Peterpence, as to which there is some curious correspondence about this time, furnished an additional motive for endeavour- ing to keep well with Henry. a He had therefore, in June, 11G5, tied up Becket from taking any steps against the King until the following Easter ; b but that time had now arrived, and the Archbishop, fortified by a » In June, 1165, the Pope de- sires Foliot to collect this impost, to transmit the amount with all speed, and in the mean time to advance as much money as he can spare or borrow (iv. 96 ; Jaffe, 704). The Bishop replies that no Peterpence would have been forth- coming without the King's leave, and that the money shall be sent when gathered ; but ho takes no notice of the request as to an ad- vance (v. 242). Alexander after- wards complains of delay : the Bishop of Exeter had reported that he had paid his share, and the Pope is surprised that the Bishop of London had not remitted it (iv. 101). There are three letters on the subject from Foliot to Henry (vi. 2-3,7) ; from one of which it appears that the King had thoughts of appropriating the money ; a step from which Foliot dissuades him, as likely to injure his interest with the Pope. b Ep. Thorn., 202. 182 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. X. commission issued on Easter-day, a which gave him a legatine power over all England except the province of York, prepared for vigorous action. Threats conveyed by letter and otherwise had given Henry reason to apprehend that the extreme spiritual censures of excommunication against his person and interdict against his dominions were about to be pro- nounced. b He therefore summoned an assembly of his bishops and nobles to Chinon, and, after bitterly com- plaining of then slackness in aiding him against a man who was bent on " taking away alike his body and his soul," c desired then advice as to the course which should be pursued. At the suggestion of the Bishop of Lisieux, it was resolved to prevent the sentence by an appeal ; d for in the case of excommunication appeals were inadmissible after sentence, as the party was then a iv. 10. The date is, " Ana- gniie, vii. id. Octob." But, as Jaffe' observes (.708), this is a blunder of a transcriber ; and the letter in which the legation is announced to the English clergy (iv. 81) shows that the real date is from "the Lateran, April 24 (which in I16G was Easter day). The reason of the exception as to York was, that Roger was legate for Scot- land, and that it was against the Roman practice to subject the church of one legate to another. , Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 185, col. 194 D. b See Epp. 168, 179 ; Hoveden, 284, b. c He is reported to have said •" quod omnes proditores erant, qui ■eum adhibita opera et diligeutia | ab unius hominis infestatione no- lebant expedire." (Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 145, col. 136.) " These," says Mr. Froude, "are the very ex- pressions which Henry uttered in 1170, and which were the imme- diate occasion of the Archbishop's murder." (p. 150 ; comp. Morris, 186.) " C'e'tait," writes M. Michelet on that occasion, "la seconde fois que ces paroles homicides sortaient de sa bouche." (iii. 187.) There is, however, nothing murderous or I suggestive of violence in the earlier speech, although the same can hardly be said of Mr. Froude 's translation (which Mr. Morris adopts , "who had not zeal and courage enough to rid him," &c. d Joh. Sarisb., L c. A.D. 1166. HENRY IN NORMANDY. 183 no longer a member of the Church." Arnulf himself and the Bishop of S^ez accordingly proceeded to Pon- tigny, accompanied by the Archbishop of Bouen, who professed that he went rather with a view of mediating between the parties than of aiding in the appeal. On arriving they found that Becket bad received notice of their approach, and had left the abbey in order to avoid them ;'' but they published the appeal, although in a manner to which exception was afterwards taken as informal, inasmuch as the document was only read aloud, instead of being affixed to the abbey gate. Walter de l'lsle was sent from the assembly at Chinon into England, with orders to cause the ports to be watched so as to prevent the introduction of any docu- ments from the Archbishop, and to warn the clergy against obeying any sentence which might be uttered in defiance of the appeal to Bome. c * Hence bishops sometimes re- sorted to the expedient of excom- municating persons who were likely to appeal, — a practice for- bidden by the Lateran Council of 1179 (con. 6). b Dr. Giles represents Herbert as saying that the Archbishop "withdrew from Pontigny pur- posely to prevent notice being served on him." (' Life and Letters,' i. 333.) But Herbert's real statement is considerably dif- ferent : — " We knew that, on the ground of domicile, appeals might be made, although the parties appealed against might be absent, or might absent themselves ; but we withdrew in order to avoid in- tercourse with the envoys." (vii. 233.) Herbert represents the visit of the bishops to Pontigny as having taken place after the ex- communications, — apparently con- founding the proceedings of the Norman prelates sent from Chinon with those of the English bishops on hearing what had been done at Vezelay. The correspondence is here the best guide. c Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 145, col. 138, B. Brial (521) and Buss (399) connect with this a report of severe measures adopted by Henry in order to prevent the importation of letters from Becket (Thorn., 1S4 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. X. In the meanwhile the Archbishop, attended by some of his clerks, went on a pilgrimage to Soissons, where he arrived in the beginning of Kogation-week. He watched three nisrhts before the altars of the Blessed Virgin, of St. Gregory, " the founder of the English Church," and of St. Drausius, a Bishop of Soissons in the seventh century, whose relics were supposed to give invincibility to persons about to engage in duels, and therefore, we are told, were very germane to the occasion.* On the morrow after Ascension-day — a festival which in this year concurred with that of St. Drausius (June 2) — he left Soissons, and on Vhitsun-eve he reached the Abbey of Vezelay, on the borders of Bur- gundy and the Xivernois. Vezelay, now a decayed and deserted little town, b was in those days a place of con- siderable note. A religious house, founded in the valley of the Cure by Count Gerard and Bertha his wife, in the rei> iii. 130, 146, 149, 217, 241-2 ; Will. Cant., ii. 22, &c. It is on this occasion that Dr. Giles makes him protest the " voracious dull- ness " which has been mentioned, p. 172. c Herb., vii. 224. d iii. 153, 217, 219. Cf. Job. Sarisb., Ep. 219. <= iii. 217. a.d. 1107. COMMISSION OF WILLIAM AND OTHO. 205 with many others of the Emperor's most important ad- herents, and Frederick himself was compelled to a pre- cipitate and ignominious retreat. In this calamity Becket, well acquainted as he was with the policy of Kome, dis- cerned the prospect of advantage to himself, and, imme- diately on receiving the news, he addressed a letter to the Pope. " Never," he said, " since the world began, has God's power been more manifestly disjdayed, if we rightly consider the event, than in this judgment on the new Sennacherib." Again he complains of William of Pavia as having fulfilled his worst forebodings by his " presumption and insolence ;" and he entreats the Pope to take a bolder course — to draw forth the sword of St. Peter for vengeance on those who had done wrong to Christ and his people.* These entreaties, or the events on which they were grounded, were not without some effect in his favour, although the Pope still acted with caution. After having visited King Henry at Caen, the legates had an interview near Gisors with the Arch- bishop, who, according to Herbert, had been warned against the smooth speeches of William, " which yet were very swords," by a vision in which poison was offered to him in a golden cup. b The cardinals began » Ep. 6. Cf. Job. Bar., Epp. 201, 218, 220. b vii. 248. Gamier, who con- founds the meeting near Gisors with that at Montmirail (see below), says that the vision was on the night before that meeting. The Arehbishop did not like the look of the wine, when lo ! two great spiders rose up from the bottom. Next morning he related and expounded the vision to his 206 LIFE OP BECKET. Chap. XI. by dwelling on the labours and fatigues which they had lately endured, on the power of Henry and his former kindness to Becket, on the King's complaints that the Archbishop had stirred up Louis and the Count of Flanders against him, on the necessity of a moderate and conciliatory spirit in the dangerous circumstances of the time. They asked the Archbishop whether he would observe the customs which his predecessors had observed in the reigns of earlier Kings : to which he replied, that he was ready to yield the King any obe- dience consistent with God's honour, the Liberty and temporal rights of the Church, and his own credit ; but that he would never consent to a profession which had not been exacted of his predecessors, or pledge himself to constitutions which had been condemned by the Pope as opposed to the law of God and destructive of eccle- siastical liberty. The Constitutions were read aloud, and he asked, "Are these things to be observed?" whereupon the cardinals, apparently at a loss for a reply, passed on to another point. He was then asked whether he would consent to return to his see without any stipulation as to the customs : by this expedient, it was said, he might make sure of an implied withdrawal of the Constitutions, and at the same time might conciliate the King by not insisting on a formal abrogation of them. He replied that his silence would rather be regarded as an assent ; and, in answer to a question whether he would abide the judgment of the legates, he said that he could not do so clerks, — " The cup is the King's I deceits ; the two great spiders are fair offers ; the troubled wine his | the cardinals " (105). A.D. 1167. CONFERENCES WITH WILLIAM AND OTHO. 207 unless the property of the Church were previously re- stored in full. a On the following day some envoys of the King of France appeared before the cardinals, and swore, in their master's name, that Becket had never given him any counsel but such as tended to peace with England and to the honour of both the Kings ; and, after mutual benedictions, the Archbishop and the cardinals separated. 1, A week later a conference was held by the legates with Henry and some English prelates at Argentan. Eoliot, as the leader of his party, inveighed bitterly against the Primate, whom he sarcastically spoke of as supposing that debts were washed away by his promo- tion, as sins were by baptism. The King, he said, would probably forsake the Roman Church if the bishops were to obey the Archbishop's mandates, and therefore, as the time of their original appeal had already expired, he declared that he and his brethren appealed until Mar- tinmas in the following year against any fresh proceedings on the part of the Primate. c The King was disgusted at finding that he had been deceived as to the powers of the legates — a more limited commission having been substituted, at the instance of Becket and the French bishops, for that which had been promised to John of Oxford, so that they had no authority to go into England » Thorn., Ep. 7 ; Job. Sarisb., Ep. 227 ; Fob, Ep. 404 ; S. T. C, ii. 248 ; Herb., vii. 250-1. b Joh. Sar., Ep. 227 ; S. T. C, iv. 276; Gervase, 1402. "They ought," says John, " to have be- lieved the King on his oatb, but that, measuring others by their own morality, they trust neither God nor man where the hope of deceitful money sbines on them " (Ep. 231). Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 228 ; S.T.C., iv. 271. 208 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XL or to arbitrate unless a reconciliation should have been before effected.' 1 For a time he treated them with studied disrespect ; but, at taking leave, he requested them with tears to befriend him at the court of Rome. William, it is said, was infected by the contagion of crying, while Otho was hardly able to refrain from laughing ; and they returned to Italy without having effected anything towards a reconciliation. 11 Some of the excommunicates had already been absolved by Geoffrey (of Monmouth), Bishop of St. David's, as the Pope had allowed their ab- solution if in danger of death, and they pleaded that this condition was satisfied by their being summoned to the Welsh wars ; c and the cardinals had granted the Bishops of Norwich and Winchester authority to absolve the rest. The Archbishop, however, took especial care to publish a papal letter, by which it was declared that all those who should continue to detain the property of the Church must again fall under excommunication.* 1 The Archbishop deliberated with his clerks wb ether the fresh appeal of the English bishops should be re- spected : and the decision was, that, as it was made not for the protection of right, but for the maintenance of wrong (i. e. as it was not for but against Becket's cause), ■ S. T. C, iii. 18 ; iv. 128, 268- 272 ; Fol., Epp. 173, 408, 438, 441, 471, 490. Herbert says that the King had sworn that the Arch- bishop should not iu his reign re- turn to England (vii. 251). If so, it must have been a hasty outbreak. b S. T. C, iv. 272. John of Salisbury reports further inter- views between the King and the legates severally (Ep. 261). At a later time, after the reconciliation, Becket writes to William, thanking him for his good offices (Ep. 71). c Job. Sarisb., Epp. 228, 240; Diceto, 539. d Job. Sarisb., Ep. 228. A.D. 1167. MISSIONS TO ROME. 209 the inferior judge was not bound to regard it. a He then proceeded to excommunicate for disregard of his cita- tions and for other offences the Bishop of London b and his own archdeacon, Ridel (whom he sometimes styles " archidiaSc^us noster ") ; c and with these he included a multitude of clerks and laymen, who were concerned in invading the property of the see of Canterbury or the benefices of the exiled clergy. These censures lighted thickly among the persons immediately around the King. " Almost every one about the Court," says Herbert, " was excommunicated, either by name or as having commu- nion, which they were neither able nor at liberty to avoid, with those who were expressly named ; so that in the King's chapel there was hardly one who could offer him the kiss of peace at mass, but such as were excom- municated either by name or implicitly." d And the biographer goes on to give a lively description of the stir which arose in consequence : " The King and his party send and send again with all haste. Messengers upon messengers, and then fresh messengers, run, hurry, speed, to report these doings to the apostolic Pontiff. » iii. 184 ; Herb., vii. 252. b Ep. 133 ; Froude, 255. There are letters by William and Otlio in favour of Foliot. Fol., Epp. 396, 403. c e. (j. iii. 52. For this he had the example of Innocent II., — " Si quisquam laicus, aviditate rerum ccclesiasticarum, hoc sibi nomen vindicat, non decet arehi- diaconus, sed archidiabolus, appel- lari." (Ep. li. Patrol, clxxix.) | There is a significant passage in a letter from John of Salisbury to the Archbishop — " Si Londoniensis episcopus et vester archidiaconus recipiunt a Domino quod mcrentur, sibi imputent ; vos tamen videte an sententia vestra, si citatio non prae- cesserit, robur sit habitura. Nam utinam, sicut de merito, ita de jure et facto sortiri possit effectum." Ep. 220. d vii. 253. 210 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XL We on our part sent also ; our pious King of the French, too, to whose Court we in a manner now belonged, since Ave were his guests, sent in our behalf, repeatedly declaring that whosoever should touch us touched the apple of his eye. ... So now the threshold of the apostles was daily worn both by our friends and by our adversaries ; they run up and down, they hurry, they speed, both the one party and the other." a The Pope was in a sore perplexity. He was not disposed to offend Henry, and was much annoyed by the Archbishop's hasty and headstrong proceedings ; yet he was not willing to abandon him. b And if the " gilded and silvered words" of the English King's emissaries weighed more than the " shabby, ink-written words " of the exiles, yet, on the other hand, there was the influence of Louis, who zeal- ously espoused the Archbishop's cause, and prayed that the excommunications might be sustained ; and other potentates are said to have concurred in the request. 0 As, therefore, it would have been awkward to quarrel with either party, the Pope judged it most expedient to persuade them to make up their quarrels ; and with this view he wrote letters which raised up a host of peace- makers — influential personages, both lay and clerical, busily endeavouring to mediate. Henry, by means of Clarembald of St. Augustine's, and Reginald, archdeacon of Salisbury/ obtained a sus- » vii. 253-4. b lb. 256. c lb. 254. d Reginald was son of the bishop, Joscelin. He afterwards became Bishop of Bath and Wells, and eventually Archbishop of Canter- bury. Beeket abuses him violently, Ep. 93. A.D. 1167-8. SUSPENSION OF THE ARCHBISHOP'S TOWERS. 211 pension of the Archbishop from dealing forth censures until a reconciliation should have been effected.* The Pope seems to have granted this, in August, 11G7, with- out any limitation of time, in the full belief that the reconciliation would not be long delayed ; h we must not therefore tax him with any remarkably bad faith for announcing to the Archbishop in May, 1168, that the suspension was to last only until the beginning of the following Lent. 0 To this limitation of it he was probably induced, not only by the progress of the Emperor's mis- fortunes, but by the reports which had reached him as to the indignation excited in Louis and the French bishops by Henry's triumphant displays of the document which he had procured, and by the triumph with which the English King's envoys on their return through France had boasted of their master's influence at the Papal Court. d As months went on without any approach to a recon- ciliation, the Pope appointed a fresh commission, consist- ing of Simon, prior of Mont-Dieu ; Engelbert, prior of Val St. Pierre ; and Bernard de la Coudre 6 (or de Corilo), a monk of the order of Grammont, f Bernard, according to a letter of his colleagues, was bound by the customs of his order to abstain from the use of pen and ink, so ■ Fitzst., 359 ; Brial, 313. John of Salisbury says that Henry had (Coudre, a hazel.) ' This order had received special threatened to throw the legates favours from Henry, who in return into prison unless the Archbishop's ; enjoyed its prayers (see Bern, in power of interdicting were re- ! Brial, 470, 638-9 ; Buss, 550), so called, ii. 166, cd. Giles. b Thorn., Ep. 305. c II). 222. « vi. 210, 221 ; vii. 220. \ Ep. 285). See Brial, 322, &c c " De la Coldre," Gamier, 10G that the Archbishop of Itheims supposed the commissioner to be in the King's interest (Job. Bar., p 2 212 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. that lie might not write even to the Pope himself ; a but perhaps his genius may have been all the more active in practical matters. These commissioners were charged with two letters to Henry, containing respectively ex- hortations to peace and threats of punishment, — the second to be delivered if the first should be found in- effectual. 1 ' There was now a general wish for an accommodation. Henry had spoken of taking the cross and going to Jerusalem, if peace could be established with the Archbishop ; c and he was at least heartily desirous of peace, although the opposite party tax him with insincerity in his offer of concessions for the sake of it, — such as that appeals to Rome should be freely allowed, and that clerks should not be brought before the secular courts. d The French King was eager to act as a mediator ; and the banished clergy, weary of their exile, were willing to meet any conciliatory measures. 6 The King, who in the preceding year had again been in communication with the anti-papal party,' — who had lately declared that he was ready to ally himself with the Musulmans, and even to embrace "the errors of Nou- • " In ordine suo inhibitum est " (iv. 177). " Fratrum Grandimon- tensium consuetudo non est tit scribant alieui " (ib. 179). There is, however, no such prohibition in the rule or other documents of the order, as printed by Martene, De Autiquis Eccl. Ritibus, t. iv. — the nearest approach being c. 24 : — " PraBcipimufl ut de rebus vobis datis vel dandis nusquam scrip- turn causa placitandi faciatis, nec etiam placitare prfesumatis ;" and there are letters of Bernard him- self in the Rec. des Hist., xvi. 750-2, &c, or in Patrol., cciv. b iv. 113. c Herb., vii. 258. d Job. Sarisb., Ep. 242. c See e. g. Job.. Sarisb., i. 278, ed. Giles. ' S. T. C, vi. 279 ; Job. Sat., Ep. 142. a.d. 11G8-9. CONFERENCE AT MONTMIRAIL. 213 reddin " (the great enemy of the Christians in the Holy Land) rather than admit Thomas as Archbishop, 8, — now changed his line of action, and endeavoured to obtain the Pope's consent to the Archbishop's deposition or translation by offering to subsidize Alexander's allies, the anti-Imperialist cities of Lombardy, to pay the Pope's heavy debts, to give him a large sum of money, and to purchase for him the interest of the venal Romans, who still kept him an exile from his city. b But, although the expedient of a translation was supported by many per- sons of influence, Becket steadily professed that he would not give up the rights of his church ; that he would rather die (a profession which, although doubtless sin- cere, is somewhat too often repeated) than consent to desert her cause by a resignation of his see. On the Epiphany, 1169, the Kings of France and England held a conference on political affairs at Mont- mirail, near Chartres, where Louis induced Becket to be present. The Papal commissioners were also there, and have left then- report of the proceedings. 0 Herbert of Bosham represents himself as engaged in advising his master to beware of repeating the weakness which he had shown at Clarendon, when the Archbishop, before he could answer, was summoned into the presence of the Kings.' 1 He fell on his knees before Henry, who im- mediately raised him up. Becket then lamented the differences which had arisen, charging all the evil of them on his own insufficiency, and concluded by saying » Job., Ep. 244. « Thorn., Ep. 338. b lb., Ep. 288; Thorn., Ep. 4. | << vii. 2G1. 214 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI, that he threw himself wholly on the King's mercy, " saving the honour of God." This reservation took by surprise many of those who had advised him to conces- sion, and believed that they had prevailed with him ; and, although the Archbishop professed to have substi- tuted " salvo honore Dei" for "salvo ordine nostro" from a wish to avoid the repetition of the offensive formula, the King would not admit any distinction between the two, but burst into a violent fit of passion. To allow such a phrase, he said, would seem as if he himself had no regard for God's honour." After having reproached Becket with his pride, ingratitude, and dis- loyalty, " See," he cried to the King of France, " how foolishly and proudly this man has deserted his church, not driven out by me, but secretly running off by night. He would persuade you that he is a champion for the Church, and by this pretext has deceived people both many and great. But I have always allowed and wished, and I still do so, that he should hold and govern his church as freely as any of his predecessors." He asked Becket whether he would yield him that amount of obedience which his five predecessors since the Conquest - — some of them saints and workers of miracles — had shown to the least of former Kings,* 5 or that which by • Job. Sarisb., ii. 199. • b M. Thierry characterises tbis proposal as " evidently ironical, and containing at least as much of mental reservation as Becket could bave put into the clause 'saving God's honour'" (iii. 151). There is, however, a very clear- difference between the two; nor does the idea of irony appear to have en- tered into the mind of any who were present (see, e.g., Job. Sar., ii. 199, cd. Giles). William and Otho had made a similar proposal (iii. 20 ; sup. p. 20G). A.D. 1169. CONFERENCE AT MONTMIEAIL. 215 the evidence of a hundred men from England and a hundred from Normandy and Anjou should appear to have been formerly customary ; a and he professed him- self willing to leave the matter to be decided by the bishops of France. All who were present declared that the King could not be expected to humble himself further. " My Lord Archbishop," said Louis, " do you seek to be more than a saint ? " and the Pope's commissioners, with many princes and nobles, en- treated tbe Archbishop to submit. But be still remained inflexible. No such promise, he said, had ever been required from any of his predecessors, except the blessed Anselm, b who had twice gone into banish- ment rather than consent. It was true that former Archbishops had borne with many abuses ; but, as they had corrected much evil, so it was his duty to strive against that wliich still remained. 0 All were disgusted at this pertinacity. The Kings left the meeting without saluting him ; the French nobles loudly reproached him as a felon and a traitor ; the Papal commissioners cried out against his impracticable pride and selfwill ; and his own clerks strongly remonstrated with him for having caused the ruin of all their hopes. d As they were riding away, the horse of one of the clerks, Henry of Houghton, stumbled : " Go on," said Henry, loud enough for his master to hear, " saving the honour of 11 Joh. Sarisb., ii. ICS, ed. Giles ; Gamier, 108. b See Eadrner, ap. Anselm, ed. Gerheron, G7. c Thorn., iii. 44; Alan, i. 366; Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 285 ; Herb., vii. 259-265 ; Gamier, 107-8 ; Gervase, 1406. d Herb., vii. 206; Gamier, 109. 21G LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. Gotl and of holy Church and my order ;" and the Arch- bishop allowed the taunt to pass unnoticed." " Brother," said his confidential friend the Bishop of Poitiers, " take heed lest the Church be destroyed by thee." " By me," was the reply, " with God's blessing it shall never be destroyed." 1 * Herbert compares the advisers who thronged around the Archbishop at the conference to executioners, and him to their victim ; and on this occasion applies to him the text, " I have trodden the winepress alone." 0 The evening passed without the visit or the message with which Louis on such occasions was accustomed to favour the Archbishop ; and for three days, while the exiles travelled in the King's train, he held no commu- nication with them, and discontinued their usual allow- ance of provisions, so that the Archbishop was indebted for his very maintenance, " as a beggar," to the charity of the Bishop of Poitiers and the Archbishop of Sens.' 1 The only circumstance which occurred to cheer him was the enthusiasm of the people of Chartres, who, as he passed through the streets of their city, flocked to look at him, as the champion " who would not for the sake of Kings deny his God, nor be silent as to His honour." e The exiles had returned to Sens, and were engaged in consultation as to their prospects and their future course. ■ Fitzst., i. 262. * Herb., vii. 2G7. Comp. Ep. 144 to this Bishop. Gamier says that Henry, regretting, on reflec- tion, the loss of the late oppor- tunity, sent him at midnight to Beeket, with a request that the negotiation might be resumed; but that the Archbishop refused. 110. c vii. 265-6. d Alan, i. 367; Herbert, 276 (who, however, do not quite agree). « Herb., vii. 276. a.d. 1169. RESULT OF THE CONFERENCE. 217 The Archbishop alone wore a cheerful look ; he told his followers that as he alone was the object of attack, he would relieve them from the dangers connected with their attachment to him — with one companion, and on foot, he would seek a refuge in Burgundy, where the sight of his affliction might procure him sustenance until better days should come. 3 At this critical time a messenger appeared from the King of France, and desired the Archbishop's attendance at Court. " It is to drive us out of the kingdom," said one of the clerks. " Thou art no prophet, neither a prophet's son," b replied Becket ; " do not prophesy unlucky things." The King's troubled look, as Becket entered into his presence, appeared to justify the foreboding which had been expressed ; but after some minutes of silence, to the astonishment of all who witnessed the scene, Louis threw himself on his knees before the Archbishop, acknowledg- ing with tears that he alone had been in the right at Montmirail, and beseeching absolution for having taken part against him. The absolution was formally bestowed, and Becket returned to Sens with the assurance that from that time he might count on the King as a steady and unfailing supporter. This revolution was caused by the receipt of tidings that Henry had violated the late treaty by some barbarous acts of severity against certain leading men of Poitou, who had lately been in rebellion against him, and for whom Louis had supposed himself to have secured forgiveness. Louis was now prepared ■ Alan, i. 3(!8 ; Herb., vii. 270. I the way. Aluu places this at a hostelry on I b Aruos, vii. 14. 218 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. for a breach with the English King ; and he treated the exiles with greater honour and familiarity than before. 3 The commissioner Bernard of Grammont is said to have also repented of the course which he had taken in the conference of Montmirail, and to have expressed to Herbert of Bosham his wish that one of his feet had been cut off rather than that the Archbishop should have yielded to his solicitations. 11 He and his colleagues, finding that their attempts to effect a reconciliation were vain, now proceeded, agreeably to their instruc- tions, to deliver to Henry the second letter with which they had been charged, containing a threat of heavy ecclesiastical censure against the King, unless he should speedily repent. 0 During the negotiations with Simon and his col- leagues the proceedings against the Bishop of London — the " standardbearer " of the opposite party, the " in- centor of all malice," as Becket styled him d — had been allowed to rest. But at the beginning of Lent, 1169, e the suspension of the Archbishop expired, and he de- clared an intention of inflicting the severest sentences of the Church on his contumacious opponents. In order to ward off the blow, Foliot put in a fresh appeal, which was to last until the Feast of the Purification in the » Alan, i. 369 ; Herb., 277 ; Job. Sarisb., ii. 197, ed. Giles ; Gervase, 140G. Sismondi says that the rebellion, although professedly grounded on politieal causes, was really excited by the preaching of Becket's partisans. Hist, des Fran- 5ais, v. 462. b Herb., vii. 278. « Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 185. d S. T. C, hi. 115, 125, 202. e Dr. Pauli (74), from whom I have not ventured to differ without a re-examination of the facts, places the following proceedings in 1168. A.d. 1169. EXCOMMUNICATION OF FOLIOT. 219 following year, 8 and lie induced the Bishop of Salisbury, Avho was in the same danger with himself, to unite with him in this step. Without, however, regarding the appeal, Becket, on Palm Sunday, pronounced at Clair- vaux the sentence of excommunication against the two bishops and other persons who had offended him. b John of Salisbury had warned his patron to beware of viti- ating his censures by informality ; c and, although the Archbishop considered that the circumstances of the case were sufficient to dispense with the ordinary pro- cedure,' 1 Foliot knew how to turn the forms of law to his account with all the ingenuity of a Bentley. On hearing of the Primate's sentence he assembled a synod, at which he stated his objections : that he had appealed to the Pope ; that he had received no citation to appear before his metropolitan ; and that, although a ru- mour of the excommunication had reached him, he did not hold himself bound to defer to it until he should receive a formal intimation. 6 All possible care was taken to keep such documents at a distance, but this vigilance was not long effectual. On Ascension Day, when the service of high mass in St. Paul's Cathedral had advanced as far as the Offertory, a young French- man, named Berengar, approached the officiating priest, and, kneeling, held out a packet as his oblation. The priest received this, and Berengar, seizing his hand, * Fol., Ep. 175. b Fitzst., i. 255 ; Anon. Lanib., ii. 1U7. ,c See p. 209, note c . d See the " Causa inter Cant. Areliiep. et Ep. London.," in S. T. C, ii. 211, seqq., where the argu- ments on both sides are given. e Eitzst., i. 256, 259 ; Fol., Ep. 2(58. 220 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. held it firmly closed over the packet, while he charged him, in the names of God, the Pope, and the Primate, to open it at once, to deliver the contents to the Bishop and the Dean (who were then absent), and to refrain in the mean time from celebrating mass. The priest, on opening the cover, found, not, as might have been ex- pected, a gift for the benefit of the Church, but a letter from the Primate to the Bishop, announcing the sen- tence which had been passed on him, with another to the Dean and clergy of the cathedral, charging them to avoid the communion of their diocesan in consequence.* The messenger then proclaimed the excommunication to the people, and, by the aid of one of the Archbishop's friends, who threw a cloak over him, escaped among the crowd which at that stage of the service usually left the cathedral. The clergy then debated whether the mass should be carried further. The celebrant and others were for desisting ; but, on the Archdeacon's asking whether a priest would refrain from eating if a mes- senger from the Archbishop were to forbid him, the rites were resumed. b In the mean time Berengar, not- withstanding an eager search which was carried on for him by the King's officers, succeeded in escaping from London and made his way to York, where he published the excommunication in a similar manner. 0 • Epp. 134, 137. b " Celebrata est missa, non lectis litteris, nisi clanculum, ut audivi " (iii. 226). Clanculum relates to the reading of the letters, not, as Dr. Pauli supposes (75), to the performance of the mass. c iv. 225-26; Fitzst. i. 256-8. There are many such instances in Church History of the delivery of dangerous papers : e. g. Evagrius, iii. 34 ; Liberatus, in Patrol., lviii. 1028; Gesta Treverorum, ib. cliv. 1313. a.d. 11G9. EXCOMMUNICATION OF FOLIOT. 221 On the second day after this scene, the Bishop of London, having returned from his manor of Stebonheth (or Stepney), assembled his clergy and read the Arch- bishop's letters before them. He protested against the sentence on many and various grounds, citing the Old Testament and the New, Fathers and Councils, the Civil Law and the False Decretals. He insisted on bis appeal and on the informality of pronouncing sentence without citation and trial — an informality, he said, which could not be excused by the difficulty of serving a citation on him, since the Archbishop had found means of conveying the letters of excommunication, which was a far more difficult and dangerous matter. He declared that he owed no obedience to the see of Canterbury, inasmuch as he had not at his translation taken any oath to the Arch- bishop, and because, moreover, London was of right an independent archiepiscopal see, as it had been until the ancient British Christianity was overwhelmed by a heathen invasion. It is said by Becket and his partisans that the Bishop even went so far as to boast that he would get the Primacy transferred from Canterbury to London. a By the advice of his friends, however, he resolved to yield a formal obedience to the sentence, and refrained from taking part in the offices of the Church. 1 ' The London clergy, in general, joined with the Bishop in « ■ ii. 223 ; iii. 125, 203, 339 ; iv. 225 ; vi. 236 ; Fitzst., i. 256. John of Salisbury here amuses himself with the archflainen theory (see .p. 94). " Fortasse vir prudens et religioBus Jovis cultum instaur- are dispouit, ut, si alio modo archi- episcopari non potest, arcliiflam- inis saltern iiomcn et titulurn asse- quatur " ( ii. 212, ed. Giles). Iieeket ill vain tried to stir up the Canter- bury monks against the Bishop of London?? pretensions. >> Fitzst., i. 258 ; Diceto, 550. 222 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. appealing against his excommunication, but the members of his own order excused themselves from supporting him. a The King wrote letters in his behalf to the Pope, as did also the Bishop of Lisieux, the Abbots of West- minster, Komsey, and Reading, with other ecclesiastics, representing his merits and vindicating his conduct, 6 and, having obtained the royal licence, he set out for Home, in order to sue for a reversal of his sentence ; while Becket, on his part, endeavoured to create a rival interest by procuring letters from the French bishops, in which the Pope was requested to sanction the sentence against " the author and instigator of schism." c On the same day on which the letters of excommu- nication were delivered in St. Paul's, Becket himself was busy elsewhere in adding to the list of the excom- municate. The Archdeacon of Canterbury (" archi- diabolus noster") was again denounced on this occasion." 1 The Pope was much annoyed on hearing of Foliot's excommunication. Before the tidings reached March 10. . ~_ him, he had (chiefly by way of staving off the importunities of opposite parties 6 ) appointed Gratian, a subdeacon, nephew of Pope Eugenius III., and Vivian, Archdeacon of Orvieto/ a learned canonist, to go into France as his commissioners ; g and he now sent Becket a letter, expressive of regret that he had resorted to excom- a iv. 227. b Epp. 337, 341-3, 348, 350, 353, 303, 450, 477, &c. Arnulf., Ep. 55. c Fol. Epp. 443, 447, 461, &c. - 1 In Epp. 36, 56, Becket begs two cardinals, if Foliot and Ridel should hud their way to the Papal Court, to treat them " as limbs of anti-Christ, who already worketh his mystery of iniquity in them." e Herb., vii. 279. 1 See Morris, 257 and note. s iv. 21 ; Herb., vii. 280. A.n. 1169. GRATIAN AND VIVIAN. 223 munication while negotiations were in progress, and advising that further proceedings should be deferred until the result of the commission were known.* Early in August, the envoys arrived in France ; for, says Herbert, as they were less encumbered with dignity and with baggage than the Cardinals, they were able to travel more expeditiously. 11 With Becket's party, Gratian was the favourite. He is described by Herbert as " truly gracious, according to his name, and, moreover, more vivacious than Vivian ;" 0 nay, the biographer considers him a very prodigy, inasmuch as " although a Roman, yet he ' went not after gold ; ' " (1 while the Archbishop speaks of him as the only Roman ecclesiastic whom Henry found incorruptible, or whose exertions were of any service in the case. 6 These commissioners, it is said, were bound by oath not to accept any present, even so much as their expenses, from the King, unless they should succeed in establishing an accommodation.' After having seen the King of France, and having waited some time at Sens, as Henry was then in Gascon y, the legates, on hearing of his return, proceeded into Normandy/ and had several conferences with him, most of which ended in some outbreak of passion on the King's part. At the first consultation Henry rushed out of the room, com- plaining bitterly that the Pope had never paid any regard to him, and swearing " By God's eyes, I will take • iii. 22. b vii. 280. c " Scd sicut penes regem Cra- tianus gratiam non invenit," says Diceto, " sic nec penes arclii- epificopum aliijua vivit in me- moria Vivianus," 550. d vii. 281-3 (Ecelesiasticus, xxxi. 8). « iii. 108, 112, 252. f Job. Sar., Ep. 292. e iv. 217. 224 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. another way." " Do not threaten, my Lord," said Gra- tian calmly ; " for we are of a Court which is accustomed to give commands to emperors and kings." At another meeting Henry exclaimed " Do what you like, for I don't care one egg for you or your excommunications ;" and mounted his horse with the intention of riding awav. At the entreaties of his bishops, who represented the impropriety of such a speech, he remained, but in the course of the further conversation he repeatedly burst forth into fresh explosions of anger. The bishops im- plored him to consider the extent of the powers with which the legates were invested. " I know it," he ex- claimed ; " I know that they will interdict my lands. But if I can take one of the strongest castles every day, shall I not be able to take one clerk who interdicts my lands ?" a There were offers of conciliation from both sides : it was agreed that such of the excommunicates as were present should be absolved at once, and that Vivian should °ro into England for the absolution of the others ; and at length the long quarrel appeared to be on the point of settlement. But in the arrangement of terms, the old differences broke out afresh, as Henry insisted on the words " saving the dignity of the king- dom," b while Becket and the commissioners were equally earnest for the reservation of " the dignity of the Church ;" and neither party would give way. 0 It was ■ Thorn., Ep. 383. k The word dignities had now been substituted for customs (iii. 155) ; but John of Salisbury strongly declares the identity of vrhat was meant. (Ep. 291.) c Vivian represents himself, his colleague, and the Archbishop as willing to admit the King's phrase, provided that the King would A.D. 1169. GRATIAN AND VIVIAN. 225 evident that in these phrases the whole grounds of the original quarrel were involved ; and after a further attempt to treat with the King by means of Peter, Archdeacon of Pavia, who was driven from the Court with threats of personal violence, 0, Gratian, in despair of an accommodation, returned to Borne, declaring himself (it is said) to be utterly disgusted at Henry's faitldess and untrustworthy character. 1 " Vivian, who was supposed to have substantial reasons for being more favourable to the King, remained behind, and entered into fresh negotiations, for which the Arch- bishop was but little disposed to thank him. 0 The com- missioner and King Louis, however, persuaded Becket to admit the other, and thus throws the odium of preventing an accom- modation on Henry. (Ap. Thorn., Ep. 360.) But Becket himself says that Gratian persuaded the King to admit the ecclesiastical reser- vation, which his " grammarians " had told him that he might allow without giving up the power of restraining the clergy from ap- pealing to the Pope, or oheying papal citations (Ep. 138 ) ; and if so, the obstacle must have been on the Archbishop's side. The Arch- bishop of Rouen (who is com- mended by Becket's informant as having at the conference studied to please God and the Pope, while Arnulf of Lisieux strove to flatter Henry, iv. 281) tells the Pope that he and others had in vain laboured to obtain the admission of the royal dignities. " Dolu- imus plurimum," he .adds, " pra;- sertim quum constet nobis pro certo, quod in observatione regise dignitatis libertas aut dignitas ecclesiastica nullatenus prajgrave- tur. Siquidem dignitas ecclesias- tic;! regiam provehit potius quani adimit dignitatem, et regalis dig- nitas ecclesiasticam potius con- servare quam tollere consuevil libertatem; etenim quasi quibus- dam sibi invicem complexibus dig- nitas ecclesiastica et regalis oc- cui runt, quum nec reges sine ec- clesia nec ecclesia paeem sine pro- teetione regia consequatur." (iv. 150-1 ; comp. a letter from the Bishop of Nevers to the Pope, S. T. C, vi. 227 ; Diceto, 551.) ■ S. T. C, iv. 58, 220 ; Gervas., 1407. b Herb., vii. 283. c Ep. 173. Q 226 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. attend a conference which took place on the Octave of St. Martin at Montmartre near Paris, the scene of the legen- Nov 18 ^ ar y martyrdom of St. Denys, to whose neigh- bouring abbey the King of England had gone on a pilgrimage.* As the Archbishop approached the little chapel which marked the spot of the martyrdom, a messenger appeared, who urged him to make haste, as the Kings were already arrived ; but he replied that it was not becoming for a priest to hurry in his motions. b Vivian, with the Archbishop of Rouen, the Bishop of Seez, and others, presented to Henry, on the part of the English Primate, a petition for the recovery of the royal favour, and for the restoration of himself and the other exiles to their full rights and preferments." The petition was graciously received ; and in the conversation which followed there was a studious avoidance of offensive topics on either side. The King offered to submit the questions between himself and the Archbishop to his suzerain king Louis, to the French nobles or bishops, or to the learned men of the University of Paris ; to which the Archbishop replied that he did not decline such judgment, but that he would rather settle matters amicably than engage in any litigation. d As to the lands winch were claimed for the Church, the King was willing to concede ; but there was some difference with regard to the revenues and moveable property a iii. 154 ; Fitzst,, i. 263. | himself as having enumerated the b Herb., vii. 285. I possessions which were wrongfully c The terms of this (iv. 220) are , detained. (Ep. 92.) general; whereas Becket speaks of | d iii. 255. A.D. 1169. CONFERENCE AT MONTMARTRE. 227 detained from the exiles, which Becket rated at 30,000 marks." The Archbishop insisted on his rights and his necessities — that he and his adherents required money, both for then- immediate expenses, and for reparation of the dilapidations which had taken place on their pro- perty ; while Henry urged that he had not expelled the Archbishop, and could not fairly be expected to restore property which he had found vacant, and in some cases had granted away. But the French King said that a question of money must not be allowed to prevent a reconciliation ; and Heury promised that compensation should be made, as soon as the proper amount could be ascertained by valuation.* 3 All seemed to be arranged, when Becket requested that the King would give him the kiss of peace, as a security for his good faith. Henry replied that he would gladly do so, but for an oath which he had formerly taken ; and on this the Arch- bishop hesitated. While he was in expectation of a further answer, the Kings rode off towards Mantes — Henry, as they went along, furiously cursing Becket for all the trouble which he had caused ; and the Arch- bishop retired to lodge in the Temple at Paris. He states in his letters, that, although the King had been studiously plausible in his behaviour, his insincerity and duplicity had throughout been evident to all who under- a In mentioning a compromise which he had proposed on this point, Becket shows himself sensible of the value of a standing grievance. "Tam Romano; quam Anglicanse ecclesise expedit ut [rex] aliquid habeat penes se, quod ei tumultus et seditiones molienti rectc possit opponi." (iii. 221.) Mr. Froude omits this. (p. 401.) b Herb., vii. 287 ; Diceto, 551. Q 2 228 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. stood his ways. 3 In conversation with some of his followers, who regretted that the question as to the kiss of peace had been allowed to put an end to so promising a negotiation, the Archbishop told them that his conduct in the matter was in obedience to instructions from the Pope ; b and he reports the King of France as having said that he would not for his weight in gold advise him to return to England without the kiss, after Henry's late treachery towards the in- surgents of Poitou. c One of the clerks, in allusion to the name of Montinartre, expressed a belief that nothing but the Archbishop's martyrdom would restore peace to the Church. " Would that she might be delivered," exclaimed Becket, " even if it were with my blood ! " d Vivian, after the failure of his endeavours at media- tion, declared himself strongly against the King, whom he is said to have characterised as the most mendacious man that he had ever seen or heard of; and Henry, by way of revenge, gave out that the envoy's former favour had been gained by bribery. 6 The envovs, on beginning to act, had consented that the Archbishop of Rouen should absolve the Archdeacon of Canterbury and others, on condition that their excommunication was again to be in force unless peace were concluded by Michaelmas; and, • iii. 255-6 ; cf. Yiv. ap. Thorn., I Ep. 361 ; Herb., vii. 289-290 ; viii. j 231 : Maurit. Paris, episc. ap. Fol., Ep. 460 ; Gamier, 111. " Herb., vii. 291-7. 1 iii. 256. d vii. 290. e Viv. ap. Thorn., Epp. 361-2 j iii. 256. Vivian seems to have now acquired some credit with the Archbishop. See Ep. 13. A.u. 1169. AN INTERDICT THREATENED. 229 as the negotiations had failed, Gratian, when about to return to Rome, had written to Eidel and the rest, desiring them to consider themselves as still ex- communicate." The Archbishop now again felt him- self at liberty to deal out his censures. He wrote to the Archbishop of Eouen and other Norman clergy, announcing that he had once more excommunicated Ridel, Nigel de Sackville, and others ; b and he threat- ened that unless full reparation were made for all wrongs before the ensuing feast of the Purification, he would lay the realm of England under an interdict, and, if necessary, would excommunicate the King. The Archbishop of Sens had set out for the papal Court, in company with Gratian, for the purpose of urging the Pope to extreme measures; 0 and Henry, on hearing what was intended, despatched Eidel into England, with a commission to exact from persons of every age an abjuration of the Archbishop and the Pope. All who should pay heed to any interdict were to be banished, with all their relations, and then property was to be con- fiscated. Clergy who held benefices in England, and were out of the kingdom, were to be summoned to return before St. Hilary's day (Jan. 13) ; or, in case of failure, they were to be banished for life and to lose all their property. All appeals to the Pope or to the Arch- bishop, and all obedience to their mandates, were for- • iv. 219 ; vi. 291. b Epp. 105, 108. c There are three letters of Herbert to the Archbishop of Sens at this time, chiefly against Fo- liot. (Epp. 5-7. S. T. C, viii.) The King s kiss, he says, was pro- videntially refused, as a sign that his peace and our righteousness cannot agree (p. 230). 230 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XI. bidden; and the severest penalties were denounced against all who should attempt to introduce any papal or archiepiscopal letters into England. The prelates were assembled for the purpose of giving their consent to these orders, but were afraid to venture on so bold a defiance of their ecclesiastical superiors ; and some of them, by way of sheltering themselves from the King's anger, took refuge in religious houses. Such was the state of things when Henry, after an absence of four years, landed in England in March, 1170. a » Gervas., 1408-1410 ; Thorn., I Cant., i. 19. See above, p. 176, Ep. 372 ; Fitzst, i. 2G7-8 ; Will. | note <\ A.D.,1170. ( 231 ) CHAPTEE XII. THE RECONCILIATION. — a.d. 1170. The Pope was still earnestly desirous of a reconciliation, and in January, 1170, he directed a fresh commission to Rotrou, Archbishop of Rouen, and Bernard, Bishop of Nevers — the one, for the appearance of impartiality, being chosen from among the subjects of Henry, and the other from those of Louis ; a and with these the Arch- bishop of Sens, although not formally appointed as their colleague, was desired to join in the work of mediation. 15 William of Sens, who, as we have seen, had just signalized his zeal for Becket by undertaking a journey to the papal court, is truly described in Mr. Froude's volume as "a warm supporter of the Archbishop's cause; but," it is added, " tbe other two were persons of views directly opposed to it, and had manifested their opposition only very lately, at the close of Gratian's and Vivian's em- bassy." c As to the previous conduct of the Bishop of Nevers, we do not remember anything except the fact of his having written to the Pope on that occasion a very moderate and sensible letter in behalf of the English King. tl But the description of the Archbishop of Rouen » Ap. Thorn., Epp. 152-3, 287. c P. 466. b lb. 262. I Ap. Fol., Ep. 455. 232 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. is decidedly unjust ; for Kotrou bore the character of a true and steady churchman. We have already seen that John of Salisbury styled him " that most firm pillar of the Church;" that he had been, favourably disposed towards Becket, until disgusted and alienated by his arrogance and violence ; a and that his behaviour at the conference with Gratian and Vivian had been such as to command the respect of Becket's partisans, although, like the Bishop of Nevers, he had been led by the result of that conference to address to the Pope a letter of wise and temperate remonstrance against the pretensions by which the English Primate seemed determined to render hopeless any accommodation with the secular power. b " On this appointment being made," says Mr. Froude's editor, " Becket endeavoured to give it a good direction, and wrote a letter to the Bishop of Nevers how to act in his new situation." Although such an attempt to in- fluence an arbiter is repugnant to modern ideas, we are not, perhaps, entitled to censure it on that account ; but we may extract from the opening of the Archbishop's letter a specimen of his tone with regard to the King : "Unless I am deceived, you will have to fight with beasts ; for, if he perceive that he cannot circumvent you with promises and smooth words, he will bring forth his bishops, and abbots, and wise men, to besiege your constancy. Since, therefore, it is not easy to detect the manifold disguises of this prodigy, look with suspicion on him and on everything of his, whatever he may say, whatever shape he may put on, and believe that all is ° P. 194. b P. 225. A.D. 1170. A NEW COMMISSION. 233 full of deceit, unless in so far as his acts shall manifestly vouch for his sincerity. Should he find that he can either corrupt you by promises or frighten you hy threats, you will immediately lose all authority in his eyes, and you will become a subject of contempt and derision to him and his party. If, however, he see that he cannot bend you from your purpose, he will at first make a show of rage ; he will swear and forswear, he will change like Proteus ; but at last he will return to himself, and from that time forward, unless the fault be your own, you will always be for a god unto Pharaoh." a And from this the Archbishop goes on, in a style of great assumption, to lay down the duties of the commissioners, and to caution them against all possible evasions on the part of the King. The charge given to Eotrou and his colleague was, that they should endeavour to mediate between the King and the Archbishop, and to procure the restoration of the exiles, with compensation for their losses, (although, if the King should demur to the immediate payment of a thousand marks, which Becket had demanded, they were not to insist on it) ; that they should prevail on Henry to give the kiss of peace, or, if this were im- possible, that they should persuade the Archbishop to receive it from the King's eldest son, as representative of his father — an expedient by which Henry had pro- posed to get over the difficulty of his oath, while the Pope, in a special letter, offered to absolve him from the a iii. 303 ; Froude, 467-8. LIFE OF BECKET. UHAP. XII. oatli. a If their attempts to effect a peace should fail, the commissioners were to threaten an interdict on the King's continental dominions at the end of forty days ; but this threat was not to be executed if within the interval Heniy should show any signs of a better mind. They were to absolve the excommunicates, if there were a prospect of a reconciliation ; but on condition that the excommunication should revive, unless a settlement actually follo\ved. b By a later letter they were autho- rised to suspend, and, in case of obstinacy, to excommu- nicate any prelate or other person who should refuse to defer to their sentence of interdict. 0 The Bishop of London was not included in the general absolution ; for Becket had always regarded him as the soul of the opposite party, and had insisted, with all his energy and with all the interest which he could command, that the sentence against him should be con- firmed. But the interest employed on behalf of Foliot was stronger; and when, after a journey which the fear of his enemies rendered circuitous and difficult, he had reached Milan, d on his way to the Papal Court, he received a letter from the Pope, informing him that the Archbishop of Bouen and the Bishop of Nevers were authorised to absolve him, on his swearing to obey the » Ap. Thorn., Ep. 307. Henry I. had refused a similar offer from Paschal II., on the ground that to accept it would be unworthy of a king, and an example tending to produce universal distrust among men. Eadmer, ed. Gerberon, p. 75. b Ep. 253. ° Ep. 254. d " Ad Sanctum Ambrosium." Diceto, 552. A.D. 1170. ABSOLUTION OF FOLIOT. 235 Pope's mandate as to the matters in question/ If the Commissioners should be unable to attend together, either of them was empowered to pronounce the abso- lution, which was to be formally announced to the Archbishop of Canterbury, with a charge (of which the object does not appear) that he should keep it secret " until it could be published without danger to the Bishop of London himself." b Foliot, on receiving the Pope's letter, turned homewards ; he was absolved by Botrou at Eouen on Easter-Day, and, agreeably to the Pope's directions, the act was immediately notified to the English Primate. 0 To Becket this announcement was a token that his enemies prevailed at the Papal Court, and he wrote to the Archbishop of Eouen, re- monstrating against the absolution as informal, because there was no evidence of the other Commissioner's in- ability to be present, and because the Bishop of London, instead of keeping it secret, had forthwith done his utmost to blaze it abroad.' 1 The first of these objections appears somewhat captious, 6 and the other is utterly unfounded ; for the Pope had not bound Foliot to se- 4 Alex. ap. Thorn., Ep.280, where, as Ep. 25G shows, the Bishop of Exeter is wrongly named, instead of the Bishop of Nevers. b Ep. 25G. c Ep. 323 ; cf. Fol., Epp. 432-4. d Ep. 108. e Although the words of the Pope's letter as to Foliot, " ad- ease non potest " . . . . " interesse non potuerit " . . . . speak only of inability, whereas the general in- structions to the commissioners authorise one to act if the other should be unable or unwilling (" quod tamen non credimus "), the difference of the business is enough to account for the difference of words. In the one case, unwil- lingness was provided against be- cause it seemed possible ; in the other, the possibility of it was not imagined. 236 LIFE OP BECKET. Chap. XII. crecy, but had allowed the absolution to be published as soon as might be consistent with his interest. But the Archbishop's indignation burst forth more remarkably in an epistle to a cardinal, which, for furious invective against ecclesiastical superiors, could hardly be paralleled by anything in the writings of our highest modern Churchmen. He characterises the letter by which the absolution was authorised as an order " that Satan might be let loose for the ruin of the Church." " I know not how it is," he continues, " that in the Court of Rome the Lord's side is always sacrificed — that Barabbas escapes, and Christ is put to death.* . . . With you, the wretched, the exiles, the innocent are condemned, and for no other reason (to speak on my conscience) than because they are the poor of Christ, and weak, and would not go back from the righteousness of God ; while, on the other hand, you absolve the sacrilegious, the murderers, the robbers, the impenitent, whom I openly declare, on Christ's authority, that Peter himself, if he were in the Papal chair, could not absolve in the sight of God. b Let any one who dares, bind himself, and not dread the sentence of the Judge who is to come. Let him absolve the robbers, the sacrilegious, the mm-- derers, the perjurers, the men of blood, the schismatics, without repentance. I will never remit to the impeni- a This phrase is repeated in a violent letter to the Pope by the Archbishop of Sens, who was annoyed that the absolution had been granted without his know- ledge. (Ap. Thorn., Ep. 329.) The Pope replied to him evasively, but mildly. (Ib., 262.) " Frustra laborat Baronius," says Brial, "ut Alexandrum a tergiversatione im- muuem prsestet." (434.) b There is a similar passage as to the limitation of the Pope's power in Job. Sarisb., Ep. 198, col. 218, C. A.D. 1170. EXASPERATION OF BEC'KET. 237 tent the things which have been taken away from the Church of God. Is it not our spoils, or rather the spoils of the Church, which the King's emissaries lavish on and pay to the cardinals of Eome ? . . . For my own part, I am resolved no longer to trouble the Court ; let those resort thither who prevail in their iniquities, and, after triumphing over justice and leading innocence captive, return with boasting for the confusion of the Church. Would to God that the way to Eome had not caused, for no purpose, the deaths of so many poor and innocent persons ! " a There are those who would use the history of Becket as an argument in favour of Eome ! There are those who represent the temper of his latter days as that of a man purified by suffering to calm and saintly resignation ! In the mean time Henry was busy in preparations for the coronation of his eldest son, who, in February, 1170, completed his fifteenth year. This, according to some writers, was an expedient intended to ward off the threatened interdict from his subjects by nominally transferring them to the Prince, b while others represent it as having originated merely in a wish to annoy the ■ Ep. 31 (comp. Ep. 390, which is a remonstrance of the exiles against the Pope's vacillating policy.) The next letter in the old collection (v. 21 = Ep. 40 in Giles) says, "Innocentes, miseri, pro libertate ecclesise gratis in itinere perierunt." See, too, Her- bert, 254. But Mr. Froude seems to go too far in saying that there i is an allusion " to the suspicious deaths of some former envoys at the Roman court," (481,) since the words do not hint at anything beyond the effects which might have followed from the hardships of the journey and the insalubrity of the Roman air. b Fitzst., 272. 238 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. Primate by invading the privileges of his see, among which was that of crowning the Sovereigns of England. Very possibly, one or both of these motives may have been concerned in the matter at the time which we have now reached ; but it ought not to be forgotten that the idea of crowning the heir-apparent had been entertained long before : for we are told that that mission of Chan- cellor Thomas from Normandy into England, which resulted in his own elevation to the primacy, was con- nected with the intended coronation of Prince Henry and in the end of 1163, shortly after the Council of Westminster, John of Salisbury speaks of the ceremony as having been deferred in order that it might be per- formed by the Pope in person. 1 * It would seem that, on the death of Theobald, both the Archbishop of York and the King made application to the Pope in con- nexion with this subject. Roger, bent on the exaltation of his see, obtained a letter acknowledging that the right of crowning kings belonged to him and had be- longed to his predecessors ;° while Henry, who was then offended with Eoger and desirous to guard against any claims which he might set up during the vacancy of Canterbury, obtained a grant authorising him to employ » Grim, i. 13. b Job. Sarisb., i. 191, ed. Giles. c Alex. ap. Thorn., Ep. 241. Although Bucket had been conse- crated a month before the date of this (Montpellier, July 5, 1162), no doubt it was the fruit of solici- tation during the vacancy. Theo- bald had been afraid that Eoger might invade the privileges of Canterbury by crowning a king ; i. e., apparently, by performing the coronation of Stephen's son, which Theobald himself had refused to do. (Job. Sarisb., Ep. 34.) a.d. 1170. CORONATION OP PRINCE HENRY. 239 such bishops as he himself might choose for the corona- tion of his son. a In 116G, the Pope had forbidden the English bishops to take part in any coronation during the exile of their Primate ; b but in the following year, when at the extremity of Ins fear from the assault of Frederick Barbarossa, he had again granted the Arch- bishop of York authority to perform the ceremony. 0 The Pope had been lately beset with fresh solicitations from both sides, and appears for a time to have endea- voured to keep well with both ; for the King's envoys, in their return through France, gave out that they had obtained Alexander's consent to the coronation/ and at the time when Becket was complaining of this to the Pope, a new letter was on its way to prohibit Roger and 8 This appears from Becket's account of his last interview with the King (iii. 70). b Thorn., Ep. 244. c Ep. 245. About this letter, which is not in the Vatican MS. and was not printed by Lupus, there has been much controversy. Both by the defenders and by the assailants of its genuineness, it has usually been referred to the beginning of 1170, the time at which letters of an opposite ten- dency were addressed by the Pope to others ; and the question, whether Alexander could have been guilty of such duplicity, lias entered largely into the arguments on the genuineness of the letter. See, for it, Lyttelton, ii. 540, who first published it from a MS. in the Bodleian; Milman (who, how- ever, does not speak positively , j iii. 511 ; against it, Berington's Henry II., 606-8; Lingard, ii. 234, 12mo. ; ii. 153, ed. 1849; Pauli, 80, who says that it has no date, and is certainly spurious ; Buss, 591, 598. But Boehmer gives a date : " Apud S. Mariam Novam, xv. kal. Julii," which throws a new light on the letter by referring it to the time of the siege of Rome by Frederick ; it is considered genuine by Jaffe' (713) ; and is so given in Migne's Patro- logia, ii. 457. Lord Lyttelton (ii. 5491 has pointed out the art with which the Pope assumes that his consent is necessary to the coro- nation itself, and not only to the determination of the right of olii- ciating at it. " Henricum . . . ex auctoritatebeati Petri ac nostra con- cedimus in Anglia coronandum." * hi. 64 ; vi. 230. 240 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIT. other English prelates from officiating in the absence of their chief/ This prohibition, however, was ineffectual, partly through Becket's remissness in making use of it, b and partly through the care which was taken to prevent the Papal letter, and those from the Archbishop which accompanied it, from reaching the persons for whom thev were intended. It is said that some copies were intro- duced into England, but that no one would venture to deliver them : and it is also said that some of the bishops refused them, or pretended not to have received them. 6 The bishop of Worcester, son of Earl Robert of Gloucester, had been invited by the King to follow him into England for the coronation of his young kinsman ; but Becket, on being informed that he was about to cross the sea, took the opportunity of charging him to prevent the performance of the ceremony by the Archbishop of York or other English bishops ; d and, lest the bishop should ■ Ep. 247: Herb., viL 297. Mr. Morris tells us that " St Thomas had received from the Holy Father letters dated Feb. 26th [1170], and still earlier from Anagni, in November [1169] ; others again from the Lateran, April 5th [1170], forbidding any one but the Archbishop of Canter- bury to perform the ceremony" (876). The letter of April 5th is that which has been already men- tioned as written in 1166 ; for that from Anagni Mr. Morris re- fers to Bymer, L 29. There is no such letter in that place; but at p. 26 of the new edition is the letter to which Mr. Morris pro- bably refers. Although, however, the editors unaccountably date it in Nov. 1170, it is addressed to Becket's successor, Richard, and was written in some year between 1174 and 1179. Jaffe, 781.) The letter of February is, therefore, the only one which belongs to this time. b " Vobis imputate, qui litteras non misistis, quae poterant con- secrationeni impedire.'* iv. 300. * Ep. 389. WilL Cant, ii. 26. See a letter of John of Salisbury to the monks of Christchurch, Can- terbury, Ep. 296. Fitzsttphen says that they were delivered to the Archbishop of York and the j Bishop of -London on the day be- fore the coronation .i. 26S I * Ep. 105. a.d. 1 170. CORONATION OF PRINCE HENRY. 2-11 interfere in this manner, lie was forbidden by the Queen and the Justiciary of Normandy to embark. 8 On Sunday, the 14th of June, the young Henry, who on the day before had received knighthood from his father, was crowned at Westminster by the Archbishop of York, with the assistance of the Bishops of London, Salisbury, Bochester, Seez, and others. b No oath to preserve the liberties of the Church was required from him, although the Pope had written to Becket that such an oath must be a condition of any coronation ; c but it is said that the bishops swore afresh to observe the Constitutions of Clarendon. 11 Immediately after the ceremony the elder King returned to Normandy. 6 The Archbishop of Bouen and his colleagues now renewed their efforts at mediation, 1 and found Henry much inclined to peace, — chiefly by the knowledge that an interdict was hanging very closely over his kingdom, * Fitzst., i. 2G8, who gives a re- markable conversation as having passed between the Bishop and the King after the coronation. b " Pridie festum SS. Viti et Mo- desti." Fitzst., i. 2G8 ; Epp. 389, 392. The Pope writes to the Arch- bishop of Rouen against the part which the Bishop of Se'ez took in these affairs. S. T. C, iv. 04. « Ep. 224. See Carte, i. 623. d iv. 50. This Carte disbelieves, i. 623-4. ' Fitzst., i. 209. Herbert in this place tells a story of a vision, from which it appears that Becket " wanted the accomplishment of verse." He was warned in sleep that two of the King's sons would die before their father ; and, as the warning was in the form of a hexameter, the biographer argues that it must have been super- natural, since his schoolmasters had never been able to instil into him the art of making a line (vii. 300). ' Peter of Blois, about this time, states that some papal legates, with whom he had travelled from the " Roman Court " to Bologna, spoke confidently of Beeket's re- conciliation with the King, or of his translation " to the eminence of a greater patriarchate," as cer- tain to take place shortly. Ep. 22. i; 242 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. as the Pope had entrusted Becket with the power of issuing the sentence, and letters to the English bishops were already prepared, with a view of putting it in force : a for this sentence, which closed all the churches throughout the kingdom or district against which it was pronounced — silencing the bells, removing the outward tokens of religion, and denying its offices to the people, except in such a measure and with such circumstances as tended to impress the imagination with a deeper horror b — was something which kings, even the boldest and those who were least sensible to spiritual impressions, dreaded to encounter, on account of its effect on the minds of their subjects. 0 Becket was persuaded, by the urgency of the Archbishop of Sens,' 1 to accompany him to a meeting between the Kings of England and France, which was to take place in a meadow between Freteval and La Ferte" Bernard, on the borders of the provinces of Tours and Chartres ; and on St. Mary Magdalene's day — the third day of the conference — lie was ad- July 22. J . mitted to an interview with Henry. It had been agreed that, in order to guard against the appearance of constraint, the King of France should not be present at » iii. 66, 199, 201, 207, 209, &c. ; iv. 57, 60. b The baptism of infants and the penance of the dying were, how- ever, always allowed. See the letttrs written on this occasion ; also Hincmar, Opera, ii. 510-4, ed. Paris, 1645 ; Schmid, Liturgik, i. 723-4 (Passau, 1840). c Fitzstephen reports that some one said to Henry, " Ut quid ten- etur exclusus [archiepiscopus] ? melius tenebitur inclusus quam exclusus," and that on this hint the King acted with a view of in- veigling Becket into his power (i. 272). But the force of the story is not apparent, since Henry had always declared that he had not driven the Archbishop away, and that he wished him to return. d iv. 303. A.I.. 1170. CONFERENCE NEAR FRETEVAL. 243 their meeting ; a and, as the hostile English bishops were not at hand to exert their influence against the Primate, the King was disposed to conciliation and concession. Immediately on seeing the Archbishop approach, he broke from the crowd which surrounded him, hastened to meet him, and, uncovering his head, anticipated him in uttering a salutation. 6 The old points of difference were avoided, or were yielded by the King. Nothing was said of the Constitutions, or of exacting any oath from the exiles ; but it was promised that they should be allowed to return to England in security, and that full restitution should be made of all the property which the Archbishop demanded. The King and the Primate rode apart together, and conversed with such an appear- ance of familiarity, " that," says Becket, " it might have seemed as if there had never been any disagreement between us." 0 The conversation lasted so long that the spectators of it became weary of waiting : it was observed that both Henry and Becket twice dismounted from their horses and remounted. Henry spoke of taking the cross, and leaving his son under the Archbishop's care, with entire command of the kingdom ; to which the Archbishop replied that, although indisposed to undertake secular office, yet, if the King would entrust his son and his kingdom to Hugh de Beauchamp, he himself would aid with his advice.* 1 Becket desired that he might be allowed, without offending the King, to inflict ecclesiastical punishment on the Bishops who had * Fitssl., i. 273. b iii. 07. c iii. C7 ; Garnicr, 114. 4 Gamier, 115. R 2 214 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. been concerned in the late coronation. To this Henry replied that he had not supposed then- act to be an invasion of the privileges of Canterbury, but believed himself entitled to have his son crowned wherever and by whomsoever he might please ; and he referred to the coronations of William the Conqueror and of Henry 1. as precedents. The Archbishop rejoined, that, when the Conqueror was crowned by Aldred of York, the throne of Canterbury was virtually vacant, as Stigand had not received the pall from a legitimate Pope ; that Anselm was in exile when the urgency of affairs required that Henry I. should be crowned by the Bishop of Hereford as his representative, and that, on Anselm's return, Henry requested him to perform a fresh corona- tion. 11 The King assured him of his son's affection, proposed that the Prince should be crowned anew by him, together with the Princess his wife (whose father, King Louis, regarded it as a slight to her and to himself that she had not been included in the former coronation) ; and he granted the permission which was desired. On re- ceiving this, Becket dismounted, and was about to throw himself at the King's feet ; but Henry also alighted from his horse, embraced the Archbishop, and held his stirrup in order to assist him in remounting. b The a iii. 68. William of Malnies- bury, however (as Dr. Lingard observes, ii. 3), speaks of Thomas of York as officiating at Heury's coronation. (Perhaps this mistake arises from the fact that Gerard of Hereford was soon after trans- lated to York.) The assertion as to Henry and Anselm seems to be groundless. Carte, i. (525. b This was a service which Em- perors and Kings were expected to render to Popes, from the time when the example was set in 1095 A.D. 1170. THE RECONCILIATION. 245 witnesses of this scene, who were delighted at the appearance of a reconciliation, then urged the King to give the kiss of peace, as the Pope had absolved him from the oath which had before been an obstacle ; but, although he professed himself willing to kiss the Arch- bishop a hundred times, on mouth, hands, and feet, he desired that, for the sake of saving his honour, he might be excused until he should be within his own dominions, where the act might have more the grace of appearing voluntary." To this the Archbishop agreed, in accordance with the general feeling ; and he sealed the reconcilia- tion by bestowing his benediction on the King. b When, however, Henry requested that he would spend some days with him, by way of displaying publicly the reality of the reconciliation, he excused himself under the plea that he must take leave of his French benefactors before returning to England. 0 Very soon it appeared that the peace which had been concluded was only superficial — as, according to Herbert, might have been inferred from the very name of the plaee, which was known among the neighbours as " The Traitor's Meadow." d The King, in accordance with his promise to restore the property of the exiles, 6 wrote to desire that his son, who was then administering the government of England, would cause everything to be by Conrad, whom the hierarchical party had induced to rebel against his father, the Emperor Henry IV. a Herbert says that the kiss was not mentioned at all (vii. 304). b Fitzst., i. 273-6 ; Herb., vii. 305; Gam., 113-6; S. T. C, iii. 66-72 ; iv. 303-5 ; Diceto, 552. c Will. Cant, in S. T. C, ii. 27-8. d vii. 305. « Fol., Ep. 49G. 2i6 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. put into the condition in which it had been three months before the exile ; a but the execution of this mandate was impeded in every way by those who were in posses- sion. The ageuts whom Becket sent into England found the houses belonging to his see dilapidated and deserted, the farm-buildings destroyed, the stock carried off, b the lands untilled, the woods cut down ; and the tidings of Ids reconciliation with the King had been received as a signal for increased waste of his property. Some of Ins clergy, on resuming their benefices, were again violently driven out ; the revenues of the Archbishopric, which fell due at Martinmas, were seized by the King's officials ; c the agents found themselves industriously thwarted by young Henry's advisers, among whom Archdeacon Ridel, whom the Archbishop had refused to absolve at Freteval, was prominent.* 1 They reported to him that all his friends in England united in advising him not to return until his relations with the King should be more satis- factory ; that Ranulf de Broc (who was especially interested in the matter, inasmuch as his very castle of Saltwood was at stake 6 ) had sworn that the Archbishop should not live to eat a whole loaf on English ground ; f that his enemies among the prelates were urging that he should not be allowed to return, except on condition of » Fol., Ep. 497. i " Ne remist buef ne uache, ne chapuns, ne geline, Cheual, pore, ne brebiz, ne deble plaine mine." Garn. 120. « Job. Sar., Ep. 300; Gamier, 120 ; Gervase, 1413. * Epp. 25 pp. 74-5), 183, 394. e Herb., vii. 307. See p. 157. The King's letter to bis son (Fol. 497) makes special mention of Saltwood, and directs that the Archbishop's claim to it should be settled by the evidence of some " de legalioribus et autiquioribus militibus.'' 1 iii. 381. A.D. 1170. FRESH DIFFICULTIES. 247 renouncing the legatinc power, giving up all Papal letters, and swearing to obey the Constitutions ; and that a scheme had been devised for filling up the vacant sees without his assistance, by sending the bishops elect to receive consecration from the Pope. a Finding that there were difficulties in the way, the Archbishop sent John of Salisbury, together with Herbert of Bosham, to press for the fulfilment of the King's pro- mises as to restitution, and, in particular, to urge the old claims to Saltwood, and to the custody of Rochester Castle. If the answers should be favourable, they were to go on to England ; but otherwise, they were to return to their master. After having been detained at Court some time, on account of the King's illness, the envoys were admitted to an interview. " The King," says Herbert, "as his manner was, put off, put off, and again put off ;" b and at length he replied to John, who was the spokesman, " 0 John, I shall certainly not give up the castle to you, unless I first see a change in your behaviour towards me." It does not appear to what behaviour the King alluded ; and, without a knowledge of this, we cannot think it fair to charge him alone with all the blame of the disagreements which followed the accommodation at Freteval. The envoys, being unable to obtain a more favourable answer to their ap- plication, returned to their master instead of prosecuting their journey into England. 0 During the remaining months of the Archbishop's stay • S. T. C, iv. 308 ; Job. Surisb., Ep. 300. b " More suo didtulit, distulit, ct redistulit." vii. 307. c lb. 24S LIFE OF BECK.ET. Chap. XII. in France, he had several interviews with the King." The first of these was at Tours, where, as Henry did not spon- taneously offer the kiss of peace, the Archbishop, from a wish not to appear impatient, refrained from asking for it. Complaints and words of reproach were uttered on each side ; but, by the mediation of Count Theobald of Blois, the King was persuaded to renew his promise of restitu- tion, although he expressed a wish that the Archbishop should previously return to England, so that it might be seen in what manner he was disposed to behave. b A second meeting took place at Amboise, where Becket appeared as the King was going to mass. Nigel de Sackville, one of the royal chaplains, informed his master that the Archbishop had arrived, probably with the intention of entrapping the King into giving the kiss during the service of the mass, and told Henry that he might defeat such a design by ordering the officiating priest to say the mass for the dead, as in it the pax was omitted. This suggestion was acted on ; but a later part of the service afforded the Archbishop an opportunity of asking for the promised kiss, as he was now within the King's dominions. " Another time you shall have enough of it," was the answer. 0 At a later meeting, which took place at Chaumont near Blois, the question of the kiss would seem not to have been mentioned, and the tone of the conversation was friendly. " Why is it," asked the King, " that you will not do as I wish ? I would put everything into your hands " — a There are some unimportant I b Herb., vii. 308. variations in the accounts of these. I c Fitzst., i. 278-9. A.D. 1170. INTERVIEWS WITH THE KING. 249 " and," said Becket, in relating the story to Herbert, " I remembered the words, ' All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.' " a On Henry's promising to see him again shortly, either at Eouen or in England, " My Lord," said the Archbishop, " my mind misgives me that you will never see me again in this life." " What !" asked Henry, " do you take me for a traitor ?" " Far be it from you, my Lord," replied Becket. And thus they finally parted. 6 AYhile the Archbishop was complaining that the resti- tution of his property was delayed, the King complained of his lingering so long in France, and sent messengers to hasten his preparations for returning home. 0 It is said that both the French King and the Bishop of Paris endeavoured at parting to dissuade him from venturing into England without having secured the kiss of peace, and that to both he expressed a foreboding that he was going to his death. d At length, however, he resolved to set out, and left Sens on All Saints Day.* 5 At Rouen he was disappointed by finding that Henry, instead of meeting him, as he had expected, excused himself on the ground of political business ; that Arch- " vii. 309. i> Fitzst., i. 279. < lb. 278. a lb. 277. e Joh. Sar., Ep. 299. " Prout adlme pauperes et exules potui- mus," says Herbert, " nostrum ad repatriandum iter matiirabamus. Nec ob id pauperes nomino, quin arcliipraesul cum suis in magno et pra?claro apparatu revertisset, plus, ni fallor, quam cum equita- turis centum repatrians. Quod ideo memoro liic, ut ubique et in omni statu suo probetur magnus," &c. (vii. 309-310). In short, Herbert confesses that he uses the word poor merely by way of cant. Could Becket afford such a cavalcade ? If so, he was not in distress ; if not, he was blameably extravagant. 250 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XII. b.shop Rotrou had received no command to accompany him into England ; but that, instead of tins, the King had sent him by way of escort one of the persons who were most obnoxious to him and had been most active in opposition to him — John of Oxford, Dean of Salisbury. He was also disappointed in his expectation of finding at Rouen a sum of money from the King for the payment of his debts and travelling expenses ; and as the promised supply was not forthcoming, he was obliged to borrow 300Z. from Rotrou.* Since the date of the violent letter which we lately quoted, a change had taken place in the policy of the Roman Court. The majority of the cardinals — including some who had hitherto been strenuous on the opposite side, and apparently even William of Pavia — were now favourable to Becket ; b and the Pope, shamed out of his former timid courses, on hearing of the coronation empowered the Archbishop to inflict the censures of the Church on all who had been concerned in it. Letters were prepared by winch the Archbishop of York and other prelates were suspended from their office, and the Bishops of London and Salisbury were again placed under the anathema which had been denounced against them ; and these letters were sent to Becket, for the purpose of being used at his discretion. 0 The Arch- » Joh. Sar., Ep. 300 ; Gamier, 119, 121 ; Foliot, Ep. 498 ; Fitzst., i. 279-280 ; Herb., vii. 277-9. b VoL, Ep. 392. See p. 208, n. »>. « Epp. 230, 249, 272 ; iii. 78-80 (Septr. 10-16). In a letter which is dated " 20 Kal. Oct.," but which Jane refers to Oct. 9, the Pope assures Becket that the Arch- l bishop of York's invasion of the southern province in the case of the late coronation shall not pre- A.n. 1 170. PREPARATIONS FOR RETURN. 251 bishops of Sens and Rouen were directed to insist on Henry's fulfilment of the promises made to the English Primate, and on the withdrawal of the offensive Consti- tutions, under the penalty of an interdict unless he should comply within thirty days after receiving their admonition/ At Witsand, where he intended to embark, Becket heard that the Archbishop of York, with the Bishops of London and Salisbury, was preparing to cross into Normandy for the purpose of claiming the King's protection ; and he at once despatched the letters of excommunication and suspension across the Channel. b A clerk who accompanied the messenger was seized at Dover, and, as he could not show the King's license for his landing, was compelled to recross the straits with the first wind ; c and the delivery of the letters produced a ferment of exasperation among the Archbishop's judice the Archbishop of Canter- bury's right, " quominus corona- tionis et inunctiouis regum Anglia; possessionem taliter habeatia, sicut antecessores tui et eadem ecclesia a quadraginta annis retro ha- buisse noscitur " (Ep. 228). This seems to suggest that the Arch- bishop of York might properly have performed the coronation unless it had been specially for- bidden, and unless be had gone beyond his own province. Such a right had been successfully asserted in the case of one of Louis VII. 's queens by the Arch- bishop of Sens against the Arch- bishop of Ilheims, who claimed the exclusive privilege of crowning for all France. Rob. Autissiod., a.d. 1054, in Rec. des Hist., xiv. • Ep. 263 (Oct. 9). b Diceto, 553-4. It has been very generally said that a letter to a nun named Idonea, encouraging her to perform a dangerous task in delivering a mandate from the Pope to the Archbishop of York (Ep. 190), was written on this occasion : but it seems rather to relate to the letter forbidding the coronation. Gamier (124) and Gervase (141) speak of a servant — " uaslet a pie' " — " puer " — as employed on this occasion, and Roger says that his name was Os- bern (i. 159). c Gamier, 124; Gervase, 141. 252 LIFE OF I5ECKET. Chap. XII. enemies. He had already received several warnings as to their designs ; and now, as he was pacing the beach at Witsand, the master of a vessel which came in from England reported that the coast was beset by armed men, who were bent on seizing, and probably murdering him. 8 But his resolution to return to Canterbury was not to be shaken by any fear of danger. He declared that for more than six years he had been an exile, and that, although he believed his death to be at hand — even if he were to be torn limb from limb — nothing should any longer keep him from his post. b It was in no spirit of peace or conciliation that he prepared to return ; the step which he had taken in making use of the papal letters, which were intended to be published only in extremity, and were certain to reopen and envenom the wounds which had been superficially healed, was censured by all but those in whom personal devotion to him had wholly overpowered their prudence and their discernment. 0 ■ Comp. Gamier, 122-3. h iii. 83-4 ; Fitzst., i. 280 ; Will. Cant., ii. 28; Herb., vii. 310-5; Gamier, 123. c See Anon. Lambeth., ii. 116 ; Will. Neubrig., ii. 25, p. 154. A.D. 1170. ( 253 ) CHAPTER XIII. THE KETUEN AND THE MURDEK. — Dec. a.d. 1170. After a favourable passage the Archbishop landed at Sandwich, a town belonging to his see, a and in that age " the most famous of all English seaports." b As the vessel approached the harbour, the archiepiscopal banner of the cross was displayed, and a multitude flocked forth at the sight to welcome their spiritual father — some rushing into the water that they might be the first to receive his blessing, while others knelt or prostrated themselves by the wayside where he was to pass, aud the air was filled with cries of " Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!" c His enemies had expected him to land at Dover ; but it would seem that they had been apprised of his change of plan, and soon after his arrival at Sandwich a party of them appeared in arms, headed by Gervase de Cornhill, sheriff of Kent, Reginald de Warrenne, and Ranulf de Broc, who had been in communication with the suspended and excommunicated bishops at Dover.' 1 Violence was, however, prevented a Boys, ' Hist, of Sandwich,' 655. b "Omnium Angloruro portuum famosisshnus." — Encomium Em- mas, quoted in ' Handb. of Kent and Sussex.' (202.) If the landing was on Tuesday (see p. 339 ), the day was Dec. 1, as the continuer of Florence of Worcester says (ii. 142 j ; but the statements vary as to this. c Herb., vii. 315. « Roger, 159. For R. de War- 251 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. by the presence of Jolm of Oxford, who took aside the leaders of the force, and represented to them the discredit which would result to the King from any seeming breach of the late agreement ; a nor, indeed, were they strong enough to attempt any violence in the face of the multi- tudes who were exulting in the Archbishop's return, and were ready to fight for him as their feudal lord." The sheriff, in order that he might not appear to have come without an object, inquired whether there were any foreign clerks in the Archbishop's train, and wished to exact from the Archdeacon of Sens, who appeai-s to have been the only person of this description, an oath that he had no design against the peace of the realm, and would behave with fidelity to the King. But, although the archdeacon was ready to comply, Becket protested against this, as unprecedented and inhospitable : such oaths, he said, ought not to be exacted except from persons who were liable to suspicion ; nothing of the kind had ever been required from clerks in attendance on the Archbishop of Canterbury, and he would not allow the practice to begin with himself. On being desired to absolve the bishops, he said that he had the King's licence for pronouncing censures on them, but deferred his answer until he should be at Canterbury ; and, after renne, see Foss, i. 319 ; for G. dc Comhill, ib., 220; for John of Oxford, ib., 288. De Warrenne was of a great family, which Becket had provoked by preventing the marriage of one of the daughters with the King's brother William, on the ground of consanguinity ; an impediment with which ecclesi- astics in those days played fast and loose in the case of persons of rank. See Fitzst., i. 303. ■ Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300, col. 350,. A; Gamier, 124. b Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300 ; S. T. C, iii. 85 ; Gervas., 1413. A.D. 1170. RETURN TO CANTERBURY. 255 some high words, the sheriff and his companions with- drew/ 1 On the following day the Archbishop proceeded to Canterbury. The news of his landing had already spread, and the general enthusiasm rendered his journey a sort of triumph. As he passed along the road the whole population of the neighbourhood pressed to see him — each parish headed by its priest. They stripped off their clothes and spread them in the way, while one party after another caught up and prolonged the jubilant cry, " Blessed is he that coineth in the name of the Lord !" b On reaching his city the Primate was received with processions. The cathedral was adorned with the most sumptuous hangings ; the clergy were arrayed in their festival robes ; banquets were prepared to welcome the chief pastor ; hymns, organs, trumpets, bells, loudly testified the general joy. 0 As the Archbishop entered the cathedral, his face was flushed as if with exultation and joy, and the expression of it was remarked as singularly gracious. 3 After having prostrated himself on the pavement he took his place in the choir, where he received the monks, one by one, to * iii. 84-5 ; Fitzst., i. 281 ; Koger, ib., 159 ; Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 300 ; Gamier, 125-G. b Herbert's " Diceres profecto si videies, Dominum secundo ad pas- sionem appropinquare" (vii. 317) — f. e., one aware of what was at liand might have said so — is not quite the same as M. Miehelet's " Tous disaient que," &c. ; and it is rather startling to find the words which follow, as to " dying at Canterbury for the English Church," translated " qu'il allait souffrir pour Kent." (iii. 185.) c Fitzst., i. 282. d Herb., vii. 317. 256 LIFE OF BECKET. Cuav. XIII. the kiss of peace ■ — many of them breaking forth into tears and cries of emotion. Herbert tells us that, at this stage of the proceedings, he approached his master and whispered to him, " My Lord, now we need not care how soon you leave the world, forasmuch as this day Christ and His spouse, the Church, have conquered in you :" to which Becket replied only by a look. b From the choir he proceeded to the chapter-house, where he preached an eloquent sermon on the text, " Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come;" 0 and the remainder of the day was spent in the palace with joy and festive solemnity.* 1 a The relation of the monks with the Archbishop had not been very friendly. John of Salisbury writer in 1168 : — "Monachi Can- tuarienses hoc quasi haereditarium semper habent, ut archiepiseopos suos oderint. . . . Anselnio, bis pro justitia exulant qui [exulanti ?] nihil unquam solatii contulerunt. Contempserunt Kadulphum, ode- runt Willelmum, Theobaldo te- tenderunt insidias : et ecce nunc Thomam gratis insatiabiliter per- sequuntur.' (Ep. 241 ) In John's letters there are constant appeals to them for money in aid of the Archbishop's necessities, and com- plaints that these appeals were in- effectual i.e. g., Epp. 152, 247-8, 289). In Ep. 299, written soon after the reconciliation, he endea- vours to stir them up to meet their spiritual father on his return, as their predecessors had been the foremost to meet Anselm. John had lately been employed to ab- solve all who had incurred guilt by intercourse with excommuni- cates ; and among them he had absolved the monks of Christ church. (Ep. 300 ; Gamier, 121.) b vii. 318. c lb., 283; Will. Cant, ii. 29. Messrs. Thierry (hi. 182), Mi- chelet (iii. 186 , and Martin (iii. 488, ed. 4), tell us that the text was, "Venio ad vos mori inter vos." Unfortunately, however, they do not give a reference to the place in Scripture where these words are to be found ; and Hove- den, to whom they refer for the fact, says only that the Archbishop used this expression on some oc- casion after his return (298,. Gar- nier seems to say that the words were introduced into this sermon (145). d Herb., vii. 318. a. p. 1170. CANTERBURY. 257 Next morning the sheriff of Kent, with Ranulf de Broc and other officers of the King, appeared to require the answer which had been promised to them on the subject of the excommunicated and suspended bishops. a They were accompanied by some clerks from the pre- lates themselves, who strongly remonstrated against the Primate's proceedings ; that, when his suffragans were waiting to receive him back with honour, he had covered them with shame by inflicting censures on them without warning or trial ; that he had come, not in peace but with fire and sword, trampling down his episcopal breth- ren and making them his footstool ; and they required that the censures should be recalled. b The Archbishop answered that he did not plot against the bishops, but that they thirsted for his blood : c " Would," he added, " that they might drink it ! and they will." The cen- sures, he said, had not been inflicted by himself, but by the Pope (an assertion which might possibly be recon- ciled in words with the fact that Becket had been autho- rised to withhold the use of the censures altogether, and, if he pronounced them, to absolve all but his brother me- tropolitan) ; d if, however, the delinquents would bind themselves by oath to obey the Pope's commands, he would take it on himself to release them. The other party declared that such an oath was against the custom a iii. 85; Herb., vii. 318. b Fitzsl, 283. c We have already seen that Bucket imputes thirst for his blood to William of Pavia ; meaning that the cardinal wished to pel him set aside by a translation (p. 204) ; and the same favourite exaggeration is used with regard to Foliot and other English bishops (iii. 22, 174, 328-9, &c). d See the old edition, p. 843. 258 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. of the kingdom ; but Becket replied that, unless on such terms, an inferior judge could not relax a sentence of his superior ; and they departed in anger — De Broc violently abusing the Archbishop. 11 It is said that the Bishops of London and Salisbury were disposed to accept the pro- posed terms, but that they were overruled by Roger of York, who boasted that he had both the King and the Pope at his service, and declared himself willing to empty his coffers — to spend eight — nay ten — thousand pounds, in order to put down Becket's insolence ; and the three prelates proceeded together to the King's court in Normandy. b After having spent a week at Canterbury, Becket set out with the intention of visiting the younger Henry at Woodstock, and presenting him with three horses, on the * Job. Sarisb., Ep. 300, col. 350 ; Herb., vii. 319. b Job. Sarisb., col. 351 ; Fitzst, 283-4 ; Will. Cant., 29 ; S. T. C, iii. 85-6 ; Gamier, 132. Koger is described by William of New- burgh (iii. 5) as a very grasping prelate, who utterly disregarded his spiritual duties. John of Salis- bury charges him with the most abominable vices (Ep. 305). He was especially remarkable for the tenacity with which he asserted his supposed rights against all whose claims came into collision with his. As Archdeacon of Canterbury, he quarrelled with the monks of Christchurch (Has- ted, iv. 777) ; as Archbishop of York, he quarrelled with the Scotch bishops, and not only with Becket, but with his successor Kichard. The most notorious dis- play of his contentiousness was at a council held by a papal legate in 1176. Finding Kichard of Canter- bury seated in the place which he claimed for himself on the ground of his earlier consecration, he sat down in the southern Archbishop's lap, — " irreverenter natibus inni- tens," says Stephen of Birching- ton (in Wharton, Angl. Sac, i. 9) ; whereupon some of Bichard's suffragans and clerks dragged the old brawler away, threw him down, tore bis robes, and severely hurt him. The legate, horrified by such a display of English epis- copal manners, broke up the council in alarm, and there was much trou- ble in the sequel. See Diceto, 589. a.d. 1170. ATTEMPT TO VISIT THE PRINCE. 259 beauty of which Fitzstephen dilates with characteristic enthusiasm.* But the young King had been influenced against him by the Archdeacon of Canterbury and others, who had been commissioned for that purpose by the Archbishop of York and his brethren ; b and Eichard, prior of St. Martin's at Dover/ who was sent to announce the intended visit, met with a discouraging reception.* 1 The Primate, however, persevered. In passing through Rochester he was received with great honour by the bishop — that same Walter, brother of Archbishop Theo- bald, who a quarter of a century before had protected him against the malice of his Lifelong enemy, Eoger of Pont l'Eveque, 6 and who perhaps was, for the sake of old remembrances, treated with greater lenity than other prelates who had taken part in the late coronation. As the Primate reached the capital, where he lodged at his steady friend the Bishop of Winchester's palace in South- wark, crowds of clergy and laity flocked to meet him ; • i. 284. b Hi. 86 ; Grim, i. 66. c Kichard had been a monk of Canterbury, and afterwards a chaplain in Theobald's household, at the same time with Becket, whom he eventually succeeded in the primacy. (Herb. vii. 320-1 ; Gervas., 1673.) d Gamier says that he found the young King at Winchester (126). e See p. 21. Walter held the see of Kochester from 1147 to 1182. The Pope had reproved and suspended him for his share | in the coronation (iv. 85-7). John of Salisbury had written to him during the exile, requesting as- sistance for the Archbishop, and re- proaching him for not sending any. (Ep. 256; cf. 260, 265.) In Ep. 248, John says that he had in vain attempted to persuade the Arch- bishop to delegate any part of his authority to the bishop. Peter of Blois wrote a letter of remon- strance to Walter for indulging his love of the chase when an octoge- narian. (Ep. 56, which Goussuin- ville dates in 1176.) S 2 2G0 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. but in the midst of the general rejoicings a crazy woman excited alarm and horror by repeated cries of " Arch- bishop, beware of the knife !" On the following morning Thomas of Tunbridge, and Joscelin of Louvain, brother of Henry I.'s queen, appeared as messengers from the Court, with an order that, as the Archbishop had broken the terms of peace by his late acts, he should proceed no farther, but should return to his diocese without entering into any of the lung's towns or castles* He declared that he would not have regarded this mandate were it not that he wished to keep the coming festival at his own cathedral ; but he prepared to obey. b Before finally turning his face homewards, however, it is said that he spent some days at Harrow, the archi- episcopal manor which had been the scene of his first introduction to Theobald. From this place he sent a letter to Abbot Simon of St. Alban's, requesting a visit, and adding that he " had never been so much in need of consolation as then." In no long time a " noble " gift of provisions from the Abbot was announced. " I accept his presents," said Becket, "but would rather have his presence." "Lo, my Lord," answered an attendant, " here he is at the door." At Becket's ur- gent desire, the Abbot undertook a mission to the young King's Court, but soon returned to report that he » Gamier, 130 ; Bened., ed. Heame, i. 9 ; Hoveden, 298. b Herb. vii. 321. Yet Grim (66) and Hoveden (298) say that he had hoped to spend Clj01stmas with the young King. Herbert tells us that it was his intention, after visiting Henry, " to make a circuit of his province, panting to run up and down in all directions, that he might pluck up and root out what- soever during his absence had grown up crooked and disorderly in the Lord's garden." vii. 321. A.D. 1170. THE ABBOT OF ST. ALBAN'S. 261 had been received at Woodstock with insults, and even with tlireats of violence. The Archbishop heard this with calmness, and expressed a belief that matters were beyond the hope of cure ; then, turning to his clergy, he contrasted the kindness of the Abbot, who was in no way bound to him, with the treatment which he had received from his brother bishops and suffragans. In answer to Simon's entreaty that he would spend the coming Christmas at the abbey of the British proto- martyr, he declared, with tears, that he would gladly do so, but that it was impossible. He begged the Abbot to accompany him to Canterbury and become his com- forter in his troubles. " May the Lord and his martyr," he said, " make the solemnity of the Nativity prosperous and joyful in your house, which may God preserve ! Pray the blessed martyr, your patron, for me, and we will pray for you ; and I will celebrate the festival in the church committed to me after such fashion as the Lord shall provide." a As he was about to set out for Canterbury, intelli- gence reached the Archbishop that a vessel laden with French wines for him — although the King had allowed the wines to pass through his continental territory — had been seized by Eanulf de Broc, who had beaten or slain some of the sailors and had imprisoned others in Pe- vensey Castle ; but by a representation of the case to the young King an order for redress was obtained. 11 On his • Matt. Paris, Hist. Major, 123-4 ; Vita? Abbatum, 91-2, ed. Wats. See Appendix XXVII. b Fitzst. i. 286 ; Bened. Petrib. in S. T. 0, ii. (JO. 262 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. way through his diocese the Archbishop confirmed great numbers of children, dismounting for the purpose wher- ever they were brought to him ; and we are told that he performed many miraculous cures on the blind, the deaf, the dumb, and the lepers — nay, that he even recalled the dead to life." There is, too, a strange tale of an interview at Wrotham with a priest, who, by a story of a revelation as to relics of St. Laurence and other holy personages, procured for himself a promise of a benefice, which was fulfilled on the last day of Becket's life. b The interval until Christmas was full of occupation. The Archbishop heard causes in his court ; he turned out clerks who had intruded into livings ; and his devo- tion, alms, and other saintly exercises are described as surprising even to those who had attended on him during his exile. 0 But, while he was thus employed, it was remarked that persons of rank and wealth kept aloof from him ; d and his enemies in the neighbourhood, especially the family of Broc (" that generation of vipers," as Herbert styles them), e were unremitting in their endeavours to annoy him. They attacked and beat his people on the highways ; they even laid wait for himself; they hunted in his chase, killed his deer, and carried away his dogs ; they intercepted supplies of food which were on their way for the use of his house- hold ; and Kanulf de Broc's brother Bobert, who had " Grim, i. 67. " Les morz e re- Fitzsi, 289 ; Gamier, 126. uiure e aler." Garnier, 121. d Job. Sarisb., Ep. 300, col. b Fitzst., 287, 293. 351. 'Grim, i. 66; Eoger, 159; e vii. 322. A.D. 1170. CHRISTMAS. 263 formerly been a clerk, and afterwards a Cistercian monk, but had thrown off the monastic profession, insti- gated his nephew John to cut off the tail of one of the archiepiscopal sumpter-horses." In the night service which ushered in the Christmas festival, Becket read the lesson of our Lord's generation and celebrated the nocturnal mass. b On Christmas Day, at High Mass, he preached on the text " On earth peace to men of good will." c He told the people that there had already been one martyr among the Archbishops of Canterbury (St. Alphege, who was murdered by the Danes in 1012), and that there might soon be another. He spoke of himself, with tears and sobs, as about shortly to leave the world, and the hearers were deeply affected by his pathetic language and gestures. "All through the church," says Herbert, " you might see and hear lamen- tations and the flowing of tears, with murmurs of — ' Father, why dost thou forsake us so soon ? or to whom dost thou leave us desolate ? "' cl But after a time he a Ep. 183 (a complaint to the King) ; Grim, i. 68 ; Fitzst., i. 288 ; Herb., vii. 322. Gamier (131) seems to be wrong in saying that the outrage was committed before the Archbishop's eyes. b Fitzst., 292. c " In terra pax hoininibus bona; voluntatis'' (Luc. ii. 14). We might be startled at Dr. Giles's statement, that " On earth peace, good will towards men," was " his favourite text," and might think it a strange prelude to the scene which followed. But the words as they stand in the Latin Vulgate were a subject "circa quam pluri- mum versatus est" (Fitzst., 292), and his application of them may be gathered from the account of his interview with the emissaries of the censured Bishops after his return to Canterbury, when he told them " that there is no true peace save for men of good will " (ib. 283). It was evidently the negative side of the proposition that he preferred. d vii. 322. 264 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. Xllt. changed his tone, and, in a style which the same bio- grapher describes as " fierce, indignant, fiery, and bold," he uttered a vehement invective against the courtiers in general and his other enemies ; he repeated his de- nunciations of the prelates who had been concerned in the coronation ; and, with all solemnity, he pronounced sentence of excommunication against Nigel de Sack- ville for retaining the church of Harrow, into which he had been intruded during the exile ; against another priest, who had been guilty of a like offence ; and against the brothers De Broc, for the oppressions and outrages of which they had been guilty against the Church." On St. John's Day, Herbert of Bosham and the crossbearer, Alexander Llewellyn, were sent off on a mission to the French King and the Pope. Herbert speaks of himself as having taken leave of his master with a gloomy foreboding that he should never again see him alive. b In the mean time the Archbishop of York, with the two excommunicated bishops, had repaired to the King, who was at Bur or Bures, near Bayeux. Henry had already been informed of the censures pronounced against them, and, on their repeating the story, he swore by God's eyes that if all concerned in the coronation were to be excommunicated, he himself must be included. 0 » Grim, 68 ; Fitzst., 292 ; Herb., ] jects of Beeket's denunciations vii. 323. See S. T. C., iii. 85. i died prematurely or unhappily. Mr. Morris is not asbamed to re- 256. peat with satisfaction after Fitz- j b vii. 324 ; Fitzst., 292. Stephen, that Nigel aud other ob- c Gamier, 136 ; Will. Cant., ii. A.D. 1170. HENRY AT BUIiES. 2G5 The Archbishop's late movements were reported with malicious exaggeration. The popular demonstrations with which he had been everywhere received were represented as of a seditious tendency ; an escort of five horsemen, by which he was accompanied on his return from London to Canterbury, was multiplied into a formidable force, with which it was said that he was inarching through England, besieging towns and in- tending to drive out the younger King. a By these statements the King was wrought up to one of his un- controllable fits of fury, which the Archbishop of York and the Bishop of Loudon — Foliot, it is said, even with tears b — in vain attempted to mitigate. Henry asked the prelates to advise him. " Ask your barons and knights," said Roger ; " it is not for us to say what ought to be done." At length one of them, apparently the Archbishop of York, 0 observed, " As long as Thomas lives, my Lord, you will have no quiet days, nor any peace in your kingdom." On this the King burst forth iuto a passionate exclamation, " A fellow who has eaten my bread has lifted up his heel against me ! He insults 30; Herb., vii. 319-20. "The King," Bays a late biographer, " seems to have forgotten, or, worse still, to have kept baek from them, the permission which he had given Bucket previous to his departure, to punish those who had offended against the privileges of his see." But surely it is not to be supposed that Henry could ever have knowingly consented to such measures as had been taken against prelates whose fault con- sisted in complying with his own desire ; nor, in so far as we can understand, did the Archbishop intend to use the powers entrusted to him in such a manner, until im- mediately before he acted. • Fitzst., i. 287, 289. b vi. 172 (letter from the Arch- bishop of York to the Pope). c See Joh. Sarisb., ii. 201, who compares the counsel of Caiaphas, " that one man should die for the people." 266 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. over my favours, dishonours the whole royal race, tramples down the whole kingdom. A fellow who first broke into my court on a lame horse, with a cloak for a saddle, swaggers on my throne, while you, the com- panions of my fortune, look on ! " and again and again he loudly reproached his courtiers as thankless cowards for suffering him to be so long exposed to the insolence of an upstart clerk.* These hasty and most unhappy words were caught up by four knights, men of high connexions and officers of the household — Reginald Fitzurse, Hugh de 3Iorville, William de Tracy, and Richard Brito, or le Breton. b Stung by the King's reproaches, and thinking to gratify him by earn ing out his apparent wish, the four set out for England 0 and hurried to the coast, whence, em- a Grim, 68; Gamier, 134; Fitzst. both Bishops. He mentions that 290 ; Will. Cant., 30-1 ; Herb., vii. the King had rewarded Brito's 326. The effect of this had a services liberally, but requests the parallel in the Iconoclastic con- Bishop of Lincoln to befriend a troversy, when the popular sym- younger son, who was intended for pathy for a zealous monk named the ecclesiastical profession (pos- Stephen provoked Constantine ' sibly Eichard Brito, afterwards Copronymus to exclaim, " Am I, , Archdeacon of Coventry, as to or is this monk, Emperor of the ' whom see Foss, i. 317). KFoliot's world ? " whereupon some courtiers brother-in-law were the same per- hurried to the prison in which i son with, or related to, the Brito Stephen was confined, broke it . mentioned in the text, the con- open, and murdered him. Theo- nexion would have been a special phanes, p. 674, ed. Bonn. i cause for enmity against Becket. b For Hugh de Morville, see c Gamier says that they were Foss, L 279; for aU the four, instigated by the Archbishop of Stanley, 54-6. One of Foliofs York, who supplied them with letters (Ep. 221) is an application money, and suggested the words to Bishop Cheney, of Lincoln, in which they used in their parky behalf of one " K. Brito," who with Becket. 136. was connected by marriage with J A.D. 1170. THE FOUR KNIGHTS. 267 barking at different ports, two of them were conveyed to Winchelsea and the others to a harbour near Dover." " They landed," says Grim, " at Dogs' Haven — they who from that time deserved to be called dogs and wretches, not knights or soldiers." The speed and ease with which they had crossed the sea ; the circumstance that, by their various routes, they all reached the same destination within the same hour, — appeared to them as signs that Providence favoured their purpose ; but the biographers see in these things the speeding power of the Evil One who had suggested the enterprise. b It was on Innocents' Day that they arrived at Saltwood, where they were received into the castle by Kanulf de Broc. Then, if not before, they must have learned the fresh offence committed by Becket on Christmas Day ; and the night was spent in consultation. 0 After the departure of the knights, the King held a council of his barons to advise on the course which should be pursued towards the Primate. Thomas, he said, had entered his kingdom like a tyrant ; he had suspended and excommunicated prelates for their obe- dience to the royal command ; he had disturbed the whole country ; he intended to dethrone both son and father ; he had got from the Pope a legatine power over a " Portus Canum," Grim, i. 65 ; Gervase, 1414. This name dues not occur in topographical hooks. Some writers name Dover itself. b Grim, 69 ; Fitzst., 290 ; Herh., vii. 326; Gervase, 1414; Gamier, 127. c Gamier, 137 ; Herb., 327. "In the darkness of the night — the long winter night of the 28th of December — it was believed that, with candles extinguished, and not even seeing each other's faces, the scheme was concerted." Stanley, 56. 268 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. the Crown, and privileges as to Church patronage which did away with the rights of the nobility, and even of the King himself. The general feeling was one of violent anger. " The only way to deal with such a fellow is by hanging," said Engelger de Bohun, uncle of the excom- municate Bishop of Salisbury. "As I passed through Rome, on my return from J erusalem," said William Mal- voisin, nephew of the Count of Brittany, " I was told of a Pope who was slain for his insufferable insolence and presumption." a It was resolved that the Earl of Man- deville, with Bichard de Humet, justiciary of Normandy, and Seyer de Quinci, should be despatched into England with a warrant to arrest the Archbishop, and with orders, if possible, to overtake the four knights, whose absence from the Court had been remarked, and had excited a fear that they might be bent on some desperate design. 1 ' But this measure was too late. On the morning after their arrival at Saltwood — Tuesday, the 29th of December — the knights, accom- panied by Ranulf de Broc and others, set out for Can- terbury. By the use of the King's name they added to their party a number of soldiers from the neighbouring castles, and the force was further increased by some re- tainers of St. Augustine's monastery, where they held a * Fitzst., 290-1. Was this Pope is introduced into a note in Mr. Lucius EL, who was killed in Froude's volume, p. 539. But it chance-medley in 1145? This is too absurd even for Mr. Buss to writer tells a story of a priest to adopt (624) ; nay, Mr. Morris hini- whom a servant of the court made self does not seem to vouch for it. a confession as to an order for the 294. Archbishop's death, written by I b Fitzst., i. 291. Nigel de Sackville (277) ; and this | REMAINS OF THE ARCHBISHOPS PAT. ACS AT CANT— EBURT. Trcm a phonograph cy G. Ausun a.d. 1170. THE KNIGHTS AT CANTERBURY. 209 consultation with the abbot Clarembald. a From the monastery they proceeded, with about twelve armed at- tendants, to the Archbishop's palace, while others of their followers were sent to the magistrates of the city with a command that all the inhabitants should repair in arms to the palace for the King's service. As, how- ever, it became evident that the citizens were not dis- posed to aid them, the summons was exchanged for an order that no one should stir, whatever might be seen or heard. b It was about three o'clock in the afternoon 0 when the knights reached the palace, wearing their armour concealed under the ordinary dress of civil life. The Archbishop's dinner was over ; but some of his re- tainers were still at table, and, on seeing them, offered them refreshment, which, says Grim, " they thirsting rather for blood, refused." d They were recognised by William Fitznigel, the Archbishop's seneschal, " a hand- some cavalier, great and rich and well feoffed," as Gar- nier describes him, who, since the dinner was ended, had asked and obtained his master's leave to quit his service for that of the King. 6 On their expressing a wish to speak with the Archbishop, Fitznigel returned into the room which he had just left, and, without naming them, announced that four barons from the Court desired an audience in the King's name. He was desired to admit them forthwith ; and they found Becket conversing with • Fitzst., 293-4; Joh. Sarisb., ii. 273, ed. Giles. b Fitzst., 294 ; Gamier, 138. c Gervase, 1415 ; Roger, i. 1G0. Others make the time later ; but, as the day was Dee. 29, the earliest hour that is named will suit best with the story. d 70. e Gamier, 138. 270 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. some of his monks and clergy, as was his usual habit after dinner* It is said that from the beginning of the day he had shown a presentiment of evil. He had confessed with extraordinary contrition and devotion ; b but neither his own forebodings nor the reports which he had received as to the arrival and proceedings of the knights in the town 0 could shake his resolution to abide what might be in store for him. At the moment of their entrance he was engaged in earnest conversation ; nor did he become aware of their presence until, on turning round, he found them sitting on the floor close to his feet, and an archer, who had followed them, seated behind them. For some moments the Archbishop and his visitors remained gazing at each other without speaking a word ; and on his at length greeting Tracy by name, there was still no answer, until Fitzurse replied, in a contemptuous and ironical tone, " God help thee !" d Once more the parties looked at each other in silence, which was at length broken by Fitzurse saying that he and his companions were charged with a message from the King, and asking whether the Archbishop would hear it privately or publicly. " Just as you please," was his answer. " Nay, at your pleasure," said the knights. " Nay, at yours," rejoined the Arch- bishop ; and the scene of compliments became embar- rassing 6 until, at the desire of John of Salisbury, the * Roger, 161. b Anon. Lamb., 121. c Fitzst. 291. a Gamier, 139 ; Grim, 70 ; Roger, 161 ; Fitzst., 294. ■ " Li bers respundi, ' tut a oostre talent.' ■ Mais al uostre,' font il. ' Mais as uoz,' fait li ber. Dune en unt comencie" entrels a estri- uer." _ Garnier, 139-140. a.d. 1170. THE KNIGHTS IN THE PALACE. 271 clergy were dismissed — the door, however, being left a-jar. a But when the knights had begun to state their business, the Archbishop desired that the clergy might be recalled, as such matters ought not to be discussed in private. One of the four is said to have afterwards con- fessed that, when left alone with him, they had thoughts of murdering him with the shaft of his crozier — which, as they had laid aside their offensive armour before en- tering, was the only weapon within reach. b They remonstrated with great vehemence, in the King's name, against the Archbishop's late proceedings — his breach of the agreement which had been concluded with Henry — the censures which he had uttered on the prelates who had been concerned in the coronation, and which, they represented as an attack on the younger King's sovereignty — the excommunication of the King's ministers and friends — his going about the country (as they asserted) with formidable troops of followers, and exciting the people to demonstrations which endangered the peace of the realm. " Our Lord the King," said Fitzurse, " charges you to go with all speed to his son the King, who is now on this side of the sea, to swear fealty to him, and make atonement for your offences against the King's Majesty." c The Archbishop replied that, with the exception of the young King's father, there was no one who loved him more tenderly than himself; that, far from having any " Koger, 1G1 ; Bened., ii. 55. I Bened., ii. 55-6 ; Gamier, 140. b Grim, i. 71; Koger, i. 1G2; I c Bened., ii. 56. 272 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. thoughts against his royalty, he heartily wished that it were multiplied three or fourfold ; that there was no just cause of offence in the peaceful welcome with which his retainers had received him, after six years of absence. If, he said, he had exceeded in anything, he was willing to answer for it, in court or elsewhere. As to the ex- communication and suspension of the bishops, these were pronounced by the Pope, and his own part in them had been only instrumental ; he had no jurisdiction over the Archbishop of York, but would absolve the Bishops of London and Salisbury, if they would humbly ask pardon and would give security to abide a trial, according to the canons ; and he declared that, at the accommodation on St. Mary Magdalene's day, he had obtained the King's leave to punish those who had invaded his office. " What do you say ?" exclaimed Fitzurse ; " do you charge the King with such monstrous treachery as allowing you to suspend and excommunicate those whose share in his son's coronation was ordered by himself?" " Keginald," answered Becket, " I do not charge the King with treachery ; but hundreds of prelates, nobles, and monks heard our agreement, and you yourself were one of them." " I neither was there, nor did I ever see or hear any such thing." " God knows," replied the Archbishop, " for I am certain that I saw you there." Fitzurse furiously swore that he had not been present, and all the knights exclaimed that the imputation on the King was not to be endured. 11 With regard to his lay retainers, the ■ Bened., ii. 58-9 ; Gamier, 142. a.d. 1170. THE KNIGHTS WITH THE ARCHBISHOP. 273 Archbishop professed that he would do anything which could be reasonably asked of him ; but that neither he nor any of his clerks should take any oath. " From whom is it that you hold your Archbishopric ?" asked Fitzurse. " The spiritualities," he answered, " from God and the Pope ; the temporalities from the King." " Do you not own that you hold all from the King ?" "By no means ; but we must render unto the King the things that are the King's, and unto God the things that are God's." On receiving this answer the knights started to their feet, gnashing their teeth, flashing fire from their eyes, tossing their gauntlets and waving about their arms, while the Archbishop also rose and confronted them. A confusion ensued, in which it was impossible to know distinctly what was said, or by whom. The Archbishop, in his turn, complained of the outrages which had been committed by the De Brocs and his other enemies ; and, in answer to De Morville, who told him that he ought to have sought redress from the King, he said that com- plaints to the King were useless ; he had been forbidden to approach the Court, and was determined to exert his own authority by unsparingly inflicting censures on all who should infringe the Church's rights. " These threats are too much !" exclaimed Fitzurse. The knights told him that the King commanded him to leave the king- dom, with his foreign clerks and all that belonged to him. He questioned whether they had the King's authority for this order ; but declared that not even the King should again place the sea between him and his flock, unless he were forcibly dragged away by the feet ; and at last, appealing to Fitzurse, Tracy, and Morville, he T 274 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. reminded them that they had become his vassals in the days of his Chancellorship." At these words the fury of the knights burst through all restraint. " Thomas," said Fitzurse, " in the King's name I defy thee ; " and the other three joined in the defiance. They charged the monks and the members of the Archbishop's household who had pressed into the room to prevent his escape until their return. Becket loudly declared that he would not for fear of any living man quit the spot where he was. " You cannot be more ready to strike than I to suffer !" he exclaimed ; " foot to foot, you shall find me in the Lord's battle ;" and he re- peatedly pointed to his neck, in token of his willingness to die. As the knights rushed madly out, carrying with them the seneschal Fitznigel, the Archbishop followed them to the door. " Know," he cried, " that I did not come back to flee, and that I care little for your threats." '•' You will find that there is something else than threats," was the answer. He called on Hugh de Morville, who was the most distinguished in rank, to return and speak with him ; but his words met with no attention. b In proceeding to the palace, the knights had left the main body of their followers at a house opposite the gate. These were now called in, and, immediately after their admission, the gate was securely closed, although the wicket was still left open. The Arck- ■ Grim, 71-2; Koger, 163-4 ; Fitzst., 296 ; Bened., 58-61 ; Gar- nier, 141-2 ; Gervas., 1415. b Grim, i. 72 ; Eoger, i. 164 Fitzst., i. 297-8 ; Bened., ii. 62 ; Gamier, 143 ; Gervas., 1415. a.d. 1170. PREPARATIONS FOR THE MUPiDER. 275 bishop's porter was replaced by sentinels ; Fitznigel, " at dinner the Archbishop's vassal and knight, but now against him," a with a retainer of St. Augustine's, sat mounted in the Court before the wicket ; and all pos- sible care was taken to prevent any communication with the town. Fitzurse compelled one of the Archbishop's attendants to assist him in fastening his armour, and completed his equipment by snatching an axe from a carpenter who was engaged in repairing a wooden staircase. b In the mean time the Archbishop was en- deavouring to assure his terrified clerks, " with a manner as calm," says Grim, "as if his murderers had come to bid him to a wedding." 0 John of Salisbury expostulated with him on his obstinate refusal of all advice, and on the violence which he had just exhibited towards men so lawless. He replied that his mind was made up as to the course which should be taken ; and John could only observe in reply, " Would to God that it may be for good!" The conversation was interrupted by the entrance of some servants who cried out " My Lord, my Lord, they are arming!" "What matter?" the Archbishop calmly replied ; " let them arm." d Speedily the blows of an axe were heard, as if the knights were endeavouring to break down the door of the hall, which during their absence had been locked ; but it stoutly resisted their efforts. On this, Robert de Broc (who had become familiar with the intri- cacies of the palace while his brother held the custody a Fitzst, 298. b lb. ' i. 73. d Bened., 62-3 ; Roger, 1G4 ; Gamier, 143. T 2 27G LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. of it during the exile) undertook to show them another way ; and by passing through an orchard, breaking down a partition, ascending a ladder, and creeping through a window, they gained admission into the cloisters. Terrified by the noise of the blows on the door, and afterwards by the crash of the partition, most of the monks and clergy had fled, and the Archbishop was left with but a few com- panions — among them the biographer Edward Grim, a young monk of Cambridge, who had arrived at Canter- bury a few days before. 8. These earnestly urged him to take refuge in the church ; but their entreaties, and even their representation that it was the hour of vespers, when his duty required him to attend the service, were ineffectual ; thirsting for what he regarded as martyr- dom, he wished to remain where he was, and insisted on the promise which he had given, that he would not flee. As his resolution appeared immoveable, his friends at length laid hands on him, compelled him to rise, and forcibly hurried him along. The orchard and the usual approach from the palace to the cathedral were guarded, so that it was necessary to take the way through the cloisters ; b but before reaching these, two locked doors were to be passed. The lock of the first was easily wrenched off ; as to the second, we are told by some writers that it fell off at the first touch, " as if it had only been glued to the door," 0 while another writer accounts " Gamier, 145. I History of Canterbury Cathedral.' b For the localities see Pro- I c Grim, 75 ; Koger, 160 ; Gar- fessor Stanley's ' Memorials,' and ; nier, 146. Professor Willis's ' Architectural I A.D. 1170. ENTRANCE INTO THE CATHEDRAL. 277 for its removal without a miracle by saying that two cellarers, attracted by the noise, had run towards the door from the cloister side, and pulled off the lock from without. 11 The monks dragged, pushed, and partly carried the Archbishop along the northern and eastern sides of the cloister, while he struggled to get loose, reproached them for their fear, and vehemently desired them to unhand him. He twice gained his feet in the cloister, and once in the chapterhouse ; on one of these occasions he refused to proceed unless his cross were carried before him ; and the advance towards the church was delayed until Henry of Auxerre took his place as cross-bearer, in the stead of the absent Llewellyn. b As the Archbishop entered the north transept of the cathedral, the knights were seen at the farther end of the cloister in pursuit of him. The vesper service had begun, when two boys ran wildly into the choir, "an- a Bened., G4. " Benedict," says Professor Stanley, " knew no- thing of the seeming miracle, as his brethren were ignorant of the timely interference of the cellarmen." (68.) But this attempt to reconcile the authorities is not quite satisfactory. It is hardly conceivable that among the monks of Christchurch, from whom both stories come, the natural as well as the miraculous account should not have been generally known. The lock, too, is represented as coming off on different sides, so that there would seern to have been some wilful fabling. Compare the ear- lier lock-miracle, p. 129. b The narratives of Grim (73-5), Koger (1GG), Gamier (14G), and Gervase (1416), who speak only of the forcible measures and of the struggle, are in remarkable dis- agreement with those of Herbert (329) andFitzstephen(199), which would lead us to suppose that the Archbishop proceeded along the cloister slowly, and with the great- est composure, " like a good shep- herd, driving all his sheep before him," and only once looking round to see whether the door through which he had passed had been shut again. Benedict, who har- monises these statements as far as possible, has been here chiefly followed. 278 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. nouncing," says William of Canterbury, "rather by their affright than by their words, that the enemies were about to break in." a On this the monks left the choir and hurried towards the transept, where they expressed great joy at seeing the Archbishop alive, as they had supposed him to have been already slain ; but he ordered them to return to their proper place and resume their office, saying that otherwise he would again leave the church. b Perceiving that some of his followers were beginning to fasten the doors behind him, he charged them, on their obedience, to leave them open, declaring that God's house ought not to be turned into a fortress, but was sufficient for the protection of its own. " Let all come in who will," he said ; and with his own hands he set the doors open, thrust back the crowd who pressed around, and drew in such of his own immediate followers as were still without in the cloister. At length he was forced away, just as the knights were about to enter ; but, although he was urged to make his escape, and might easily have done so as night was coining on and the cathedral had many hiding-places and outlets, he absolutely refused to withdraw. 0 The monks had hurried him up four of the steps which led to the choir, as if he were proceeding to the altar at which he usually heard the services of the Church,* 1 when Fitzurse rushed in from the cloister, shouting out, " After me, King's men ! " Close behind him came the other three, all, like himself, in complete ■ 32. b Gander, 147. c Grim, 75 ; Koger, 167 ; Fitzst., 300 ; Will. Cant., 32 ; Bened., 65 ; Gamier, 147, 153. d Fitzst., 300. )R1'H-EAS1 TRASSES CAKTF.BBCKY CA The Scene ot A.D. 1170. THE CATHEDRAL. 279 armour, except that Tracy, in order to be lighter, had left his hauberk behind ; a Tracy, Morville, and Le Breton carrying battle-axes in their left hands, while Fitzurse still held the carpenter's hatchet, which, however, as it was not required for breaking open the door, he now cast on the pavement. The four were followed by a party of soldiers, more or less completely armed, and by some of the Canterbury people who had been pressed into the service. b As they entered, one of them charged the monks around him not to stir, and Fitzurse went to the right hand, while the others placed themselves on the left. "Where," cried Fitzurse, in the dimness of the faintly-lighted cathedral, " is the traitor Thomas Becket ? " and, as no answer was vouchsafed to this question, he laid hold of a monk, and asked " Where is the Archbishop ? " " Here am I," answered Becket ; " no traitor, but a priest of God ; if ye seek me, ye have found me. What would you have ? " c At this, we are told by some of the biographers, eager to make out a parallel with the scene in the Garden of Gethsemane, the murderers stepped back for awe. d One of them, however, answered, " Flee ; thou art a dead man ! " "I will not flee," said Becket; "I do not fear your swords. In the Lord's name I welcome death for God and for the Church's freedom." e Descending from the step on which he stood, he placed himself with his back against a pillar f near the opening of a small chapel, a Gamier, 149. b Fitzst., 300-1. c Gamier, 147 ; Gervas., 1672. d Fitzst., 301 ; Will. Cant., ii. 32. ' Herb., 331. f Grim, 76 ; Gamier, 148. The pillar is now removed. 280 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. in which stood the altar of St. Benedict. The knights required him to absolve the excommunicated and sus- pended bishops. "Never," he replied, "will I absolve those who have not made satisfaction for their offences." " You are our prisoner," cried Fitzurse ; " you shall come with us ! " and the knights pressed closer to him, with the intention of placing him on the shoulders of Tracy, and so removing him from the church. " I will not go," he replied ; " you shall do here what you wish and have been ordered to do ; but in God's name, and under pain of anathema, I charge you to touch none of my people."" As Fitzurse laid hold of his pall, the Archbishop violently threw him off, and he after- wards seized Tracy, whom he shook with such force as to lay him on the ground. 6 " Reginald ! " he cried to Fitzurse, " do not touch me ; you owe me fealty," and he added the epithet "pander." 0 At this intolerable word the knight " became glowdng all over " d with fury, and waved his sword over the Archbishoj^'s head, ex- claiming that he owed no fealty inconsistent with his duty to the King. The Archbishop then bowed his a This charge is much dwelt on in the attempted parallel, as by Joh. Sarisb., in S. T. C, i. 336 ; Fitzst., 302; Grim, 76; Gamier, 148. But Herbert gives a charac- teristic touch of an opposite kind : " Nec enim tarn orabat ut parcer- ent, quam auathematizabat eos, si non parcerent." (338.) b Gamier, 148 ; Gervas., 1672. c Roger, 167. Words of this kind appear to have risen very readily to Becket's lips in moments of violent excitement. We have already noted an instance in the case of Earl Hamelin at North- ampton (p. 128). The epithet applied to Fitzurse was, indeed, the immediate cause of the mur- der ; and, as the use of such lan- guage woidd have been fatal to the evangelical parallel, it is omitted by the majority of writers in Becket's interest, down to Mr. Buss (649). d " Totus incanduit " (Grim, 76). A.D, 1170. THE MURDER. 281 head and commended his cause to God and the Blessed Virgin, to the martyr Alphege, and the other tutelar saints of Canterbury, and to the martyr Denys, the patron of the kingdom which had sheltered him in his exile. 11 The monks and clergy had all fled at the begin- ning of the struggle, except the biographer Grim b and Robert of Merton, the Archbishop's confessor, with whose names Fitzstephen ^oins his own. While the knights were endeavouring to drag the Archbishop away, Grim had exerted all his strength in holding him back, and aiding him to resist their force, at the same time remonstrating with them on the ground of their own character and of the Archbishop's sacred office. 0 " Strike ! strike ! " cried Fitzurse to his companions, and with the point of his sword he dashed off the Arch- bishop's cap. Tracy then raised his sword, and Grim, wrapping his arm in a cloak, lifted it up to ward off the stroke ; but the weapon almost severed the monk's arm, and, descending on the Archbishop's head, cut off the tonsured part of his crown, 1 ' which remained hanging • "Al martyr saint Denis, qui dulce France apent." — O'arnier, 149. Cf. Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 304 ; Fitzst., 300 ; Herb., 337 ; Eoger, 167. b " Le porte-croix Edouard Grim, le nieine qui avait parle avec tant de franchise apres la conference dc Clarendon." (Thierry, iii. 189.) We have already noticed this at- tempt to enforce the Saxon theory. (See Appendix XV.) M. Thierry's account of the murder is very in- correct ; and it has been closely followed by M. Michelet. c Garnier, 148. d Grim, 76 ; Anon. Lambeth., 122-3 ; Gamier, J51. " It is a proof of the confusion of the scene that Grim, the receiver of the blow, as well as most of the narrators, believed it to have been dealt by Fitzurse, -while Tracy, who is known to have been the man, from his subsequent boast [at Salt- wood on the evening after the murder], believed that the monk whom lie had wounded was John of Salisbury." [Garnier, 150.] Stanley, 70-7. 282 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. only by the skin to the scalp. Being thus disabled, Grim took refuge at the nearest altar, to which many others were already clinging in an extremity of terror. Fitz- urse then let fall a heavy blow ; a another blow from Tracy brought the Archbishop to his knees ; and, as he fell, with his hands joined in prayer, repeating that he was ready to die for Christ and his Church, and commending his soul to God, Le Breton inflicted a fourth stroke, accompanying it with the words, " Take that for the sake of my Lord William, the King's brother ! " b The sword cut off the remaining part of the tonsure, and lighted on the pavement with such force that its point was broken off. Throughout the terrible scene, Hugh de Morville — the highest in rank and the mildest in character of the four — had been employed in guarding against a rescue, which there was reason to apprehend, and did not strike the Archbishop. 0 When the deed was done, one Hugh Mauclerc, of Horsea, a sub-deacon attached to the household of the Brocs, d who had ac- companied the murderers in a military dress, put his foot on the neck of the corpse, and, with the point of his sword drawing out the brains from the severed crown, scattered them on the pavement. " Let us be off, com- rades," he cried ; " this traitor will never rise again." 8 The murderers rushed out of the church, shouting, " King's soldiers ! King's men !" — a cry which they had repeatedly used in the course of the day, and which is a Gamier, 150. b Fitzst., 203. See p. 254, note d . William, says Fitzstephen, "grieved ineonsolably " for the thwarting of his love. c Gamier, 151 ; Grim, 77. d Gamier, 146. See Appendix XXVIII. e Gamier, 151; Grim, 78 ; Fitzst. 303 ; Roger, 168. A.n. 1170. THE MURDER. 283 said to have been customary on a battlefield after a victory. 1 On the way to the palace they found a French servant of the Archdeacon of Sens lamenting the Arch- bishop, and cruelly wounded him as they passed. b They hastily searched the palace, breaking open desks, presses, chests, and other repositories, and carrying off plate, money, jewels, vestments, and other valuable articles c — a plunder which the biographers compare to the act of those who cast lots for the Saviour's vesture, and en- deavour to prove the worse of the two. d Two cilices which were found were thrown away as worthless ; yet it is said that this evidence of the Archbishop's concealed mortifications produced a feeling of awe in the murderers, and that many of then followers exclaimed, " Certainly this was a righteous man !" e All documents which seemed to be important were » Gervase, 1416. " Insigne re- gium oonclamantes " (Grim, 79). " Sieut in prajlio fieri solet, in in- signia victoria) signum conclama- bant, Regales milites, regales ! " (Bened., 07). It was the English war-cry, as " Montjoye " was the French. (Matt. Paris, ap. Ducange, s. v. p. CGO.) " Tracy, iu a confes- sion made long afterwards to Bar- tholomew, Bishop of Exeter, said that their spirits, which had before been raised to the highest pitch of excitement, gave way when the deed was perpetrated, and that they retired with trembling steps, expecting the earth to open and swallow them up (Herb., 351). Such, however, was not their out- ward demeanour, as it was recol- lected by the monks of the place." Stanley, 79. b Fitzst., 305. c Among other things : — " Sun bun cultel, qui ualeit une cit, * * * * E tuz ses beaubelez qu'il aveit fait guarder E qu'il ne uoleit pas a tutes genz mustrer." Gamier, 152, who is very parti- cular on this part of the story. I do not know the meaning of " une cit," but Mr. Morris's explanation — " a knife that was worth a city's ransom" (333) — is clearly absurd. d " Licet eos quodammodo pra;- cedant in scelere." Joh. Sarisb., ii. 256, ed. Giles. • Herb., 352. 284 LIFE OF BECKET. CiiAr. XIII. given to Ranulf de Broc for transmission to the King — that thus the church of Canterbury might be deprived of any privileges inconsistent with the royal will ; a and the spoliation was completed by carrying off the most valuable horses which were found in the stables. b On these the murderers made their way back to Saltwood for the night, leaving Robert de Broc in possession of the palace. Amid the general consternation the Archbishop's body lay for a time entirely neglected, until his chamberlain Osbert procured a light and found it lying on the pave- ment. Osbert bound up the head with a piece of his own shirt ; and, when the murderers were gone, a multi- tude of people flocked into the cathedral and gathered round the corpse, kissing the hands and feet, smearing their eyes with the blood, dipping their garments in it, and each endeavouring to secure some relic of the saint. 0 " His pall and outer pelisse," says Benedict, " stained as they were with his blood, were, with a somewhat incon- siderate piety, bestowed on the poor, for the good of his soul ; and happy would the receivers have been had they not forthwith thoughtlessly sold them, preferring the little money which they fetched." d After a time the monks turned out the crowd and shut the doors of the cathedral. The scattered brains were carefully collected into a basin, and benches were set around the place of the martyrdom, in order to protect it from being trodden on. e On raising the body, a a Bened., 68. b Fitzst., 308. « Eoger, 168 ; Fitzst., 308 ; Herb., 357. d ii. 09. • Fitzst., 309. A.D. 1170. THE BURIAL. 285 hammer and the axe which Fitzurse had thrown down were found below it — a circumstance from which Bene- dict extracts a mystical allusion to the saint's efficiency as a " hammer of evil doers." a The corpse was placed in front of the high altar, and the monks spent the night in matching around it with sorrow and anxiety. Then it was that the aged Robert of Merton, the instructor of Beeket's early years, who, ever since his consecration, had been his confessor and inseparable companion, thrust his hand into the bosom and drew out the shirt of hair which had been worn in secret. The monks lifted up their voices in admiration of this proof of a sanctity beyond what they had suspected, and which many of them had until then been disposed to doubt ; and already they bestowed on the "martyr" the title of Saint.'' In the morning an armed force appeared in the neigh- bourhood of the city. Robert de Broc, in the name of his brother Ranulf, threatened that the body should be exposed to indignities unless it were buried at once and without ceremony ; and he forbade the publication of the miracles by which it had already begun to be distin- guished. 0 The monks in haste proceeded to the funeral rites. Although some were of opinion that a body which had so long been purified by fasting and discipline required no further cleansing than that of its own blood, they proceeded to strip it for the customary ablution : d * G8. <> Fitzst., 308 ; Herb., 3G0. c Job. Sar., ii. 250, ed. Giles ; Gamier, 154-5. J Belied., CO; Fitzst., 309; Herb., 350. One writer says that the body was washed ; another, that it was not. Diceto suggests the middle statement in the text. 286 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIII. and in so doing they discovered fresh evidences of holi- ness ; for not only was the shirt made of hair, but the tight and galling drawers also — a mortification, it is said, without example among English saints ; a and these gar- ments were filled with innumerable vermin, " so that any one," says Grim, " would think that the martyrdom of the preceding day was less grievous than that which these small enemies continually inflicted." b And thus, on the day after his murder, the body of Archbishop Thomas was buried by the Cistercian abbot of Boxley, before the altars of St. John and St. Augustine in the crypt of his cathedral. 0 a Joh. Sarisb., ii. 257, ed. Giles ; Bcned., ii. 70. As to the other clothes, see Gervase, 1673 ; Gar- nier, 155 ; Grim, 82 ; Fitzst., 309. b 82. See above, p. 50 ; and comp. Anon. Lamb., 126. c Joh. Sarisb., ii. 257, ed. Giles. ( 287 ) CHAPTEE XIV. THE SEQUEL. In the times which we are now required to venerate as "The Ages of Faith/' the murder of a prelate was nothing very uncommon. Thus in the year ]082, Walcher, a native of Lorraine, and Bishop of Durham, was murdered by his rebellious floek. a In 1113, Waldric, Bishop of Laon, one of Becket's predecessors in the Chancellorship of England, was slain by the populace of his city ; his head was cleft with an axe, the finger adorned by the episcopal ring was hewn off, his lifeless body was covered with wounds, stripped naked, and exposed to innumerable insults, and lay unburied, like that of a dog, until the " scholastic " of his cathedral, the famous teacher Anselm, b charitably committed it to the ground, but without venturing to solemnize the burial by any religious office. 0 In 1145, Pope Lucius II. » Will. Malmesb., c. 271, in Pa- trol., clxxix. 1250. b Anselm of Laon, a pupil of bis namesake the Archbishop of Canterbury, is, perhaps, most known by his connexion with the history of Abelard. He had been alone in opposing the election of Waldric to the bishopric. See Guibert. Novig. de Vita sua, iii. 4 (in Patrol, clvi.) c lb., 8-10. In consequence of an erroneous reading in the old edition of Orderic — Landavensis instead of Laudunensis — Dr. Lin- gard (ii. 14) and others have supposed Waldric to have been Bishop of Llandaff. See n. on Orderic, in Patrol, clxxxviii. 815. 288 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. was killed in attempting to dislodge the republican faction of Rome from the Capitol. In 1160, Arnold, Archbishop of Mentz, Primate of Germany, and Chan- cellor of the empire, was murdered by a mob, and the indignities offered to his corpse were even more revolt- ing than those which had been inflicted on Waldric." And in some chronicles of the time b the next event which is recorded after the murder of Becket is that of an Archbishop of Tarragona. Yet these and many other such cases have long passed away from the memory of men, nor, even in their own day, did they excite any wide-spread interest or emotion. But the shock of Becket' s death thrilled at once through Latin Christendom, and to this day the murder, under whatever colouring it may be represented, remains among the most conspicuous facts in history. Through- out his contest with Henry, the eyes of all men had been fixed on him ; and while, in his own country, opinions were divided as to the merits of his cause and of his conduct, the sympathy with him elsewhere (except, indeed, among the Imperialist and Antipapal party, and among the Cardinals who were won by Henry's gold) was enthusiastic and universal. Nothing was known of the question as to the immunity of criminal clerks ; the assertion by which the Archbishop's par- tisans endeavoured to veil the real nature of the quarrel — that Henry meditated an entire usurpation of ecclesi- astical power — was not oidy believed as a suspicion, but 1 Chron. Mogunt. ap. Urstis. i. 571 ; Eaumer, Gesch. der Hohen- staufcu, ii. 176-7. b E. g., Diceto, 55G. a.d. 1170-1. HORROR EXCITED BY THE MURDER. 289 was supposed to have been already realised in act. a And the feeling of sympathy was powerfully aided by political enmity against Henry. Princes who had them- selves been seriously embroiled with the hierarchy — who had bestowed sees in contempt of the right of election, who had seized ecclesiastical property, had driven bishops into banishment, and incurred the heavy censures of the Church — were ready to support the champion of the most extravagant hierarchical pretensions in opposition to a brother sovereign whom they dreaded and envied as the richest and strongest potentate in Europe. b Nor, in accounting for the favour which Becket found among the inferior classes of his own countrymen, must we overlook the operation of similar motives. Fanciful as the theory is which would explain his whole history as a struggle between a dominant and a subjugated race, there can yet be no doubt that discontent with the government, the sense of oppression, the pains of distress, and other such causes must have disposed multitudes to a See p. 142. So the Chronicle of Melrose says (a.d. 1164) that Thomas fled from England, "ob iutolerabiles ecclesioB a rege illa- tas inj arias ; " and one of the con- tinues of Sigebert of Gemblours, — " Heinricus, supra quod dicitur Deus aut quod colitur efferatus et in superbiam elatus, .... contra jus et fas omnem dignitatem et ec- clesiastical discipline censuram violcnter sibi usurpat." (Patrol., clx. 382.) The strength of the prejudice which was felt in France against Henry is thus ex- pressed by John of Salisbury, in a letter of 11G7 : " Nihil adeo im- pium est in Deum, in homines in- humanuni, quod Franci et Latini de eo facilius non credant." (Ep. 184.) b See Louis' speech to Mapes, p. 140, n. b ; and the extract given in the same note from a letter of John of Salisbury to Becket, writ- ten soon after John's going abroad in 1103. U 290 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. follow any one who, whether in the name of the Church or otherwise, rose up in opposition to the King. The violent end of a man who had for years been so conspicuous, and in whose behalf so much of feeling had been enlisted, could not but excite universal horror and indignation. It was described as the blackest deed since the Crucifixion — nay, as even worse than that awful crime, inasmuch as it had been perpetrated, not by Jews or heathens, but by persons professing the Christian faith." The circumstances of it were dwelt on as height- ening its atrocity, and for the same purpose exaggeration and misrepresentation were largely employed. The Archbishop, it was said, had been murdered in violation of the sanctity of a church — his own cathedral, the mother Church of all England, a place hallowed by the possession of innumerable precious relics. b The sword of a murderer had cut off the crown which was consecrated by the priestly unction and tonsure. The accursed act had been committed within the season dedicated to the Saviour's birth, with its message of " peace on earth ;" the blood of the innocent had been shed on the morrow of those holy Innocents who glorified God by their martyrdom in infancy. 0 As the real ground of his contest with the King had throughout been put out of sight, so now it was forgotten that the immediate cause for which he fell was but a quarrel as to the privileges of Canterbury and York, d and he was represented as • Grim, 78. b Cliron. Mailros. a.tj. 1171. c lb., 79 ; Wendover, ii. 3G3. ll " Htec fuit vera et uuica causa aut occasio necis S. Thomse," says Goussainville, n. on Pet. Bles., Ep. 22. A.D. 1170-1. HORROR EXCITED BY THE MURDER. 201 Laving died in the great cause of the Church. His murder — the act of men who had of themselves under- taken then- enterprise in consequence of some passionate words, and whose intention, seemingly, was nothing more than to arrest the Archbishop, until his defiant behaviour and intolerable language excited them to un- controllable fury — was assumed to have been expressly authorized by the King with whom he had so long con- tended.'' 1 All that was violent in his closing scene was unmentioned ; h the saint was believed to have meekly met his death while engaged in devotion at the altar ; 0 nor, it was said, could any martyrdom be found which so closely resembled the Saviour's passion . d Immediately after the murder, miracles began. A violent storm of thunder and lightning raged, floods of rain descended, and when these cleared off, the sky was overspread by a redness — probably an aurora borealis e — which was interpreted as signifying the wrath and the vengeance of heaven on account of the blood which had been shed/ As the monks were watching around the bier, before the high altar, it is said that the martyr a Helinand (Patrol, ccxii. 1070) attributes the murder to Henry's refusal of the pax. (See pp. 248-9.) Chron. Mailros. a.d. 1171.— "A domesticis et sceleratissimis ba- ronibus et detestandis militibus regis .... ssevieute regis ira, et longe magis dissimili et scelera- tiore modo quam Herodis in Je- sum, vol secundi in Johannem Bap*- tistam," &c. ; and the writer prays for vengeance on all concerned in the murder. Chron. Aquicinct. (i. e., of the monastery of Anchin, near Douay). — " Henrieus rex pro interfectione D. Thomae ab omni- bus, ut apostata vilissimus, exosus habetur." a.d. 1171. (Patrol, clx.) b See, e. g., Job. Sarisb., Ep. 304, and an anonymous letter to the Pope, in Foliot, Ep. 500. Cf. Ger- vas., 1417. 0 See Append. XXIX. d Boned., ii. 71. e Stanley, 83. 1 Fitzst., 304. u 2 292 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. lifted up his right hand, in the dim light of daybreak, and gave the pastoral benediction." The blind and the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the palsied, the sick of every kind, were cured at the grave where his remains were laid ; even members which had been cut off were re- stored by his miraculous power ; b and the prohibition to publish these wonders served only to add to their fame. The martyrdom was revealed on the same day to the saintly hermit Godric, at Finchal, in Durham ; c and at Jerusalem a holy monk, who had died on that day, soon after appeared to the abbot of his house, and assured him that not only was Thomas martyred, but that he had been raised to a degree of heavenly glory equal with that of St. Peter himself. a Other visions also attested his glory and the power of his merits. To Herbert of Bosham he appeared in a dream, and ex- pressed regret that his faithful follower had not been present at the martyrdom. " My Lord," said Herbert, " I am a sinful man, and, if I had been slain, I should have perished." " No," replied the saint, " for thou wouldest have been baptized in my blood." e And to a nionk of his cathedral, named Thomas, he declared " I a Hoveden, 299. This miracle is mentioned in Hoveden's ver- sion of the first letter written by William of Sens to the Pope after the murder (ib. 300); but the pas- sage seems to be an interpolation. (See Brial, 467.) Another account represents the whole body as hav- ing raised itself up. S. T. C, ii. 156. b Grim, 80; Fitzst., 311 ; Job. Sarisb., ii. 255, ed. Giles ; Gervas., 1297, 1417. c Hoved., 299. That Godric had been dead some months before (Wcndover, ii. 341 ; Pagi, in Baron, xis. 303) is a circumstance of no importance in such a story. d Herb., vii. 354 ; of Rob. Glouc., 118. e Herb., vii. 341. A.D. 1171. MIRACLES AND VISIONS. 293 have clone so much, that the names of my monks, and of the clerks who are connected with them, are written in the book of life." 8 Soon after the murder, John of Salisbury is found writing to ask the Bishop of Poitiers whether, since God had so amply warranted for Thomas the character of a martyr by miracles, it were lawful to venerate him as such without waiting for the formal authorization of the Pope. b Both among the friends and among the enemies of Henry the tidings of the murder excited the strongest sensation. The monks of Grammont, who were bound to him by especial favours, heard with dismay that the patron who had founded churches for them had violated the sanctity of the church of Canterbury ; they strove to disbelieve the guilt which the highest members of the French hierarchy confidently imputed to him. The Abbot of Grammont suspended the building of the abbey-church, which was proceeding at Henry's ex- pense, until the truth of the matter should be ascer- tained ; and Bernard de la Coudre, the Grandimontan who had been employed in one of the papal commis- sions, addressed to the King a letter of sorrowful re- proof and admonition. " You promised," he says, " to give the Archbishop the second place in your kingdom, a Gervas., 1418. b Ep. 304, fin. It was in the very year of Beekct's death that Alexander III. had declared, "Al- though miracles be done by one, it is not lawful to reverence him as a saint without the sanction of the Roman Church." (Alex. ap. Gregor. IX., Decretal. xlv. i.) John of Salisbury would seem not to have been aware of this decree, the first by which canonization was exclusively reserved to the Pope. 294 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. provided only that he would show you an appearance of humility before your people. He has done a hundred times what you required, and he lies in the heart of the earth ! " Bernard tells the King, that if the murderers were sent by him, he too was a partaker in their crime, but expresses a belief that he was incapable of designing so foul a deed ; and he concludes by exhorting Henry to repentance, and by assuring him that the Order of Grammont is awaiting the change with prayers and groaning, in sackcloth and ashes." On the other hand, Henry's enemies were eager to take advantage of the occasion by clamouring for ven- geance against him. Alexander the Welshman and Gunther the Fleming, whom Becket had despatched to the Pope on St. John the Evangelist's Day, were over- taken at Sens by the report of their master's death, and they carried onwards a letter from Archbishop William, which is the earliest in date of all the extant narratives. In this, and in another letter which followed, the Arch- bishop, without hesitation, attributes the murder to the " tyrant " of England, whom he declares to be worse than Ahab, Nero, and Herod, than the apostate Julian, and the traitor Judas. He charges as accomplices the "arch-devil" Roger of York, with the "apostate and pretended " Bishops of London and Salisbury ; he relates the story of the murder with the exaggerations on one side and the suppressions on the other which have been already mentioned ; and he exhorts the Pope to rouse » Brial, 470-5. a.d. 1171. CRIES FOE VENGEANCE ON HENRY. 295 himself as a " son of the shaken out ;" a to deal like another Elias with the guiltier than Ahab. b Theobald, Count of Blois and nephew of King Stephen, also caught eagerly at the opportunity of gratifying the enmity which he habitually concealed under a pretence of regard for Henry. 0 " The innocent lamb," he wrote to the Pope, " has suffered martyrdom on the morrow of the Holy Innocents. His righteous blood has been shed where the viaticum of our salvation was wont to be offered. The dogs of the Court, the familiars and domestics of the King of England, have acted as his instruments To you the blood of the righteous man and martyr of God cries, and demands revenge. May the Almighty and merciful God put into your heart the will, and suggest the means, of a vengeance ade- quate to the crime ! " d And to the same purpose King Louis addressed Alexander, desiring that the sword of Peter might be unsheathed in behalf of the martyr of Canterbury, whose blood required vengeance, not so much for himself as for the universal Church. 6 The famous saying, " It was worse than a crime — it was a blunder," conveys, under the form of bitter irony and sarcasm, the truth that a great public crime may be even more impolitic than wicked ; and if ever the words were applicable in this sense, they might Lave been applied to the part which Henry was supposed to have taken in the death of Becket. Since the recon- ■ See Appendix XVI. b Epp. 830-1. « Bened. Petrib., Vita Henr. II., ed. Hearne. d Ep. 356. c Fol., Ep. 503. 296 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. filiation, each of the parties had heset the Pope with complaints against the other. While the Archbishop represented that his possessions had not been restored to him, and on the very day of the murder a letter was addressed by Alexander to Henry, urging the fulfilment of the treaty in this and other respects, 11 the King alleged that the Papal commissioners had not carried out their promise as to the absolution of those who were before excommunicate, and that the Archbishop had violated the agreement by inflicting fresh censures on the Bishops of London and Salisbury. 15 But the tidings of the murder overwhelmed all other subjects. Henry could not but feel the prodigious difficulties into which he was plunged by the rash and violent act of his courtiers. He knew that the guilt would be universally charged on him, and that his enemies were now armed with a fearful weapon against him. He foresaw the eagerness with which they would take advantage of it ; that the highest censures of the Church, with their terrible secular consequences, were inevitable, that his long struggle with the hierarchy must end in utter defeat, unless he could purge himself of the crime and propitiate the Boman Court. On receiving the news at Argentan, he burst forth into lamentations over the Archbishop's death as the most grievous calamity which could have befallen him ; for three days he shut himself up in his chamber without tasting food, and for forty » Ap. Thorn., Ep. 308. The date is taken from Jaffe. b Ap. Fol., Epp. 490-1. A.n. 1171. BEHAVIOUR OF HENRY. 297 days lie remained in penitential seclusion, abstaining from all public business. 3. Even as to the murderers be knew not what to do. To leave them unpunished would countenance the rumours which charged him with having instigated their crime ; to punish his sup- posed instruments would not dissipate the suspicions, but would be regarded as a further and detestable wicked- ness. b In these circumstances, speedy action was neces- sary in order to counteract the general obloquy. He therefore sent some clerks to Canterbury for the pur- pose of exj)laining that, although the murderers had undertaken their expedition in consequence of words which had escaped him in his excitement, he was inno- cent of having authorised them, and had endeavoured to prevent the execution of their suspected design ; c and he despatched to Italy an embassy, consisting of the Archbishop of Eouen (who, however, was obliged by age and infirmity to turn back), with the Bishops of Worcester and Evreux and other ecclesiastics. These envoys were charged with a letter, in which the King- protested that he had fulfilled his part of the treaty ; that Becket had broken it by stirring up his subjects against him and groundlessly excommunicating his servants ; that he deeply regretted the murder and the share which his own angry words might have had in suggesting it ; but that he was less distressed as to his conscience than as to his reputation. d ■ Arnulf, Ep. 55 ; Herb., viii. They were left to ecclesiastical 34 ; Quadril. II., in S. T. C, 201, penance. See above, p. 82. 204. c S. T. C, ii. 202. t> W. Neubrig. ii. 25, p. 157. d Patrol., cc. 1388 ; Hoved., 301. 298 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. At the time when the news of the murder reached the Papal Court at Tusculum, some envoys from the King of England were there for the purpose of soliciting the absolution of the bishops, and it appeared as if, by the expenditure of five hundred marks, they had se- cured the object of their mission. But the arrival of the dreadful tidings suddenly interrupted the negotia- tion. For eight days the Pope secluded himself even from his usual companions, and in remorse (it is said) for the slackness with which he had supported the Church's champion, devoted himself to fasting and prayer." Yet, although this remorse may have been sincere, a man so sagacious as Alexander cannot have failed to discern the immense advantage which he might derive from the crime of Fitzurse and his ac- complices. A restless, importunate, querulous ally, whose objects were far from coinciding with his own, from whose reckless impetuosity he had always reason to dread some outbreak which might destroy his own finer and more widely- reaching policy, was now at once changed into a martyr and a saint. The death of Thomas of Canterbury gave lustre to the cause which he had espoused in the division of the Papacy, and at once it was argued that his miracles confirmed it by the testimony of heaven. b His friends were exalted, his adversaries were covered with confusion. The Pope had only to boast of him, to identify the enemies of ■ FoL, Ep. 4G9 ; Gervas., 1419 ; Vita Alex, in Patrol, cc. 37. b Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 306. a.d. 1171. henry's embassy to the pope. 299 Thomas with his own, to use the unexpected strength which had thus accrued to his cause. In the first excitement produced by the report of the Archbishop's end, the negotiations with Henry's envoys were broken off, and it was ordered that no one from England should be admitted to the Pope's presence." Richard Barre, who had been sent forward by the ambassadors despatched after the murder, was unable, on reaching Tusculnm, to obtain an audience, and found no one to show him countenance or favour. The Abbot of Wallasey and others, who followed some- what later, having with difficulty escaped from the robber soldiery by whom the main roads were beset, M ere received on their arrival by some cardinals, but with an ominous coldness of looks and scantiness of words. The King's emissaries were zealously opposed at the court by Alexander Llewellyn and Gunther ; b and it was said that on Maun day Thursday, a day on which anathemas and absolutions were usually pronounced, the Pope would ex- communicate the King of England by name, would con- firm the late Primate's sentences, and would interdict all Henry's dominions. By great urgency the Abbot of Wallasey and the Archdeacon of Lisieux obtained an audience ; but, immediately on uttering their Sovereign's name, they were silenced by a general exclamation of " Forbear ! forbear !" as if the Pope could not even endure to hear it. At length, however, by the application of the means which were usually most effectual in the Roman Court, the ambassadors procured admittance to Alex- • Pol, Ep. 4G9. b S. T. C, vi. 200. 300 LIFE OF BECKET. CiiAr. XIV. ander's presence, where they swore that the King was innocent of all concern in the murder, and that he would abide the papal judgment. A similar oath was taken by some clerks on the part of the Archbishop of York and of the Bishops of London and Salisbury ; and the curses of Maunday Thursday, on which this inter- view took place, were limited to the actual perpetrators of the deed, with their advisers and abettors.* It was not until after Easter that the most dignified members of the mission, the Bishops of Worcester and Evreux, arrived ; and, after having been detained for more than a fortnight, they were dismissed with an answer less favourable than they had expected. The Archbishop of Sens, who, in conjunction with the Arch- bishop of Rouen, had been authorised to interdict Henry's continental dominions if the King should refuse to satisfy Becket's demands, b had proceeded, on hearing of the murder, to pronounce the sentence, in defiance Jan. 1171. m of his colleague's remonstrances, as either of the commissioners was empowered to act in case of the other's unwillingness ; and, although Rotrou publicly declared his disapproval of this step, on the ground that Henry offered to satisfy justice, 0 the Pope confirmed the interdict/ as well as the excommunication and suspen- sion of the English bishops, and ordered that the King should refrain from entering a church. Two cardinals were to be sent into Normandy for the purpose of inquiry, a Fol., Epp. 440, 469 ; Diceto, | Thorn., Ep. 331. 556 ; Gervas., 469. d Alex, ad Archiep. Turon., Ep. b Alex. ap. Thorn., Ep. 263. j 790, May 14 (Patrol, cc.) ; Fol., See above, p. 251. ! Ep. 469 ; Bromton, 1066. e Brial, 477 ; Will. Senon., ap. ] A.D. 1171. EMBASSY TO THE POrE. 301 aud all that the English ambassadors were able to obtain, by a large expenditure of money, was a permission that, if the legates delayed their journey, the Bishops of Lon- don and Salisbury should be absolved from excommu- nication, although they were still to remain suspended. 3 By virtue of this, Foliot was released from his excommu- nication in the beginning of August. b Boger of York was absolved from his suspension on St. Nicholas' day (Dec. 6), on swearing that he had not received the Bope's letter prohibiting the coronation, that he had not boimd himself to the Constitutions, and that he had in no way contributed to the death of Becket ;° and in May, 1172, Foliot, on taking a similar oath, was restored to the full rights of his episcopate." 1 Henry, without waiting for the arrival of the Bope's legates in Normandy, crossed over into England in the month of August, and landed at Southampton. At Winchester he visited the Bishop, Henry, who was then on his deathbed, and it is said that the old man reproved him severely for his concern in the murder of Becket, and foretold that he would suffer many calamities in expiation of it. e After having renewed his measures of precaution against the introduction of dangerous docu- ments into England/ the King passed into Ireland, where he spent the winter in endeavouring to secure for his crown the completion of the conquest which had been ' Fol., Ep. 4G9 ; Alex. ib. Ep. 336. b Diceto, 557. c Ib. 557, Alex. ap. Thorn., Ep. 259. Roger's letter on his absolu- tion (Job. Sarisb., Ep. 307; is characteristic and curious. d Diceto, 560. « Ib., 557. ' Bromton, 1069. See Herb. Epp. 34, 39. 302 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. undertaken by English adventurers. Eor twenty weeks all communication with England or the continent was cut off — it was said, by the violence of the winds ; a but it has been suspected that Henry's dread of papal cen- sures was not without influence in producing this sus- pension of intercourse. b At length, on being informed that the cardinals had arrived in Normandy, he embarked at Cork on Easter-day, and, after a hurried journey from Milford Haven to Portsmouth, appeared in Normandy with a suddenness which made King Louis exclaim that his brother of England flew rather than travelled on horseback or on shipboard. 0 After several interviews with the legates, Albert of St. Laurence in Lucina (afterwards Pope Gregory VIII.), and Theotwin of St. Vitalis, terms of peace with the Church were concluded at Avranches on Sunday, the 21st of May. The King — of his own accord, as the legates report d — swore on the Gospels that he had neither devised, nor authorised, nor been privy to, the murder of Becket ; but that the tidings of it afflicted him as if it had been the death of his own son. As, however, he admitted that his words rnight have given occasion for the crime, he promised to maintain for a year two hundred knights for the defence of the Holy Land; to serve for three years against the infidels, either in the East or in Spain, unless excused by the Pope ; e to allow appeals to Korne — a con- a Diceto, 559. b Lingard, ii. 192. c Diceto, 560 ; Bromton, 1079. d vi. 123. c He was afterwards excused from the crusade by promising to found monasteries. How he con- trived to do this without putting himself to costs, see Girald. Cambr. de Iustit. Frincipum. A.D. 1172. HENRY AT AVBANCHES. 303 cession, however, which was clogged with conditions which greatly affected its value ; a to give up all such customs prejudicial to the Church as had been intro- duced in his own time — a clause which virtually left open the question which had been so long and so vio- lently agitated ; b to restore the possessions of the Church of Canterbury as they had been a year before the late Primate's exile ; to receive into favour and to reinstate in their property all who had suffered for adherence to Becket. The younger Henry joined in such of these engagements as were not personal to his father ; and both father and son swore never to forsake Alexander or his successors so long as these should acknowledge them as Catholic Kings. c On these terms Henry was absolved, to the great dissatisfaction of his enemies, who considered that he had been too leniently dealt with. • See Planck, IV., i. 424. b Lingard, ii. 192. « Fol., Epp. 385, 387-8 ; Dieeto, 560 ; Bromton, 1081 ; Bened. Vita Henr., ed. Hearne, 34-6. In the oath, as given by Alexander's bio- grapher (Patrol., cc. 38), the last clause runs thus : — " Juramus quod a domino Alexandra papa, et ejus Cutholieis suceessoribus, recipiemus et tenebimus regnum Angliaj, et nos et nostri sucees- sores in perpetuum non repu- tabimus nos Angliae reges veros, donee ipsi nos Catholicos reges te- nuerint." Hence Dr. Lingard in- fers that the kings took an oath of feudal subjection to the Pope ; and, as the clause does not appear so in any of the letters written on the occasion, he supposes that it was one of the tilings which the legates say that Henry promised " de libera voluntate gerenda, qua) non oportet scripture seric deno- tare." (S. T. C, vi. 124 ; Ling., ii. 191.) Even if the words were genuine, it might be argued (with Dr. Pauli, iii. 103) that they relate not to feudal subjection, but to the question of Pope and Antipope. But the truth seems to be, as Gieseler suggests (H., ii. 93), that they were part of the papal draft only, and that, in the oath actually taken, the simple promise of ad- hesion to Alexander was substi- tuted. 304 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. King Louis was so indignant with the legates on this account, that he refused them permission to spend the winter in France. 3, The displays of Becket's miraculous power became continually more remarkable. " At first." says Gervase, " miracles were done around his tomb, then through the whole of the crypt, then through the whole cathedral, then throughout all Canterbury, then throughout all England, then throughout Normandy, France, Germany, and, in short, through the whole Church of Christ which is spread throughout the world. And, that he might the more fully confirm, by renewing them, the ancient miracles of the saints, which had in some measure been blotted out from men's hearts through unbelief, he at first, as if by way of prelude, began with moderate miracles, and so, ascending by little and little, as the fame of his sanctity increased, he arrived at the highest, and in a short time ran through all the wonderful deeds of the Gospel and of the Apostles. Thus, as a good householder, did he bring forth from his good treasure things new and old for almost all who piously desired them, working new things in our eyes, and by this new- ness also confirming the old tilings." b All the super- stitions which in the middle ages were connected with reverence for the saints gathered around this new hero. Herbert, shortly after the murder, mentions that a late member of the Archbishop's household, " a man who is a Chron. Aquicinci, a.d. 1172. (Patrol, clx.) See Pet. Bles., Patrol., cvii. 203. b Gerv., 1297. Wendover says that not only men and women, " sed etiam aves et animalia," were restored to life by Lis power (ii. 365). A.D. 1174. PENANCE OF HENRY. 305 certainly the dwelling-place of sin and of all lying and craftiness," was making a trade of exhibiting tln-ough France some pretended relics of the martyr ; a and pil- grims from all quarters and of every rank nocked to Canterbury, enriching the Church with their gifts. In the beginning of Lent, 1173, the Pope, at the request of the French clergy and people, pronounced the canoni- zation of St. Thomas, and ordered that the day of his death should be celebrated as his festival. 11 Those who had opposed him in his life found them- selves obliged to give way to the general feeling : they celebrated his sanctity and miracles, founded churches in his honour, 0 and joined the throngs which crowded to his shrine. d Among all these pilgrimages the most me- morable was that which Henry himself performed in July, 1174. Like the fourth Henry of Germany, the King had found that his sons were armed against him under the pretence of religion. " Such as he had been towards his spiritual father," says a writer of the oppo- site party, " such he found his sons after the flesh to be towards himself." e Supported^ by the King of France and by other potentates whose political enmity against Henry had before allied them with the hierarchy, the eldest prince — the same whose coronation had given rise » Herb., Ep. 34. See Petr. Oellens., Ep. 150. b Alex., Epp. 1021, 1023-5 ; Vita Alex., 38 (Patrol, cc.). c Thus R. de Luci dedicated Lesnes Abbey to St. Thomas ; and see Job. Sarisb., Ep. 314, as to Richard of Ilchester. d Vita Alex., 38. e Girald. de Inst. Princ., 39. The rebellion of the King's sons is said to have been revealed to Becket during his lifetime. (Herb., viii. 46.) X 306 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. to the final quarrel with Becket — now professed himself the avenger of the martyr's death, which his father had neglected to punish, and the vindicator of the Church's liberties, which his father had violated/ In the ex- tremity of distress to which he was reduced by the rebellion of his sons, and the attacks of his other ene- mies, Henry, at the suggestion of his confessor, resolved to undertake a penitential pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas the Martyr ; and his reconciliation with heaven was believed to be shown by the coincidence that, on the same day when he prayed, fasted, watched, and submitted to flagellation at Canterbury, the fleet with which his son had intended to invade England was scat- tered by a tempest, and the King of Scots, who had advanced as far as Alnwick, was there defeated and taken prisoner. 6 " So," says Daniel, " ended this tedious busi- ness, that made more noise in the world than any that he had, and bowed him more : being his ill fortune to grapple with a man of that free resolution as made his sufferings his glory ; had his ambition beyond this world ; set up his rest not to yield to a King ; was only engaged to his cause ; had opinion and belief to take his part. Which so much prevailed, as the King, seeking to master him, advanced him ; and now he is fain to kneel and a See his letter to the Pope, in ial, 643-8. For the details of Henry's pil- rimage, see Professor Stanley's ' Memorials ;' Gamier, 159 ; Kob. de Monte, Patrol., clx. 520; Di- ceto, 57G ; Gaufrid. Vosiens. in Eec. des Hist., xii. 443 ; Herb. viii. 44 ; Trivet, 78, &c. For the ac- count of his receiving the tidings from Alnwick, Jordan Fantosme, in Stevenson's Church Historians of England (iv. 286). A.L>. 1174. PENANCE OF HENRY. 307 pray to his shrine whom he had disgraced in his person ; and, having had him. above his will whilst he lived, hath him now over his faith, being dead." a Yet, although Henry might have seemed to be at the feet of the clergy, the victory was not wholly with them. He had professed, after his interview with Albert and Theotwin at Avranches, to grant the liberty of canonical election to bishoprics and abbacies ; b but while the form of an election was observed, he contrived to sway it in favour of his own nominees. If Becket had lived longer, a scheme which the King had formed for filling up the vacant sees by summoning six of the clergy from each, and compelling them to elect a bishop in his own pre- sence, would have produced a fresh dissension ; c but now, not only were the new bishops virtually appointed by the King, but among the first of them were the very persons who had been his most zealous and indefatigable agents in the late contest, the especial objects of the murdered Primate's denunciations. John of Oxford became Bishop of Norwich, Richard of Ilchester Bishop of Winchester,* 1 and Geoffrey Ridel Bishop of Ely ; and these three continued to be among the King's most con- fidential counsellors. 6 Reginald, Archdeacon of Salis<- * ' The Collection of the Hist, of England, by S. D.' [The poet Daniel.] Lond. 1G2G. (The pas- sage in the original relates to the scene at Avranches.) " Illud qno- que noveritis," writes Peter of Blois to the Archbishop of Pa- lermo, " dorninum regem glorio- sum martyrem in omnibus angustiis suis patrouum habere prfflcipuum," Ep. 66. » Fob, Ep. 489. « Job. Sarisb., Ep. 300 ; Diccto, 554. d John of Salisbury highly cries up Richard. (Ep. 313-4-5.) e In 1179 they were appointed to administer the office of Chief Justiciary, which had become va- cant by the retirement of Richard x 2 308 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. bury, and son of the excommunicated Bishop of that see, was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells, and even- tually became Archbishop of Canterbury.* Kobert Foliot, who succeeded Robert of Melun in Hereford, would seem to have been a relation of Gilbert of Lon- don, who was Henry's especial adviser as to the disposal of the vacant bishoprics. 11 Gerard la Pucelle, Bishop of Lichfield, and Hugh of Nunant, his successor in the see, were men who had forsaken the service of Becket for that of the King. c And the King's influence was further shown by the election of his natural son, Geoffrey Plantagenet, although under the canonical age, to the bishopric of Lincoln." 1 The younger Henry, in endeavouring to enlist the Pope on his side, complains that his father entrusted the flocks to the wolves who had devoured the good shepherd, and states that, as he was assured, the writs of election were in this form : — ■ " I charge you to hold a free election, yet I will not that you choose any other than my clerk Bichard, Arch- deacon of Poitiers/' e Although the literal truth of this de Luci. The Pope remonstrated, on the ground that such office was against the canons, and must in- volve a neglect of their episcopal duties ; but Archbishop Richard pleaded with him that the ar- rangement might be suffered to continue, on account of the benefit which the Church might derive from their influence with the King. It does not appear whether the substitution of Ranulf de Glanvill as Chief Justiciary in the following year was in consequence of the Pope's complaint. See Patrol., cc. 1459 ; Trivet, a.d. 1176 ; Lin- gard, ii. 218 ; Foss, i. 177, 289. a Peter of Blois tries to vindicate Reginald from the charge of hav- ing opposed Becket (Ep. 45). b Diceto, 567. c Herb., vii. 364. As to Gerard, see Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 239. d Pauli, 123. e Brial, 645. a.d. 1174—6. HENRY'S INFLUENCE IN CHURCH AFFAIRS. 309 statement may be questioned,* the authority which Henry exercised over appointments, both to bishoprics and to abbacies, was really as absolute as it is here repre- sented ; b and throughout all his disagreements with his sons, the English bishops steadily adhered to him. c The question as to the Constitutions of Clarendon had not been decided beyond the vague and ambiguous promise of Henry that such of them as were bad or novel should be abolished. " Nevertheless," says Herbert, " some of them, which have been condemned by the Church, are still observed tlrroughout the kingdom. Whether tliis be with the King's knowledge and approbation, let the King liimself see to it ; God forbid that it should be so." d We have seen that the immunities of the clergy were found a bar to the punishment of the murderers of ecclesiastics ; and in consequence of this, Archbishop Richard, the successor of Becket, wrote the letter already quoted, in which the argument, although in- tended only to secure the punishment of offences against the clergy, is equally strong against that exemption of criminal clergymen from secular jurisdiction which had been the foundation of Becket's cause. 6 It was probably in consequence of this that, in 1176, a council at West- minster, under the legate Hugh Petroleone, enacted that the murderer of a clerk, on conviction or con- fession before the King's justiciary, should undergo the * See Brial's note. 0 As to abbacies, see Diceto, 587. c Bened. Petrib., ed. Hearne, i. 38. d viii. 40. • See p. 82. 310 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XIV. usual punishment for his crime, and, moreover, should forfeit his inheritance.* At the same time it was de- creed (although, as Henry tells the Pope, not without much opposition from the greatest and wisest men of the realm) that clergymen should not be subject to the secular courts except for offences against the forest laws, or on account of fees to which the duty of lay service was attached. 6 The indignation with which contemporary writers assail the legate for consenting to these exceptions, appears to show that they were of great practical importance ; c but, in any case, the prin- ciple of the immunity of ecclesiastics from all secular jurisdiction was abandoned, and the sanction of Eome was given to decrees which Becket would have de- nounced as intolerable and impious. 8 Diceto, 592. » lb. c " Ecce mernbrum Sathanse ! ecce ipsius Sathanse conductus satelles ! qui, tarn subito factus de pastore raptor, videns lupum venientein fugit, et dimisit oves sibi a summo pontirlce commissas, pro quarum tutainine missus erat a Komanasede in Angliam." (Bened., ed. Hearne, i. 128 ; cf. Diceto, 591 ; Broniton, 1107.) The delicacy with which Dr. Lingard treats thia matter (ii. 193-4) is amusing. Peter of Blois tells Archbishop Bichard that people blamed hirn for sur- rendering what the martyr had pur- chased with his blood. (Ep. 5.) ( 311 ) CHAPTER XV. CONCLUSION. In Becket's own time, it was disputed whether he ought to be regarded as a martyr. Eobert, Bishop of Here- ford, the old professor of Paris and Melun, had proposed by anticipation, with the coolness of a schoolman, the question whether this title would belong to the Primate if he should meet with death in his contest with the King. Grim relates that, on the very day after the murder, ' ; one of our habit and tonsure " — apparently a monk of Christchurch at Canterbury — denied his claim, on the ground that his obstinacy had deserved his fate. a The Lambeth biographer reports that some persons regarded his pretence of justice as merely a covering for pride and vainglory ; that they held him to have been lacking in that charity without which suffering is of no avail ; to have been fond of pomp, haughty, rapacious, violent, and cruel ; that they argued that, as it is not the pain of death which makes a martyr, so neither is it his cause alone, but that a good cause must be accom- panied by graces of character and conduct in wbich Thomas of Canterbury was manifestly deficient. 0 And i. 80. b ii. 128-9. 312 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XV. we are told that half a century later, in defiance both of Papal canonization and of popular enthusiasm, the same opinions found their defenders in the University of Paris — nay, that even the salvation of Becket was called in question.* 1 Into the technical inquiry whether the title of martyr were deserved, it is unnecessary now to enter, but some estimate of his merits will be here expected by way of conclusion. It is not for one age to make its own principles the rule for judging of persons who belonged to another age ; and if there be anything which honourably dis- tinguishes the tone of history in our time from that which prevailed during the eighteenth century, it is most especially the disposition to make allowance for men of earlier times, whose ideas and circumstances were widely different from our own. Yet this allowance may be carried too far, so as to seduce historical writers into a love of paradox, and to produce a forgetfulness of the bounds which separate right from wrong. Without denying that the conduct of a personage in history may have been justified before his own conscience, we may rightly ask whether it deserves the gratitude of mankind ; and as to his personal justification, we are entitled to ask not only whether he acted according to the light which he had, but whether he was careful to obtain — or * Caesar. Heisterbac, viii. C9 (p. 621, ed. Colon. 1599); Daniel, 84. Csesarius mentions tbis as a case in which the sanctity of a man who had done no miracles in his life '^but see pp. 197, 202 above) was vindicated by miracles after death. In Godwin, De Prresulibus, p. 74, is cited a Lambeth MS. :— " Trae- tatus in quo probata! causamexilii mortisque Thomsc justam fuisse." CONCLUSION. 313 whether he did not rather shut out — the best light which was within his reach. How, then, will Becket bear such an inquiry ? Can we acquit him, if we con- sider that, however much the principles of his genera- tion might have been corrupted by a long course of falsehoods and forgeries — by the pretended Decretals, by the influence of Hildebrand and his school, by the indiscriminating compilations and perverted glosses of the canonists — the Bible was open to him, and the true history of earlier Christian ages was not wholly overlaid ? — that the pretensions which he set up in behalf of the clergy were opposed by many of the most learned eccle- siastics?* — that his ablest and most confidential adviser was often obliged to disapprove of his proceedings, and earnestly represented to him the danger of inflaming his mind by the study of the books on which his pre. tensions were grounded ? b If Bichard of Canterbury could argue the question of the clerical immunities in the manner which we have seen, c is it to be said that the age is to serve as an excuse for the unreasonable and unscriptural views which Becket so zealously main- tained on the subject? The great fortune of Becket's reputation was the manner of his end. " His behaviour in this act of death," says Daniel ; " his courage to take it ; his pas- sionate' 1 committing the cause of the Church, with his soul, to God and His saints — the place, the time, the • P. 93. b Pp. 107, 174. « P. 82. d The edition before me reads "passion are," which is clearly wrung. 314 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XV. manner, and all — aggravates the hatred of the deed, and makes compassion and opinion to be on his a side." b All that was unseemly in his last struggle was washed away by his blood. The continual expressions of appre- hension, and vaunts of his readiness to die, in which he had indulged for years — offensive as they were in them- selves, and calumnious towards the King — seemed then to acquire a reflected justification, and even to be in- vested with the character of prophetic foresight. But, in truth, the crime of his murderers must almost be dis- missed from our consideration in endeavouring to form an estimate of his merits. AVe must judge him mainly by his previous acts ; and we must confine ourselves strictly to the real facts of the case, since the utter mis- representations by which the sympathy of his contem- poraries was enlisted on his side render then- opinion as worthless as that of those who in our own time have allowed themselves to be led by it, without the labour or the desire of acquiring materials for a correct and im- partial judgment. If we condemn Becket, it is by no means necessary that we should acquit his royal antagonist. " Henry the Second," says Dean Milman, " was a sovereign who, with many noble and kingly qualities, lived, more than even most monarchs of his age, in the direct violation of every Christian precept — of justice, humanity, conjugal fidelity. He was lustful, cruel, treacherous, arbitrary. But throughout this contest there is no remonstrance whatever from Primate or Pope against his disobedience • Ed., " this.' k Chronic, 80. CONCLUSION. 315 to the laws of G-od — only to those of the Church." a Tu endeavouring, therefore, to estimate the conduct of the King and the Archbishop towards each other, our view must be confined to those parts of Henry's character which brought him under the denunciations of the hierarchy. And here — even if we admit all that is imputed to him by his opponents — it seems impossible to approve of Becket's dealings with him. The King was deceived in the fancy that he knew the man whom lie promoted to the primacy ; whereas, on Henry's part, the contest drew forth nothing for which Becket had not been before prepared. If Henry was violent and false, was it for Becket to begin his primacy by giving the lie to all his former life ; and not only to be violent, but to set the example of violence ? If there were reason to apprehend that the attack on the immunities of criminal clerks might be followed by some attempt to encroach on the real rights of the Church, was the denial of a plainly reasonable claim the best way of establishing a ground for resistance to such aggressions ? and was it for a Christian prelate, not only to oppose the King in a reasonable claim, but to render his opposition more offensive by continual displays of that pride with which his enemies loudly reproach him, which alienated many who were friendly towards him, and which even his most zealous admirers hardly venture to gloss over ? h a Lat. Christ., iii. 527, ed. 1. b Humilis crat humilibus, elatis ferus et violens ; quasi innatum erat ei " Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos." FiUst., i. 190. Two lines of Mr. Henry Taylor's ' Edwin the Fair 1 (where they are spoken of Dunstan; may serve as a commentary : — " He's humble to the poor, to spite the ricli ; Give me the man who's humble with his peers I" 316 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XV. If Becket had been disposed to act as a reformer of the English Church, there was abundant opportunity for his exertions. Without requiring from an ecclesiastic of that age that he should have anticipated the work of the sixteenth century, we may see in the excessive abuse of pluralities, by which the Chancellor himself had largely profited, in the practice of keeping bishoprics long vacant in order that the Crown might appropriate the revenues, and in the grossly irregular lives of many among the clergy — evils which loudly called for redress. By impartially attacking these and other disorders, Becket might have assured himself of the King's co- operation, and might thus have established a footing for opposition to any really objectionable measures which might be attempted. But unfortunately both for the Church and for his own reputation, we can see nothing of impartiality in his proceedings. If he urged that bishoprics should be filled up, his motives were sus- pected, because all his other exertions were on the side of the hierarchy — stieklings for revenues and for pa- tronage, for castles and for lands, exaltation of the spiritual above the temporal power, claims that the clergy should be privileged above the laity by exemption from the tax-gatherer and the hangman. The anger of the King and the nobles was naturally excited against a prelate who seemed indisposed to admit that the laity, the secular government, the Crown, or the law had any rights whatever against the hierarchy. By taking his stand on the assertion of a privilege utterly un- founded, inconsistent with every principle of civil govern- ment, and practically hurtful even to the class in whose CONCLUSION. 317 behalf it was claimed, he rendered hopeless all real reform either in the administration of the Church or in its relations with the State. Yet the man who com- mitted tlxis grievous error was one from whom, above all other men, an opposite policy might have been fairly expected. If, on the one side or on the other, the rights of the Church or of the State were liable to be conceived with a narrowness and a partiality suggested by the position of individuals, to whom could we look with so much hope of discovering wider and sounder views as to a man who had passed from the highest secular office under the Crown to the highest office in the national Church? From such a man, surely, it might have been expected that he would " know Both spiritual pow'r and civil, what each means, What severs each— the bounds of either sword."" From Eecket, whether he had retained the chancellor- ship with his archbishopric or had resigned it, we might have expected that he would endeavour to direct the combined action of the ecclesiastical and the secular power to the good government of the English people ; that, believing both civil and spiritual government to be " ordained of God," he would have discerned that the real well-being of both must lie, not in opposition, but in harmonious co-operation. Such a view was not hidden from the apprehension of his contemporaries, as may be seen by the language of Rotrou, a and by that of the more moderate Imperialists, from the time of the ■ Milton, " Sonnet to Sir H. Vane.' ■> P. 223. 318 LIFE OF BECKET. Chap. XV. contest between Hildebrand and Henry the Fourth. But Becket could only see in the relations of Church and State an "incurable duality;" to him it seemed that the servant of the one must be the enemy of the other; and as, when Chancellor, he had lent himself to measures of oppression against the Church, so, after having become Archbishop, he had no feeling but for the most exclusive claims of the clergy. Dr. Lingard's remark that, " by uniting in himself the offices of Chan- cellor and Archbishop, he might in all probability have ruled without control in Church and State," a therefore, instead of justifying Becket, suggests a ground of severe condemnation against him. For it was not from any want of ambition or from any indifference to power that the Archbishop resigned the chancellorship, but because he had been led by a false and narrow theory to believe that Church and State must be irreconcileably hostile to each other ; and thus he thrust from him such opportu- nities of effecting good as few men have ever enjoyed, that he might suffer exile and death for a groundless and mischievous pretension. If we compare Becket with the two great champions of the hierarchy who within a century had preceded him — Gregory the Seventh and Anselm — the result will not be in his favour. He had nothing of Hildebrand's ori- ginality of conception — of his world-wide view — of his superiority to vulgar objects — of his far-sighted patience* Doubtless he would have been ready to adopt the great Pope's dying words, that he suffered because he had * See p. 03. CONCLUSION. 319 " loved righteousness, and hated iniquity ;" but how much more of self-deceit would have been necessary for this in the one case than in the other! Hildebrand, while he exalted the hierarchy against the secular power, had laboured with an earnest, although partly misdirected zeal, that its members should not be unworthy of the lofty part which he assigned to it in the economy of this world : in Becket we see the Hildebrandine principles misapplied to shelter the clergy from the temporal punishment of their crimes. Far less will the later Eng- lish Primate endure a comparison with his illustrious predecessor Anselm. It is, indeed, no reproach to him that he was without that profound philosophical genius which made Anselm the greatest teacher that the Church had seen since St. Augustine ; but the deep and mystical fervour of devotion, the calm and gentle temper, the light, keen, and subtle, yet kindly wit, the amiable and unassuming character of Anselm — the absence of all personal pretension in his assertion of the Church's claims — are qualities which fairly enter into the com- parison, and which contrast strikingly with the coarse worldly pride and ostentation by which the character and the religion of Becket were disfigured. Nor in a comparison either with Anselm or with Hildebrand must we forget that, while their training had been exclusively clerical and monastic, Becket's more varied experience of life renders the excesses of hierarchical spirit far less excusable in him than in them. An eminent writer, whose position is very different from that of Becket's ordinary admirers, has eulogised him as having contributed to maintain the balance of 320 LIFE OF BECKET. Chai>. XV. moral against physical force, to control the despotism which oppressed the middle ages, and so to prepare the way for modern English liberty." And such was, un- questionably, the result of his exertions, as of much be- sides in the labours of Hildebrand and his followers. But it is rather an effect wrought out by an over-ruling Provi- dence than anything which Becket contemplated, or for which he deserves credit or gratitude. His efforts were made, not in the general cause of the community, but for the narrowest interests of the clergy as a body separate from other men ; and it is not to the freest but to the most priest-ridden and debased of modern countries that we ought to look for the consequences which would have followed, if the course of things had answered to Becket's intention. Least of all does Becket deserve the sympathy of those among ourselves who dread that reversed Hildebrandism which would reduce the Church to a mere function of the secular power. An Englishman ought no more, as a churchinan, to espouse the cause of those who in former times exaggerated the claims of the hierarchy, than, as the subject of a constitutional monarchy, he ought to defend the excesses of despotism. The name of Becket, instead of serving as a safeguard to those who fear encroachment on the Church in our own time, will only furnish their opponents with a pretext for rej)resent- ing the most equitable claims in behalf of the Church as manifestations of a spirit which would aim at the esta- blishment of priestly tyranny and intolerance. • Sir J. Stephen, Essays, i. 377-8. APPENDIX. I. — The Office of Chancellor (p. 27). That the chancellor was not yet a judge, see Lord Camp- bell's ' Lives of Chancellors,' ed. 3, i. 4 ; Foss, i. 14. Mr. Foss seems to be somewhat at a loss how to reconcile this with Fitzstephen's description of himself as "in Caticellaria ejus [Thomas] dictator . . . sedente eo udcognitionemcausarum, epistolarum et instrumentorum quae offerebantur lector, et aliquarum, eo qnandoque jubente, causarum patronus " (S. T. C. i. 171). There is, however, really no incon- sistency ; for the place of business which is styled cancellaria was not a court, but an office or bureau ; and the description of Becket as a judge relates to the time of his archiepisco- pate. This appears from the previous mention (in a clause intervening between " dictator " and " sedente ") of Fitz- stephen's assisting at his master's celebration of mass (for it was only on the day before his consecration as archbishop that Becket received the priestly ordination which qualified him to celebrate) ; and also from his speaking of himself as pleading causes, which clergymen were forbidden to do .in any other than ecclesiastical courts. On the other hand, Wendover's statement that Becket was much em- ployed " in causis perorandis et decidendis " (ii. 293) belongs to a time before his appointment to the chancel- lorship — while he was as yet a member of Theobald's household, and so took part in the proceedings of the archiepiscopal court. v 322 LIFE OF BECKET. Arr. II. II. — Sale of the Chancellorship (p. 28). The charge against Becket of having bought the chan- cellorship seems to deserve little attention ; but in other cases the office was generally believed to have been sold. Under Henry I. it appears to have been bought by Geoffrey Eufus, afterwards Bishop of Durham. The Annals of Margam record, under the date of 1122, that he became chancellor " pro vii millibus libris argenti " (ap. Gale, t. ii.) ; and in the Great Eoll of 31 Henry I. (a.d. 1130-1) there is an entry that he owed the King 3006?. 13s. 4d. " pro sigillo " (Foss, i. 82, 136). Here the ambiguity of 1he re- cord is removed by the passage in the Annals, with which Mr. Foss was not acquainted when he spoke of the Eoll as the only authority for Geoffrey's purchase of the office ; while the entry in the Boll vindicates the truth of the annalist. It would seem that the price was 7000?., and that of this sum 3006/. 13s. 4rf. remained due some years after. Benedict of Peterborough (ed. Hearne, i. 149) states that, in 1176, Archbishop Boger of York bought the chan- cellorship for his nephew Geoffrey, provost of Beverley, for 11,0.00 marks. But Diceto, who tells us that Geoffrey had bought the office of chancellor to the younger Henry for eleven hundred marks (ap. Twysden, 589), says nothing of his having given eleven thousand for the chancellorship of England ; and both Diceto and Eobert of Mont St. Michel, in recording that he Was drowned in 1177, de- scribe him as still chancellor to the younger king. It seems, therefore, questionable whether Benedict's story be enough to warrant the addition of Geoffrey to the list of chancel- lors of England. Arr. III. APPENDIX. 323 III. — Thkobald and Becket (p. 37). " Ille Theobaldus, qui Christi praBBidet aula? Quani fidei niatrem Cantia nostra colit, Huuc successurum sibi spcrat, et orat ui idem Prscsulis ofticium muniat atque locum. Hie est, camificum qui jus cancellat iniquum, Quos liabuit reges Anglia capta diu, Esse putans reges, quos est perpessa tyrannos ; Plus veneratur eos, qui nocuere magis." Jou. Sarisb., Enthet. de Vocjm. Philos., 1293 seq. "Did Becket," asks Dean Milmaii, "decide against the 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 " (iii. 453). Although John's Xenien are abundantly enigmatical, I niubt hazard a conjecture as to the meaning of this passage. It does not seem to refer to Becket as a judge (see App. I.), but to describe him as reversing by legislation and adminis- tration what had been done under Stephen (the Hircanus of the following lines, and of vv. 147 sqq.), who, notwith- standing the defectiveness of his title and the disorders of his reign, had been generally popular. There is a similar passage as to Becket in the ' Entheticus in Polycraticum ' (Patrol, excix. 379) : — " Hie est qui regni leges cancellat iniquas, Et mandate pii principia a;qua tacit," &c. I cannot see that a letter in which Theobald gives advice to the King as to the choice of a successor in the arch- bishopric (J oh. Sar. Ep. 54) points to Becket; indeed some of the expressions might rather be construed as deprecating the appointment of one who was supposed to be more de- voted to the King than to the Church — " Xon quasratis in hac re quua vestra sunt, sed quae Domini," &c. 324 LIFE OF BECKET. Apr. IV., V. IT. — FOLIOT AST) THE BISHOPRIC OF LOHDOH (p. 41). There is a letter of Foliot, in which he begs the King to excuse him for declining a proposal made through Becket as chancellor — " Ut cm-am Londonia? episcopatns susei- piam, et ex parte redituum episcopatus episcopum ipston et domum ejus exfiibeam, reliquum vero domino meo regi, prout sihi spiritns Dei snggesserit erogandum. con^ervem " (Ep. 119). Mr. Morris supposes the proposal to have been made while the see was vacant, and renders the words which I have marked by italics — ''with part of the income to maintain myself and my household as its bishop " (p. 33). But the meaning clearly is, " That I should maintain the bishop and his household ; " and the most probable explanation seems to be, that, the bishop having become incapable, Foliot was desired to undertake the management of the diocese, to apply part of the revenues to the support of the old man and his dependents, and to pay over the rest into the Treasury. Such an aiTangement would have been much less discreditable to the authors of it than either of those which Mr. Morris suggests, while it would have been ques- tionable enough to warrant Foliot in speaking of it as " perieulosum. et in multum animae nieae di-pendiuni," even if these words might not be accounted for by his unwilling- ness to add the care of London to that of Hereford. T. — Foliot's Judgment of his Superiors (p. 41). John of Salisbury, in his ' Folycraticus ' (written before the quarrel which ranged him on the opposite side to Foliot ), reports an amusing confession : — " Yenerabilis pater Gilbertus Herefordensis episcopus mihi referre consuevit claustralium morem quern in se ipso se fatebatur expertum. Cum enim monasterium in- App. VI. AfPEXDIX. 325 gressus esset, fervens adhuc igne, quern de novo conceperat, magistratimm suorum ignaviam arguebat. Nec mora, pro- motns in modico, miseratione conipliciuni motus est ; non- dum tainen pepercit majoribus. I'aulo post ad priores ascendit : prioribusque compatiens, carpcre non cessavit abbates. Factus est et ipse abbas, et propitius in coabbates episcoporum coepit vitia intueri. Tandem et ipse episcopus, coepiscopis parcit. Nec tamen invidia? vitio arbitror la- borasse, sed vir prudens quod hominibus quodammodo ingenitum est, eleganter expressit." — vii. 24 (col. 704). VI. — Foliot's Letter to Becket, No. cxciv. (p. 44). Tbis letter was first published from a MS. in tbe Cotton collection, by Lord Lyttelton (iii. 18G), who supposes that it and others had been omitted by Wolf on account of their unfavourable bearing on the character of Becket. Its genuineness has been denied by Mr. Berington (G65sqq.), who is followed by Dr. Lingard (ii. 131, 623) ; but their arguments are very weak, and have been refuted by Mr. Turner (i. 233), Dean Milman (iii. 454), Dr. Pauli (iii. (ii)), and the Piomanist Mr. Buss (429). Mr. Morris seems also to admit its genuineness, while he attempts to profit by the suspicion which has been cast on it (414-6). The charge of suppression against Wolf, however, is pro- bably unfounded, as the letter itself does not appear in the Vatican MS., although the title of it is there (Beringt. 655). Mr. Froude, without going into the question of its genu- ineness, considers himself entitled to disbelieve what is stated in the letter, on the ground that it was not a private communication, but a " published pamphlet," intended to vindicate the writer, and asperse Becket, at a time when the Archbishop was banished, and all communication with him was forbidden (588). I am not disposed to trust 326 LIFE OF BECKET. Arp. VII. either the friends or the enemies of Beeket implicitly, but cannot agree to this wholesale rejection of all testimony except that which is favourable to Mr. Froude's hero. V1L — Case of Battle Abbey (p. 61). I am altogether unable to admit Mr. Froude's argument (p. 577), that Becket's conduct in the case of Battle Abbey must have been irreproachable in an ecclesiastical point of view, because he himself, in a letter to the Pope (a.d. 1168), speaks of that case as one in which the secular power had been wrongly exalted against the papacy (Epp. Thorn., i. 54). For in truth it would appear tbat Becket •was quite incapable of viewing his own conduct dispas- sionately. He seems to have fancied that, in exchanging the chancellorship for the primacy, he had not only been released from all obligations as to money, but had got rid of his former self; and thus he would have been quite ready to reprobate, as if he were altogether guiltless, an act in which he had been a chief instrument. Too much, however, has been made of this affair. A consideration of the constant disputes as to monastic exemp- tions would probably have moderated the inferences which Lord Lyttelton (ii. 133) draws from the Battle case against Becket, while it would have saved Mr. Froude much very sophistical reasoning, and the bold supposition that the Abbey records were "intentionally disguised" (577), in order to give a false colouring to the story. Hilary. Bishop of Chichester, whom we shall hereafter meet with as a royalist, had enunciated the most extreme Hildebrandine opinions in the matter of Battle, and was reproved for them by the Chancellor. Mr. Buss, while he argues that Becket, as chancellor, generally defended the Church, gives up his conduct in this case (170). Ai>p. VIII. APPENDIX. 327 VIII. — Family of Ridel (p. 65). M. Thierry lias here missed an opportunity of working his Saxon theory. For wherever Norman enterprise had penetrated, there the Ridels were conspicuous. One fought at Hastings, and is on the Eoll of Battle Abbey. Others figure in the chronicles of the Italian Normans as Dukes of Gaeta and Lords of Pontecorvo (see the Chron. Casi- nense, in Pertz, vii., and the old French translation of Amatus, published by Champollion Figeae). An earlier Geoffrey Fiidel was Chief Justiciary of England under llenry I., and perished with Prince William in the " White Ship" (see Order. Vital., 1. xii. c. 14; Foss, i. 133). In Scotland we find Gervase Eidel as a witness to the " Inqui- sition of Prince David " in 1113 (Wilkins, Concilia, i. 393), and Hugh Ridel as a surety for William the Lyon when taken prisoner at Alnwick in 1174 (Bromton, 1105); and from these are descended the existing Riddells of Riddell. The following paragraph is copied from ' Notes and Queries' for 1854 (vol. x. p. 285) : — " The newspapers lately announced that the office of Proctor in Convocation for the clergy of Canterbury was to be contested by the Rev. A. Oxenden and the Rev. J. C. B. Riddell — gentlemen who, I believe, trace their ancestry to the companions of Hengist and of Rollo respec- tively. Might not a disciple of M. Thierry make some- thing of this ? Let tis try : — " ' Aujourd'hui meme, que huit siecles se sont ecoules depuis la funeste bataille de Hastings, on voit encore, sous les voutes de la meme cathedrale ou le Saxon Thomas Becket a succombe sous les coups meurtriers des ennemis de sa race, une vive contestation pour la representation du clerge de Cantorberi entre M. Ochsenbein, membre d'une tres ancienne famille du royaume Saxon de Kent, et M. Ridel, descendant du Sieur de Ridel qui se trouve sur le Jlol de Batel-ALbaye, et parent de ce Geoffroy Ridel a qui 328 LIFE OF BECKET. App. IX. l'archeveque Saxon, an lieu de son titre d' Archidiacre, a donne celui A'Archidialle. " ' Low-churchman (homme de la basse eglise, puritain, vhigli) et high-churchman (honime de la haute eglise, thory) — Saxon et Xormand — voila corame se reproduit l'inextinguible lutte sous le voile sombre et mystique de la tkeologie re- formee de TAnglicauisme ! ' " Rusticus." Happily my respected friends, with whose names and principles the imitator of M. Thierry has here taken such liberties, are now not rivals, but colleagues in the represen- tation of the diocese. — 1859. IX. — Daxegeld (p. 74). The impost which Becket resisted has been generally identified with the Danegeld, as the rate per hide of land was the same ; and Carte pronounces the story " too absurd to need a serious refutation," because it is " founded upon a supposition that the two shillings an hyde levied for Danegeld was not for the King's use, but was due to the under-sheriffs that held the county courts." (i. 579.) But Grim is not (as Carte fancied) the only authority for the story ; and the account which he and others give of the charge seem to show that it was something different from Danegeld. Thus Eoger of Pontigny says that the nobles caused it to be paid by their vassals to the sheriffs " quatenus tali servitio et beneficio eos a gravaminibus et calumniis hominum suorum a cohiberent." (113.) In like manner Gamier (whose narrative coincides remarkably with Eoger's) speaks — * Mr. Morris has utterly mis- | subordinates of the sheriffs, instead understood these words, supposing, of their [the earls' and barons'] vas- e. g., hominum suorum to mean the \ sals. — p. 90. Ait. X. APPENDIX. 329 "Li baron del pais le soleient duner A ces ki fiirent mis pur Its cuntez guarder, K'il deussent lur teres e lur burnes tenser, Ne que nul n'en deussent empleidier ne greucr." — G5*. and Becket's answer to the King, as reported by all the writers, agrees with this. At all events it does not appear that Henry wished (as Dr. Lingard says) to " revive " any impost which had become obsolete, or to add to the bnr- dens of his people ; he meant only to make the payment compulsory (which it probably was in effect before) and to alter its destination. As to Danegeld, the clergy had been exempt from it in Saxon times, their prayers being considered as their con- tribution to the defence of the country. \\ illiam Eufus, however, refused to allow any such exemption (Collier, ii. 479). Danegeld was paid throughout the reign of Henry I. (Ling., ii. 40). Stephen is said to have sworn to the abolition of it (Henr. Huntingd., 1. viii., in Patrol., exev. 957 ; E. Wendover, ii. 218); but this statement is considered very doubtful by Dr. Lappenberg, ii. 303. X. — Justinian and Gratian on Trial of Clergymen (p. 80). William of Canterbury tells us that Becket proceeded " juxta constitutionem illam, Si crimen ecclesiasticum est, tunc secundum canones ab episcopo suo causarum exa- minatio et poena procedat, nullam communionem aliis judicibus habentibus in hujusmodi causis " (S. T. C. ii. 12). This is from Gratian, P. II., causa xi. qu. 1, c. 45 (Patrol., clxxxvii.); and there are equivalent words in Justinian, Novell. 83 (ib. lxxii. 1006). But whereas Becket seems to have understood crimen ecclesiasticum as meaning any crime of an ecclesiastic, the real meaning is evidently an ecclesiastical crime — i.e., such an offence as was noticed by the laws of 330 LIFE OF BECKET. Atp. XL the Church only, and not by those of the State. Moreover, the Novel had immediately before laid down that, in the case of civil crimes, clergymen should be tried before the secular judges ; aud even in Gratian something of this remains. In another Novel Justinian prescribes a course substantially the same with that which Henry II. pro- posed, — that the Bishop should inquire into a charge against a clerk, and, if the accused were found guilty, should depose him, and then hand him over to the secular judge.— Novell. 123. (Patrol., lxxii. 1031.) XI. — Separation of Courts by William the Conqukuor (p. 84). The object of this law has been much disputed. Some have supposed it to be intended as confining the jurisdic- tion of the Bishops rather than as adding to the privileges of the clergy. Mr. Buss wishes to make out that William intended to establish the canon law in England, and, as all visible evidence is against the idea of the King's defer- ring to the principles of Hildebrand, Mr. Buss supposes that there must have been a continual secret and con- fidential communication with Borne, of an opposite ten- dency to that which appears! (85, 124-5, 133.) Some suppose the law intended for a temporary and special occasion (Selden, Hist, of Tithes, 14, in Works, iii. 1282). M. Thierry imagines the object to have been that the Nor- man prelates might help in the work of depressing the Saxons, and that now the law came to be used for the annoyance of the race in whose favour it was given (ii. 273). See Johnson's Canons, ii. 50-1 ; Inett, 251 ; Southey, Yin- dicias, 355-6. Arp. XII. APPENDIX. XII. — Arnulf of Lisieux (p. 92). Amulf lias been already mentioned as one of those by whose policy Becket was introduced to Henry (p. 26), and as conspicuous in the Council of Tours (p. 70). He had contributed to the recognition of Innocent II. as pope, by a very abusive pamphlet against the anti-pope, Anacletus ; he had taken part in the Second Crusade (Will. Tyr. xvii. 1), and more recently had exerted himself in behalf of Alexander III. (See his Letters, 21, 23, 24; orBaronius, 1159, 58, sqq.) His entrance on the bishopric of Lisieux, to which he was elected in 1141, was opposed by Geoffrey, the father of King Henry ; but he was recommended to Innocent in terms of high eulogy by St. Bernard (Ep. 348) and by Peter " the Venerable " of Cluny (Ep. iii. 7, Patrol., clxxxix.), and obtained possession of the see. Throughout the contest between Henry and Becket, Amulf endeavoured to keep well with both parties — out- wardly siding with the King, while he assured the Arch- bishop that he was with him in heart, although pre- vented by his debts and other necessities from openly avowing his sympathy. Thus, he told one of Becket's envoys that, when sent to the Pope in the King's interest, he had privately recommended the Archbishop's cause. (S. T. C, iv. 189.) His advice to Becket, whether sincere or not, was generally good — the substance of it being that the Archbishop should be content to make peace on condition of securing such points as were essential, without endeavouring to gain the appearance of a triumph over the King (ed. Giles, 158-160). Arnulf, however, proved to be too clever, and by his duplicity forfeited the respect which his abilities had procured for him. Herbert of Bosham speaks of him as a person whose title to the name of Christian was very doubtful, " unless per- chance words, and not deeds, make a Christian " — as one " whose whole virtue is in his mouth, whose tongue is 332 LIFE OF BECKET. Arr. XIII. of gold and his heart of iron" — who "with his month spake peace to the Archbishop, and secretly laid sanres for him " (viii. 232). The debts in which he had involved himself, chiefly for the building of his cathedral, were a lasting incumbrance to him. Several of his letters are full of pitiful supplications for the restoration of the King's favour, which he had at length utterly lost. In 1182 he resigned his see, and two years later he died in the monastery of St. Victor, at Paris. The history of Arnulf forms a remarkable commentary on a passage in one of his Letters : — " Experimento didicimus, divino quodam judicio saepius evenire, quod hi qui, ob affectationem favoris humani, reverentiam divinas majestatis offendunt, divini quidem dispendiutn faciunt, sed humanum, quern affecta- verant, minime consequuntur." — Ep. 31, ad Alexandr. Papam. Some of Arnulf's letters are in Wolfs collection. His extant writings have been published by Di\ Giles, whose edition is reprinted in vol. cci. of Migne's ' Patrologia.' XIII. — Clarembald and St. Augustine's (p. 94). This matter does not seem to be quite fairly represented by Archdeacon Churton, who says that Becket "declined giving his pastoral blessing to a bad man named Clarem- bald, who had been made abbot of St. Augustine's." (Early En«\ Ch. 344.) The character of Clarembald was indeed unquestionably bad. He is described as " a fugitive and apostate monk in Normandy" (Thorn, in Twysden, 1819) ; and, after having kept his ground as abbot elect until 1173, was deprived, after an investigation by the Bishops of Exeter and Worcester, who had been commissioned by the Pope for the purpose. These commissioners report that they had received evidence of the most scandalous mal- versation in the management of his office, and of the gross- Avr. XIII. APPENDIX. 333 est licentiousness in his personal conduct — among other things, " quod in una duntaxat villa et adjacentiis ejus xvii. genuit spurios." (Joh. Sarisb., Ep. 310; cf. Diceto, 561. Is this the origin of the Claringboulds who are now found among the peasantry of the neighbourhood ? ) But Cla- rembald's character did not come into the question between him and Becket. The claim that the Abbot of St. Augus- tine should receive the benediction witbin his own monas- tery, and witbout any profession of obedience, bad been advanced against Archbishop Lanfranc, who was compelled by William Ii'ufus to comply with it. Archbishop Anselm, however, obliged the next abbot to wait on him and receive his benediction in the Bishop of Rochester's Chapel at Lambeth. (Eadmer, Hist. Nervorum, 1. iv., in Patrol, clix. 468 ; Inett, ii. 124.) But the question was afterwards revived, and on this and other subjects the monks of St. Augustine's were continually at feud with the archbishops and with the monks of the cathedral. In 1124, as Archbishop William of Corboyl could not be pre- vailed on to bless Abbot Hugh, except in the cathedral, Henry I. authorised the Bishop of Cbichester to give the benediction in the monastery. The latest precedent was in favour of Clarembald, Archbishop Theobald having been compelled by the Pope, after much contention, to comply with the Augustinian pretensions in giving the benediction to Abbot Silvester, a.d. 1152. (See Joh. Sarisb., Epp. 102, 105; Geivas. 1370.) The claims of St. Augustine's were grounded on documents which Pope Alexander, supposing them genuine, did not feel himself at liberty to overrule (S. T. C. iv. 255) ; but their genuine- ness was really suspicious in the extreme. There is a letter from Giles, bishop of Evreux, about this time, stating that a monk of St. Medard's, at Soissons, had con- fessed on his death-bed to having forged "apostolical privileges " for the monks of St. Augustine's, and suggest- ing that the genuineness of their parchments should be inquired into. (Wharton, Ang. Sac. ii., praef. p. v.) After 334 LIFE OF BECKET. A pp. XIV. the deposition of Clarerabald, his pretensions were renewed against Archbishop Richard by Roger, who had been elected to the abbacy. The Archbishop, although ordered by the Pope to give the benediction in the required terms, refused; and the matter remained unsettled until 1178, when the abbot, after the employment of such means as were usually necessary and successful at the Roman court, received the benediction from the Pope in person. (Gervas. 1444.) In 1181 the Bishop of Durham and others were appointed by the Pope to examine the charters of St. Augustine's, when strong grounds of presumption appeared against those which were most relied on (ib. 1458) ; but the Pope sanctioned the claims of the abbey. An un- cordial system of compromise was then carried on for upwards of 200 years. The archbishops would not go to the abbey, nor the abbots to the archbishops, and the benediction was given by some other prelate, until, in 140(5, Abbot Thomas Hunden was blessed by Archbishop Arundel, in St. Paul's, London. See the Chronicles of St. Augustine's, by Thorn (in Twysden) ; and Thomas of Elmham, edited in 1858, for the ' Chronicles and Memo- rials of Great Britain,' by my friend Archdeacon Hard- wick, — whose life, so full both of valuable perfoimance and of yet higher promise, has been cut short by a pre- mature and terrible end while these sheets were in the course of final revision for the press. XIV. — Philip of l'Aujione (p. 95). The papal envoy's title of "Abbas de Eleemosj'na " has evidently caused much perplexity, although no writer has avowed any difficulty as to the matter. Dr. Giles writes Eleemosyna with a small initial (S. T. C, i. 26; iv. 277); and Philip has been variously styled " The Abbot Al- moner," "The Pope's Almoner," "Abbot of Charity," and Apr. XV. APPENDIX. 335 the like. But, in fact, Eleemosyna (in Gamier VAbnodne, and in later French VAumone) was the name of a Cistercian abbey, otherwise called Little Citeaux, about four leagues to the south-east of Chateaudnn. (Le Prevost, n. on Order. Vital., t. iii. 445, ed. Soc. de l'Hist. de France.) Orderic mentions the fondness of the Cistercians for giving their monasteries such names as " Domus Dei, Clara Yallis, Bonus Mons, et Eleemosyna, .... quibus auditores solo nominis nectare invitantur festinanter experiri quanta sit ibi beatitudo, quse tarn speciali denotetur vocabulo." It was from l'Aumone that the abbey of Waverley, in Surrey, was founded (Joh. Petriburg., ap. Sparke, 66), and also (as I learn from Mr. Morris, who has in part anticipated this note, p. 413) that of Tintern. XV. — Becket's Cross-bearer (p. 103). Alan of Tewkesbury relates that, after the Council of Clarendon, Becket's cross-bearer took it on himself to reprove his master's late compliance (i. 340) ; and such is probably the origin of a story introduced by Father Lacordaire into one of his eloquent " Conferences," — that, as the Archbishop was going from the Council, a deacon, who was his cross-bearer, placed the cross against a wall and refused to serve him, since he had betrayed the liberties of the Church, whereupon " Thomas Becket se mit a verser des larines, et, aussitot qu'il fut rentre chez lui, il rotracta ce qu'il avait signe." (i. 94, ed. Brux., 1847.) M. Thierry's " fixed idea" comes out amusingly in connexion with the scene (which he unaccountably refers to the evening before the day on which the written Consti- tutions were produced). He tells us that, as the Arch- bishop was on his way to Winchester, "a Saxon, named Edward Grim, his cross-bearer, spoke loudly against his compliance," and adds, that " in this reproof national senti- 336 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XVI. ment had perhaps as great a share as religious conviction " (iii. 119). For this the historian refers to Fleury, who in reality does not pretend to name the cross-bearer, and says nothing as to his race (Bk. lxxi. 5). In truth, the cross- bearer who spoke was not a Saxon, but of a race which had been dispossessed by the Saxons, — a Welshman named Alexander Llewellyn, whom Giraldus Cambrensis de- scribes as " joculans et linguae dicacis" (De Instruct. Princi- pum, 187, ed. Brewer) ; nor was Grim ever Becket's cross- bearer, although the mistake of styling him so had been made by others before M. Thierry. Grim appears to have had no acquaintance with the Archbishop until he visited him at Canterbury about a week before the murder (Herb, vii. 368). Llewellyn was sent abroad just before that event ; but, as we shall see hereafter, Grim did not act even as deputy cross-bearer on the fatal day. XVI. — Filius Excussoeum (p. 107). This strange phrase, which often occurs in writings of that age (e. g. Bernard, de Considerat., iii. 1 ; Pet. Bles. in Patrol., ccvii. 79; Will. Senon. in S. T. C, iv. 162), is derived from Psalm cxxvii. 5 (cxxvi. 4 Lat.), where the Latin Vulgate, following the LXX., has " ita sunt filii excussorum " for "so are the young children" (P. B.), or "children of the youth" (Eng. Bible). Eosenmiiller (Schol. in loc.) says that the Greek and Latin translators supposed the Hebrew word for youth {p"~^VX) to be the par- ticiple of a verb meaning to shake out ("WJ), and that under the epithet excussi they understood " persons who are shaken by troubles " (yhu tQv inrtrivayfiEViav, oi o-0o'cy>a ra- \anrai>ovntvoi, Suidas, ed. Gaisford, ii. 3736). But this view of the meaning did not occur to, or did not satisfy the patristic and mediaeval commentators. According to St. Augustine (who expresses his belief that the explanation App. XVII. APPENDIX. 337 had been suggested to him by inspiration), the excussi are the Prophets, because their obscure language requires to be shaken out in order to get at its meaning ; and the filii excussorum are the Apostles (In Psalm, cxxvi. c. 10). Walafrid Strabo, however, holds that the Apostles them- selves are the excussi, because they were charged to shake off the dust from their feet (Gloss, in loc, Patrol., cxiii.). Bruno of Segni argues that they are the Apostles, but for a different reason — that the Apostles were persecuted from city to city — and he supposes the sons to be those who imitate them (in loc, ib. clxiv.). Gerhoh of Eeichersperg raises the question whether excussorum be the genitive of excussi or of excussores, but finds himself able to turn it to edification in either case (in loc, ib. cxciv.). It would, of course, be easy to multiply such specimens of interpreta- tion. "Whether Herbert attached any definite meaning to the phrase does not appear. XVII. — The Eelease erom Secular Obligations (p. 116). The release seems to me a matter of greater difficulty than it has been considered by many writers. That a release was asked and granted is certain ; but there remain the questions, (1) What was it supposed to imply? and (2) Was it rightly granted? It seems clear that the Chancellor's accounts might have been required, and, indeed, ought to have been rendered, before his promotion to the primacy ; and, on the other hand, that, if things had gone smoothly, or if Henry had had other means of assailing him, no demand would have been made on this ground. But, as matters actually stood, was it to be con- sidered that the release had barred all claims which the King might wish to raise ? Diceto, who (as Fitzstephen informs us, 227) was present at the trial, says that many thought it right that an account should be given, notwith- Z 338 LIFE OF BECKET. Avf. XVIII. standing the release ; and, moreover, that Becket was unable to prove the King's consent to it (537). Foliot afterwards made a jest of the Archbishop's fancying "that as in baptism sins are forgiven, so in promotion debts are released " (S. T. C, iv. 271) ; and, which seems important, Herbert of Bosham represents the idea of pleading the release as having only occurred to the Bishop of Win- chester after a long deliberation with the other bishops (" tandem recordatus est," vii. 138). Hence it seems doubtful whether the release was understood as an ac- quittance of all pecuniary claims, until such an interpre- tation was devised by way of meeting claims actually made. It would appear that nothing was expressly said as to money at the time of the election. The King, according to the Lambeth biographer, announced the release to the Pope when asking him to send Becket the pall (ii. 97), and thus made the act his own, even if he had not authorised it beforehand. But what did he suppose it to import, since he reckoned on Becket's continued services as Chancellor? Nay, what did Becket himself understand it to amount to, since he retained the charge of Eye and Berkhampstead ? It would seem to be the income from these castles that he alludes to, when, at a later time, he tells the Pope that the King no longer calls for the accounts of his Chancellorship, "but asks for that only which he says that I received of his property in the time of my archiepiscopate." As to this, however, the Arch- bishop declares that he is not bound, inasmuch as he had already rendered his account for it (iii. 35). XVIII. — Order of Skmpringham (p. 133). The foundation of the Order of Sempringham (which included recluses of both sexes) is various^ dated from 1131 to 1148. It was confirmed by Pope Eugenius III. Arr. XIX. APPENDIX. 339 A life of the founder, Gilbert, and the statutes of the Order, may be found in the Monasticon, vol. vi., pt. 2. The author of the Life tells us that tit. Thomas of Canterbury appeared to one of his old retainers, saying, " I am Thomas, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, whom men call Saint Thomas." " Thanks be to God," said the old man, " who hath vouch- safed to do such great things for thee, my Lord; for never, methinks, hath there been, or will there be, in our land one from whom so great joy shall arise." " I tell you," replied the Saint, " there will be one ; " and, on being asked the name, he answered by the single word " Gilbert," — "whom," adds the biographer, " we take to be none other than this Gilbert of ours " (p. xv.). [It would seem that Bishop Foliot was not considered to be a likely rival, and few, perhaps, would now advance a claim for Bishop Burnet.] St. Gilbert of Sempringham died in 1188. XIX. — Memorable Tuesdays in Becket's Life (p. 134). Herbert tells us that All Souls' Day was Tuesday, and that Tuesday was the day of the week on which the most remarkable events in the Saint's life took place — his trial and flight, his crossing the sea, his return, and his martyr- dom ; to which Garnier adds his birth, and I)iceto his first translation. (Herb., vii. 164; Gamier, 158; Diceto, 5.56.) Herbert also states that this Tuesday was a fortnight after that on which he "fought with beasts" at Northampton. It would appear, however, that in 1164 All Souls' Lay fell on a Monday, and that it wanted but one day of three weeks since the last day of the Council. (See Nicolas, Chronology, p. 60.) The editor of William of Newburgh (i. 132) makes a needless difficulty as to dates, by sup- posing that Diceto speaks of the Council as having begun on October 13, whereas he really names that as the day of the trial about the Chancellorship. The addition of z 2 310 LIFE OF BECKET. Apr. XX. Becket's baptism, and of a remarkable vision wbicb be bad at Pontigny (E. Gloucest., 126), to tbe memorable events of bis Tuesdays (see Stanley, 58, ed. 3) was probably a later " development." XX. — AVhiteness of Becket's Hands (p. 137). Mr. Froude, as we bave seen (p. 11), refers this personal cbaracteristic to tbe Arcbbisbop's supposed " Asiatic ex- traction." Ever since tbe time of St. Jude's grand- children (Hegesipp. ap. Euseb. Hist. Eccl., iii. 20), at least, tbe appearance of tbe bands bas occasionally served as a test of condition. Thus it is related, in tbe Life of Adalbero, Arcbbisbop of Treves in tbe 12tb century, tbat some sailors among wbom be fell " coeperunt pulcberrimas manus ejus considerare, et ex boc perpendere quod bomo plebeius non esset " (Patrol., cliv. 1314) ; and tbe insur- gent peasantry of Languedoc, in tbe minority of Cbarles VI., massacred all wbo bad not " callous bands." (Martin, Hist, de France, v. 349, ed. 4.) Tbere is a story of a Jacobite belonging to Lord Forbes's family wbo, after the battle of Culloden, disguised himself as a labourer, and wben charged by some soldiers with being a gentleman in hiding, escaped by holding out his hands, which were naturally very large and rough, and asking, " Are these the hands of a gentleman ? " Becket's opponent, King Henry, might have in like manner defied the test. " Manus ejus," says Peter of Blois, " quadam grossitia sua hominis incuriam protestantur ; earum enim cultum pror- sus negligit ; nec unquam, nisi aves deferat, utitur chiro- thecis " (Ep. 66). a pp. xx r. APPENDIX. 341 XXI. — The Resignation of the Archbishopric (p. 153). The story of the resignation is told by all modern writers, and I have not ventured in the text to deviate from the usual track. Among the older biographers, how- ever, the incident does not appear by any means so distinct and certain. Nothing is said of it either by Roger (whose acquaintance with Becket is supposed to have begun im- mediately after, on the Archbishop's settling at Bontigny) or by Gamier. The "dicitur" with which Fitzstephen introduces his statement (i. 244) does not much bespeak our confidence, neither do even the " ut mihi pro certo dictum est" of Grim (i. 52), or the " ut pro certo cognitum est " of another writer (ii. 259) ; while, on the other hand, the account given by Alan, which has been here chiefly followed, has even too much of detail. But the most remarkable circumstance is the silence of Herbert, who was himself with Becket at Sens. He tells us of the audience at which the Constitutions were exhibited ; and then he states that on the following day many cardinals and other politicians of the court remonstrated with the Archbishop on the unreasonableness of quarrelling with the King while the Church was suffering from a schism; to which censure the biographer replies by a very long discourse, which is put into the mouth of his hero (vii. 182-105); but of the resignation he says nothing what- ever. It is hardly worth while to mention small valuations in the story ; as, that Alan makes the reading of the Con- stitutions to have been at a public audience, and the resignation in the Pope's chamber, whereas Herbert expressly states that the Constitutions were read in the chamber ; that Grim represents the whole as having taken place at one interview, while Alan makes two ; that, according to Alan, the restoration of the see was on the 342 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXI. same clay with the resignation, whereas Fitzstephen tells us that there was an interval of three days ; that Herbert speaks of Becket as having himself chosen Pontigny for a residence, and as having petitioned to be placed there, while Alan represents him as having no choice in the matter ; and so forth. On the whole, I must think the story of the resignation extremely doubtful. Herbert was, indeed, as capable of suppressing a fact as others were of inventing a falsehood ; but Herbert's narrative has here a much greater air of probability than Alan's. ^\ hat motive could Herbert have had for suppression ? or what likeli- hood is tbere that Alan should have been so very circum- stantially informed as to an incident of which Fitzstephen and Grim speak so uncertainly ? And if the scene took place, as Alan describes it, in the presence of the cardinals, many of whom were in Henry's interest, how could there have been any mystery or uncertainty about it ? Surely it would in such circumstances have very soon become uni- versally known. Becket himself, in a letter to Cardinal Hyacinth, a.d. 1167, alludes to something which had taken place at Sens : " partes vestras diligentius interponatis, ut confirrrMtionem primatice nostra, quam in primo adventu nostro Senonis D. Papa nobis concessit, per vos obtineamus" (iii. 132) : this, however, evidently means, not that the Pope restored him to his archbishopric, but that he promised him a formal confirmation in certain privileges as attached to it. Fitzstephen mentions that he obtained privileges at Sens (i. 244), and from a letter to Cardinal Manfred we learn distinctly that the 11 primacy " here spoken of means tbe superiority of Canterbury over York. (iii. 144.) If the story of the resignation is untrue, one of Lord Ly ttel- ton's charges against Becket will fall to the ground, A'iz., that while to the Pope he professed to consider his election uncanonical, he yet, in writing to the English bishops, maintained its perfect regularity and validity. (Ep. 75 ; Lyttelton, ii. 401.) Fuller represents the resignation as App. XXII. APPENDIX. 343 having taken place at Benevento (i. 314), probably through a confusion with the history of Archbishop Ealph, who in 1115 there waited on Paschal II. (W. Malmesb., Gesta Pontif. in Patrol, clxxix., 1508.) XXII. — The Pope's Treatment of Becket (p. 153). Even popes may be wronged, and it is right to defend even Professor Eeuter's hero, Alexander, from the in- justice which is done him in this part of the story by Mr. Sharon Turner's misapprehension and M. Michelet's mis- representation. Mr. Turner says that Becket's " messenger was two days at Rome [the Pope being, as we have seen, really at Sens] before he obtained an audience, and, though received at last with the public gesticulations of sighs, and even tears, and congratulations that the Church had such a pastor, yet, when his friend mentioned Becket's petition to be invited to Rome [i. e., Sens], the immediate answer of the Pope was a peremptory refusal." (i. 255.) For this a reference is given to " lib. i. ep. 23 " — the same letter which is quoted in the text, p. 150. That letter, however, was not written, as Mr. Tumor and M. Thierry (iii. 138) suppose, after Becket's flight, but a year earlier ; and the statement that Alexander " peremptorily refused to invite " the Archbishop, is founded on a misconception of a passage the true sense of which will appear from Mr. Froude's translation (p. 70) : — " Lastly, on our requesting that His Holiness would send your Lordship a summons to appear before him, he answered, with much apparent distress, ' God forbid ! rather may I end my days than see him leave England on such terms, and bereave his Church at such a crisis ! ' " M. Michelet may be left to speak for himself — that Becket icrote from Pontigny, " charging himself with having been intruded into his see, and declaring that he resigned 344 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXIII. his dignity ; " that " Alexander refused to see hirn, and con- tented himself with writing to him, that he re-established him in his episcopal dignity — ' Go,' he coldly wrote to the exile, ' Go, learn in poverty to be the consoler of the poor'" (iii. 171). This is really not an unfair specimen of the brilliant historian's accuracy, either in his account of Becket, or in such other parts of his story as I have been able to examine particularly. XXIII.— John, Bishop of Poitiers (p. 166). John des Belles-Mains was a native of Canterbury, and had been Treasurer of York. He is described by Eobert of St. Michel as " vir jocundus et largus et apprime eru- ditus " (a. d. 1 162), and by John of Salisbury as " vir singu- laris eloquii, et qui omnibus quos viderim trium linguarum gratia pnestat " (Tolycrat. viii. 7, col. 735 D). He was one of Becket's most confidential friends, and Fitzstephen says that in the beginning of the troubles he was made Bishop of Poitiers, and John of Salisbury was banished, with a view of depriving the Archbishop of their counsel (215). But this, as Mr. Morris has pointed out (p. 417), is incorrect, inasmuch as the Treasurer of York was pro- moted to Poitiers before the breach between Becket and the King. M. Thierry (iii. 134) quotes a letter of John of Salisbury (Ep. 147) as showing that an attempt to poison the Bishop was made by the King's party about the time of Becket's flight. If such an attempt had been made, we should pretty surely have heard more of it ; but, in truth, the poisoning is mentioned merely as matter of rumour (Epp. 146-7), and it would seem that this rumour (in so far as it had any foundation at all) arose from the fact of the Bishop's having had a severe natural illness. Moreover, the date is not, as M. Thierry supposes, 1164, but 1166 — after the meeting at Chinon, which is mentioned in the text, p. 182. App. XXIV. APPENDIX. 345 From Poitiers John was translated in 1181 to the arch- bishopric of Lyons, which he resigned in 1195; and he died as a monk at Clairvaux (Patrol, ccix. 873-8). Among the letters of Alan of Tewkesbury (11-2, in S. T. C. viii.) are two addressed to John when Archbishop of Lyons, by which it appears that, to the indignation of the Canterbury monks, he then held the living of Eynesford, which had been the occasion for one of Becket's quarrels. XXIV.— V£zelay (p. 184). I venture to introduce here an extract from a rough diary, written in October, 1855 : — " After climbing a long hill, on the brow of which stands a cross, a new prospect opened — a wide valley, with high hills on the farther side, reminding me of the views towards Wales from the country beyond Tenbury ; and in advance of the range a steep rock, covered in great part with vineyards, and crowned by the town of Vezelay, — trees rising above the ramparts, and between them the lofty apse of the abbey church. To the left, a village with a turreted chateau; in the bottom, the beautiful spire of St. Pere, and the Cure, widened in one place by a weir, flow- ing through the valley. There was a long descent, and, after passing through the dirty village of St. Pere (reserv- ing the church for my return), a long ascent to Vezelay. The'shape of the little town is something like that of a flat fish — the abbey holding the place of the head, while the junction with the main range of hills is the tail. The road winds up a hill opposite the south side of that on which the town is built, and passes on (towards Clamecy, I believe) outside. Turning from it on reaching the height, you enter between two pillars, and find yourself in the main street. The feet at once feel the change from a good macadamised road to a stone pavement, which is even worse than that of most old LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXIV. French towns. The street is narrow, the houses are dintrv. the shops dark and poor. A few drowsy people standing at doors gaze at you with an incurious stare. You go on ; the street becomes narrower and steeper ; nobody is seen ; all seems asleep ; Bayeux, and even Sandwich, are nothing in their deadness to Yezelay. Here and there bits of carved stone-work appear, built into tbe walls of houses. At length you come out on a little open space, and look on the western front of the great church. One tower is gone ; the other is Eomanesque below, and Gothic above, but not (I think) late Gothic, as the ' Handbook ' says, except in quite the highest part. There is a window of five lights, with an arch above it. You enter the porch, which has three bays, with pointed arches, and an arcade above them. This is of the early part of the twelfth century, and already existed in Becket's time. A great doorway, and a smaller one at each side, Eomanesque arches, with much sculpture, admit you to the nave, which is very long, and of stem early Eomanesque, but surely not (as I remember that Froude says) ' anterior to Norman,' or as old as the ninth century. 3 There is no triforium, and the roof is of a barrel fashion. The whole church is now in jnocess of restora- tion. The choir is of the transitional style so common in the great churches of these parts, although the specimens of it on a large scale are few in England (our own cathedral being the chief) ; it, too, was probably already built when Becket made this the scene of his excommuni- cations. b The cure, a polite elderly personage, was in the church, and kindly showed me the crypt, with the recess in which the relics of St. Mary Magdalene were kept until cast out by the Huguenots. Daring the restoration, service is performed in the ancient chapter-house, a low, vaulted a I have since found that Mr. Fergusson refers it to the eleventh. Handbook of Architecture, 655. fc The former choir had been burnt down on the eve of St. Mary Magdalene, in 1120. Rob. Antis- siod. in Etc des Hist., xii. 291. Ai>p. XXV. APPENDIX. 347 Komanesque building. The sight of Vezelay was well worth the trouble of my journey by diligence from Auxerre, and of my walk from Avallon." XXV. — Date of the Excommunications at Vezelay (p. 186). The day is variously stated. Dr. Giles (I do not know on what authority ) says that it was Easter-day (Life and Letters, i. 332). Herbert (vii. 229) and Gervase (1400), followed by Mr. Buss (399), name St. Mary Magdalene's day (July 22), when, for the festival of the patroness, " very many nations flock from various kingdoms " (Herb.). But it is evident, from the correspondence (which is better authority than Herbert's narrative, written from memory long after), that it was earlier (see iv. 195 ; Job. Sarisb., ep. 175, fin. &c.). Diceto (539) and Wendover (ii. 313) place the ex- communication on Ascension-day; Dr. Pauli (as I myself formerly did) on the Sunday following (68). But the best authority seems to be the circumstantial account given by John of Salisbury in a letter to the Bishop of Exeter (Ep. 1-45, col. 137), which is followed in the text. Erom Soissons to Vezelay must have been a journey of more than two days, and the Whitsun festival will account better than the Ascension for the words " de diversis nationibus," which John uses in describing the assembled crowds. Dr. Pauli observes that the words of Nicolas of liouen (Thorn. Ep. 347) — " Alii quoque conjectant quod in festo S. Marias Magdalenae in regis personam sententiam preferetis" (taken in conjunction with the discordant statements of John of Salisbury and Herbert) " might suggest the suppo- sition of two scenes at Vezelay" (69), and Dom Brial (lice. des Hist., xvi. 255) infers the same from Gervase of Canter- bury's narrative. But this appears to be a mistake, and Dr. Pauli does not venture to adopt it. 348 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXVI. XXVI. — Becket's Vestments at Sens (p. 199). " The length of the vestments," says Professor Stanley, " confirms the account of his great stature. On the feast of ' St. Thomas,' till very recently, they were worn for that one day by the officiating priest. The tallest priest was always selected, and even then it was necessary to pin them up" (Hist. Mem. of Canterbury, 181, ed. 3). But, although the age of the vestments seems to be undisputed, their great length might rather suggest a doubt whether they belonged to Becket ; for, while he is said to have been " statura procerus " (Fitzst. 185), and Herbert even speaks of his " proceritatem egregiam" (vii. 165), there is nothing, that I am aware of, in the old writers to suggest the idea that his height was so extraordinary as to render these articles suitable for him. (The Sens tradition is that he was 6 feet 4 inches, French, in height — equal to 6 feet Tr- anches English.) There is, however, a passage in a letter of Peter of La Celle to John of Salisbury, which, if it relate to Becket's chasuble, would seem to imply that he wore one of disproportionate size — " Quasi de magnitu- dine cassulae tunc archiepiscopi Thomas, nunc pretiosissimi martyris, conquerebarp] ubi posset reperiri " (Ep. 124, Patrol, ccii.) ; but I do not pretend to understand this, and cassula may possibly mean a reliquary or shrine. (See Du- cange, s. v.) Mr. Shaw supposes that " the zeal of his admirers " may have made a very common mistake as to some of these vestments, in attributing them to St. Thomas of Canterbury ; but that, "with regard to many of them, it is probable that the tradition is correct." (Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages, vol. i.) As to the history of them, M. Chaillou des Barres states that they were dis- covered in 1523 in an ancient house in the cathedral cloister. (L'Abbaye de Pontigny, 63.) But how were they known to have belonged to Becket ? App. XXVII., XXVIII. APPENDIX. 319 XXVII. — Becket and the Abbot of St. Alban's (p. 2G1). The contemporary documents give no hint that Becket proceeded beyond Southwark after being charged to return to Canterbury ; and we are left to judge whether Matthew Paris has here presented us with an authentic tradition preserved in the monastery of St. Alban's, or with a fiction invented for the glory of that house. The less favourable supposition seems to be the more likely ; for not only is the silence of Becket's contemporaries a ground of pre- sumption against the story, but it does not appear in the older chronicles of St. Alban's itself — being one of the passages interpolated into the text of Eoger Wendover by Matthew Paris, whose unscrupulousness in such matters is notorious. (See Pauli, 882.) The variations between Matthew's two narratives are not in favour of his general truth ; and the manner in which, in one of them, he mixes up the Abbot's alleged expedition to Woodstock with that of Eichard of St. Martin's, brings him into somethiug like a direct contradiction of the earlier writers. XXVIII.— Hugh Mauclerc (p. 282). " An accursed man, Hugh of Horsea, known by the appellation of the III Clerk" says Southey (Book of the Church, ed. 4, p. 143), apparently following Fuller, who speaks of him as "an officer of the church, called Hugh, the 111 Clerk" (i. 316, ed. Nichols). But Malus Clericus was evidently a surname — Malclerc (Gamier, 151) or Mauclerc (ib. 146) ; " Hugo, re et nomine Malus Clericus appellatus," Gervas. 1416 ; " Malus Clericus, Gallice Mau- clerc" Ducange, s. v.). Walter Mauclerc was a judge, and Bishop of Carlisle, in the reign of John (Godwin do Prajsul. 763 ; Foss, ii. 404) ; and it is probably the same 350 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXVIII. name -which has in later times taken the form of MocMer — perhaps, too, that of Manclarke. Benedict of Peterborough (S. T. C. ii. 60 ; Vita Henr. II. 12) ascribes the scattering of the Archbishop's brains to the fourth knight (De Morville), whom he also describes as the one whose sword was broken, and as having been instigated hy the reproach of one of his companions on account of his backwardness to strike; and this statement is copied by Hoveden (298-9) and by the author of a " Fas- sion " (in S. T. C. ii. 145). Herbert says that, " ut diceba- tur," it was Eobert de Broc (vii. 345). M. Thierry quotes (iii. 190) from some Latin verses in Hearne's appendix to "\Yilliain of Xewburgh (p. 723, Oxon. 1719): — " Willelmus Maltret percussit cum pede sanctum Dcfunctum, dicens, Pereat nunc proditor illc, Qui regem regnumque suuin turbavit, ct onmes Angligenas adversus eum consurgere fecit." The historian, however, appears to overrate the value of this as a confirmation of his Saxon theory: for (1) the incident most likely never occurred in the manner de- scribed. The most authentic writers do not mention any other insult to the lifeless body than that which is related in the text ; and this was probably the foundation of the verses, in which the name of the actor, his act, and his words, are all altered. (2.) There was no insurrection, Saxon or other, which could have given occasion for such a speech. (3.) Even if the versifier's story were true, it would be absurd to lay any especial stress on the sense of the word Angligenas — brought in, as it evidently is, for the sake of the metre. And (4.) the verses are altogether of such a character that it is absurd to treat them as any authority. Apr. XXIX. APPENDIX. 351 XXIX. — Place of Becket's Death (p. 291). The popular story (which has, I helieTe, heen universally followed by painters who have treated the subject) repre- sents Becket as having been murdered at the altar. Some say the high altar ; others, with a greater appearance of precision, the altar of St. Benedict; Trivet (p. 67) that of St. Denys. That the fact was otherwise need not be argued, after what has been said by Professors "Willis (pp. 41, 140) and Stanley. But it may be worth while to point out how early this feature was introduced into the story. John of Salisbury, who, although he had not the courage to stand by his master, was probably in some part of the cathedral while the murder took place, in writing, only a few days after the event, says that the martyr suffered " before Christ's altar" (Ep. 304). About the same time an anonymuias writer tells the Pope that the murderers set on him "ante altare " (S. T. C, vi. 304); and Theo- bald, Count of Blois — " EffusuB est sanguis justus ubi nostras viaticum salutis solebat immolari " (S. T. C, iv. 212). William of Xewburgh — " Sacerdotum magnum, stantem ad orationem ante venerandum altare, peremerunt " (ii. 25, p. 1 5G). The Lambeth biographer—" Ante altare " (123). Fitzstephen, however, has " secus aram " (i. 303), which is not quite fairly rendered in Mr. Fronde's volume, "before the altar " (p. 557) ; and in some of the old writers, while there are general expressions which seem to countenance the common story, these are corrected by more particular statements; thus, Diceto has " coram altari," and after- wards "a dextris altaris S. Benedicti " (555-6). An altar was afterwards erected in honour of " St. Thomas," imme- diately behind the spot on which the " martyrdom " took place (see Erasmus, ed. Nichols, 113, and Stanley on "the Shrine of Becket ") ; but at the time of the murder, the altar of St. Benedict stood, not on the site of that later erection, but in a small chapel to the north of it. 352 LIFE OF BECKET. Arp. XXIX. A flagstone of peculiar appearance is usually shown as that on which the Archbishop died ; and " that the spot so marked is precisely the place where Becket fell, is proved by its exact accordance with the localities so minutely described in the several narratives" (Stanley, 78). But the identity of the stone itself is questionable, inasmuch as the Peterborough Chronicle states that Benedict, on being promoted from the priory of Christchurch, Canterbury, to the abbacy of Peterborough, carried olf with bim the stones on which the martyr's blood had been shed, and made them into two altars for his new church (Chron. Petrib. ap. Sparke). And the story now commonly told — that, where a small square piece is inserted, the original stone was cut out and sent to Eome as a relic — is much more than question- able. As a tradition, it appears to have originated witbin the present century, inasmuch as it is not mentioned by Hasted (a.d. 1799), nor by any of the earlier topographers, some of whom (as Somner, Battely, and Gostling) were specially connected with the cathedral, and, therefore, could hardly have failed to know the story, if it had been current in their days, or to record it, if it had been known to them. No such relic as that in question has ever been discovered at Eome, although diligent inquiry has been made (Stanley, 78), and although at Sta. Maria Maggiore and elsewhere relics of St. Thomas are exhibited. And the passage of Baronius, which has been referred to by Mr. Morris (390) and others as evidence that " the cardinal legates, Albert and Theodwin, brought back with them [to Eome] a portion of the pavement," in reality gives no countenance to the statement; for the historian's words are — " Intulerunt in urbem sacra pignora novi Marty ris, nempe quod super ecclesice pavimentum respersum fuerat ejus capitis cerebrum, necuon ejus tunicam," &c, 1172, 12. APP. XXX. APPENDIX. 353 XXX. — Becket's Eelations. I am not aware that any brother of the Archbishop is mentioned in authentic documents ; but there are notices of three sisters : — (1.) Mary, already celebrated for her hospitality to Gamier of Pont St. Maxence (p. 7). She was appointed Abbess of Barking in 1173, at the suggestion of Odo, prior of Christchurch, Canterbury, "mandato regis patris, et contemplatione fratris." See Diceto, 570 ; Gervas. 1424 ; Flor. Vigorn. Contin., ii. 153 ; Monast. Angl., i. 437. (2.) Rohesia or lioheise, whose name is doubtless the same with that of Boesa, which the Lambeth biographer gives to the Archbishop's mother (see pp. 14-5). Gamier tells us that Henry II., on the occasion of his penance at Canterbury, — " La surur saint Thomas morci quist e cria, E en adrescement un moliu li dona, Bien ualt dis mars par an la rente qu'ele en a." — P. 1G2. My friend the Bev. L. B. Larking has published, in ' Notes and Queries ' (2nd Series, No. 46), from documents in the Becord Office, some notices of payments to Boheise from the mill in question (Eastbridge or King's Mill, Canterbury, for which see Somner, ed. Battely, Append. 5 ; Hasted, iv. 438). The first entry is in 21 Hen. II. (a.d. 1175). In 31 Hen. II. her son John is admitted to a share in the pension ; and three years later he appears alone — from which it would seem that Boheise was then dead. Dr. Lappenberg had before pointed out (n. in Bauli, 103) that there is an entry in the Bipe Boll of 1 Bich. I. (edited by Mr. Hunter for the Becord Commission) — " Johanni, filio Bohesie sororis sancti Thomte, xi. li. de eleemosyna liegis in molendino Cantuar." (p. 231). (3.) Agnes, who married Thomas, son of Theobald of 2 A 354 LIFE OF BECKET. App. XXX. Helles, or Heilli, and, in conjunction with him, founded and endowed an hospital for the brotherhood of St. Thomas of Acre, on the site where Gilbert Becket's house had stood, and which is now occupied by the Mercers' Chapel (Monast. Angl., vi. G45-7 ; Maitland's London, 88G-7). She is also said to have given, after her husband's death, a rent often shillings to St. Saviour's Hospital, Bermondsey ; and the deed of gift is witnessed by " Theobaldo milite, nepote Beati Thomse Martyris," who may probably have been her son. (Carte's Life of the D. of Ormonde, i. Introd. xiv. ed. 1 7-'?G.) Through this channel it is sup- posed that the Butlers of Ormonde were connected with Becket, according to an old family tradition, which was set forth in a petition to the King and Parliament in 32 Henry VI., and received a kind of Parliamentary sanction from the granting of the petition. (Ib. viii.-ix.) But the manner of this connexion is very obscure, and it seems likely that the Butlers may not have been descended from Tbomas and Agnes, but from another son of Theobald, so as in reality to have no blood-relationship to the family of Becket. (Ib. v. sqq.) Helles is, according to Carte, a barony in Tipperary. (Ib. xii.) In the letters written during the exile there are occa- sional notices of some of Becket's relations who had been involved in the general sentence of banishment for his sake. Thus, in Ep. 103, he recommends a sister's son (possibly John, the son of Roheise) to the Dean and Chapter of Eheims, with a request that the boy may be maintained in their house, and compelled to apply to grammatical studies; and, in Ep. 151, he bespeaks the assistance of the Archbishop-elect of Syracuse for " our sister's son G . . ." According to Mr. Morris, whose " account is entirely taken from the documents presented to the S. Congregation of Eites in 1835" (pp. 386-7, 442), some members of the Archbishop's family remained in Italy, and from these were descended " Blessed John and Peter Becket, of the Augus- tinian Eremitical Order at Fabriano," who nourished about Arr. XXX. APPENDIX. 355 the year 1400. In the church of San Tomaso Cantuariense, at Verona, " is the tomh of Giovan' Battista Beket, who claims to be of the family of the Archbishop — perhaps a descendant of some of those who followed him into exile." (Handb. for North Italy, 257, ed. 1854.) It may be well to note here, that Neander (vii. 234, ed. Bohn) has done Becket an injustice by supposing him to be the Archbishop whom Peter of Blois defends (not altogether effectually) against charges of avarice and nepotism. The letter (Pet. Bles., Ep. 38) evidently relates to the next archbishop, Richard. 2 A 2 ( 356 ) INDEX. Acre, connexion of Becket's name with, 13. Alan of Tewkesbury, collects Becket's correspondence, 6, 169; his Life of Becket, 8. Alban's, St., Abbot of, 261, 349. Albert, Cardinal, 302. Alexander III., Pope, 63 ; character of, 146 ; grants the pall to Becket, 47-8 ; holds a council at Tours, 68-70 ; refuses to confirm the Constitutions of Claren- don, 105; his reception of envoys from Becket and Henry II., 143 ; of Becket, 150, 343 ; returns to Italy, 177 ; grants Becket legatine power, 181 ; suspends his power of censures, 211 ; sends commissions to attempt his re- conciliation with the king. 202, 211, 222, 231 ; his letters as to the coro- nation of Henry's son, 238-240; his conduct on hearing of Becket's murder, 298-301. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury, 138, 244, 319; his canonization, 69. Appeals to Rome, 98-9. Archdeacons, misconduct of, 89. Arnold, Archbishop of Mentz, 288. Arnulf, Bishop of Lisieux, 26, 70, 92, 105, 183, 222, 331. Arundel, Earl of, 139, 143-4. Augustine's, St., Monastery of, 332. Avranches, reconciliation of Henry II. with the Church at, 302. B. Baillehache, 20. Bailleul, Joscelin de, 97. Battle Abbey, 61, 326. Becket, derivation of the name, 13, 14. Becket, Gilbert, 10-19 ; his children, 353-5. , Mary, Abbess of Barking, 7, 353. , Thomas, descent and birth of, 10- 15; his boyhood, 16-17; youth, 19; introduced to Archbishop Theobald, 20 ; obtains church-preferment, 2 1 ; studies law at Bologna and Auxerre, 22 ; se- cures the crown for Henry II., 23 ; further preferments, ib. ; is appointed chancellor, 25-26 ; his favour with the king, 28-30 ; his splendour, 31 ; em- bassy to France, 32; takes part in the war of Toulouse, 34-36 ; promoted to the see of Canterbury, 37-44 ; his re- lease from secular obligations, 45, 116, 337 ; his change of life, 49 ; habits as archbishop, 52-59 ; resigns the chan- cellorship, 62 ; and the archdeaconry of Canterbury, 64 ; resumes lands be- longing to his see, 65 ; meets Henry at Southampton, 67 ; attends the council of Tours, 68 ; sets up various claims, 71-73; asserts the immunity of the clergy from secular courts, 75 ; attends the council of Westminster, 90 ; has an interview with the king at Northampton, 91; agrees to accept the "customs," 95 ; his behaviour at the council of Clarendon, 97-102 ; attempts to escape into France, 106; has an interview with Henry, 107 ; attends the council of Northampton, 109 ; his flight from Northampton, 132-8 ; received at St. Bertin's, 138 ; has interviews with king Louis and the Pope, 146, 150 ; his alleged resignation and reappoint- ment, 153, 341 ; the king's measures against him, 156; his life at Pontigny, 163-7; his correspondence, 168; nego- tiations with the king, 174; appoint- ment as legate, 182; pronounces ex- INDEX. 357 BENEDICT. FOLIOT. communications at Vfeelay, 183-7 ; is dislodged from Pontigny, and settles at Sens, 190-8 ; his visions, 197 ; dealings with Cardinals William and Otho, 203-5 ; excommunicates the Bishop of London and his own arch- deacon, 209 ; his power of censures suspended, 211; refuses to be translated, 204, 213 ; attends conference at Mont- mirail, 213-16 ; pronounces fresh ex- communications, 222 ; attends confer- ence at Montmartre, 226 ; writes j violently against Henry, 232 ; and against the Roman Court, 236 ; is re- | conciled with Henry, 243 ; but finds i fresh difficulties, 245 ; returns to | England, 249-53 ; refuses to absolve bishops, 257 ; proceeds to London, but 1 is forbidden to visit the king's son, 260-1 ; has an interview with the Abbot of St. Alban's, 261, 349; his proceedings on Christmas-day, 263 ; his murder, 268-80 ; horror excited by it, 288, seqq. ; miracles and visions, 290- | 293,304; canonization, 305 ; estimate of his character, 311-20 ; whiteness of his hands, 340 ; his relics at Sens, 348 ; place of his death, 351 ; his relations, 353. Benedict of Canterbury, 7, 9. Berengar, 219. Berkhampstead, see Eye. Bernard, Monk of Grammont, 211-12, 293. Bidding of prayer, 43. Bishoprics, appointment to, 39 ; Henry's continued influence in it, 307. Boulogne, Count of, 135. Boxley, Abbot of, 286. Brito, or Le Breton, Richard, 266-80. Broc, Ranulf de, 127, 157, 186, 246, 253. , Robert de, 275, 284-5. c. Canonization, 293. Canterbury, archdeaconry of, 23 ; manner of appointment to the archbishopric of, 39. Chancellor, duties of, 27, 321 ; sale of the chancellorship, 28, 322. Charlemagne as to trial of clergy, 84. Chichester, Hilary Bishop of, 61, 90-2, 116, 125, 142-3, 326. Chinon, conference at, 182. Cistercians, 42, 161, 190. Clarembald, abbot-elect of St. Augustine's, 94, 210, 332. Clarendon, council of, 96-100. Clergy, immunities of, 76, 310, 329. Cornhill, Gervase de, 253. Coronation, right of performing, 238, 251. Cornwall, Earl of, 100, 116-23. D. Danegeld, 73, 329. Diceto, R. de, chronicler, 8, 337. " Dignities," 224. Durham, Geoffrey, bishop of, 322. E. Eleanor, queen, 25, 147 ; claim of, to Toulouse, 34-5. Eleemosyna, abbey of, 335. Engelbert, abbot, 211. Eugenius III., pope, 83. Eustace, son of king Stephen, 25-6, 238. Excommunication of the king's tenants in chief, 73. Exeter, Bartholomew, bishop of, 61, 116, 142-4, &c. Eye and Berkhampstead, castles of, 30, 91, 338. Eynesford, 72, 345. F. "Filius Excussorum," 336. Fitznigel, William, 269, 274. Fitzstephen, William, biographer, 8 ; hit connexion with Becket, ib., 321 ; at- tends him at Northampton, 122 ; re- mains in England, 158 ; is present at the murder, 281. Fitzurse, Reginald, 266-80. Foliot, Gilbert, 61, 98, &c. ; account of, 41-3 ; opposes Becket's election, 45 ; is made Bishop of London, 41 , 324 ; op- poses Becket, 93 ; claims independence for his see, 94, 221 ; his letters, 42, 101, 189, 325; his conduct at North- 2 B 358 FOLIOT. INDEX. INTERDICT. ampton, 115-31 ; goes on an embassy to the French king and the Pope, 135- 143 ; has custody of benefices belonging to the exiles, 15G, 160 ; has a meeting with cardinals William and Otho, 207 ; is excommunicated, 209 ; a second time, 219 ; the sentence announced to him, 219-22; is absolved, 235; joins in crowning the king's son, 241 ; again excommunicated, 250 ; goes to the king, 265 ; is absolved, 301 ; anecdote of him, 324 ; his influence with Henry, 308. Foliot, Robert, Bishop of Hereford, 308. Frederick I., emperor, (Barbarossa), 68, 147-8, 181 ; sends an embassy to Henry, 175-6; holds a diet at Wiirz- burg, 176 ; his reverses in Italy, 205. French language, 19. Froude, Rev. R. H., 3. G. Gamier, biographer, 6, 35. Geoffrey of Anjou, 25. — of Monmouth, 47, 208. , provost of Beverley, 322. Gerard the shoeless, 180. Gilbert of Sempringham, 339. Giles, Rev. Dr., 4-5, 169. Grammont, order of, 212, 293. Gratian, author of the ' Decretuni,' 22, 79. , papal commissioner, 222-5, 228. Gregory VII., 127, 318. Grim, Edward, 5, 276, 281, 336. Guichard, abbot of Pontigny, 162, 185. Hamelin, Earl, 128. Hastings, deanery of, 30. Henry II., accession of, 23-5 ; makes l Becket his Chancellor, 26 ; intimacy with him, 29 ; claims Toulouse, 34 ; I nominates Becket as Archbishop, 37 ; is displeased with him, 62-4; met by him at Southampton, 67 ; is opposed by him as to a tax, 73 ; insists that clergymen shall be tried by secular courts, 76 ; holds a council at West- minster, 89 ; interview with Becket at Northampton, 91 ; forms a party among the Bishops, 92 ; holds a council at Clarendon, 96-103 ; refuses a legatine commission, 105 ; interview with Becket, 107 ; holds a council at North- ampton, 109-131 ; sends an embassy to the French king and the Pope, 139 ; fear and dislike of him abroad, 142, 289 ; his measures against Becket's partisans, 156 ; negotiations with the Emperor, 175-6 ; his interview with some of Becket's clerks, 177; negotia- tions with the Archbishop, 179 ; holds a meeting at Chinon, 182 ; dislodges Becket from Pontigny, 190 ; interview with Cardinals William and Otho, 207 ; interview with Louis and Becket at Montmirail, 213-6; with Gratian and Vivian, 224 ; meeting at Montmartre, 226-7 ; fresh orders against Becket, 229 ; gets his son crowned, 238-41 ; is recon- ciled with Becket, 242 ; further meet- ings,247-9 ; interview with the censured bishops, 265 ; hears of Becket's murder, 296 ; sends an embassy to the Pope, 297 ; is reconciled with the Pope at Avranches, 302 ; does penance at Becket's shrine, 306 ; retains influence in ecclesiastical affairs, 307 ; Dean Oilman's character of him, 314. Henry, son of Henry II., is placed under Becket's care, 31 ; embassy to seek a wife for him, 32 ; grants Becket a re- lease from secular obligations, 43-5 ; Becket resigns the charge of him, 67-8 ; is crowned, 237-41 ; refuses to see Becket, 259 ; makes engagements at AvTanches, 303 ; rebels against his father, 305-8. , Archbishop of York, 23. Herbert of Bosham, biographer, 5-7, 46, 55, 80, 103, 120-2-7-9, 142-3, 166, 178, 195, 264, 292, &c. Hugh of Nunant, bishop of Lichfield, 121, 308. Huit-deniers, Osbern, 19. I. Idonea, 251. Interdict, 242. INDEX. 359 JOHN. J. John of Oxford, 105 ; presides at the council of Clarendon, 96 ; has an inter- view with Henry's mother, 159 ; attends the diet of Wiirzburg, 175-6 ; gets the deanery of Salisbury, and is excommunicated by Becket, 186; but absolved, and confirmed in the deanery by the Pope, 200-2 ; escorts Becket on his return, 250, 254; is made bishop of Norwich, 307. of Salisbury, 2, 4, 89, 93, 275, 281, &c. ; his Life of Becket, 7 ; Life of Anselm, 69 ; account of him, 173 ; remonstrates as to Becket's studies, 167 ; other remonstrances, 194, 203, 219; has interviews with Henry II., 177, 247 ; his verses on Becket and Theobald, 323. Justinian, 330. L. L'Aigle, Richer de, 18. " Lambethiensis, Anonymus," 5, 8, 15. La Pucelle, Gerard, 308. Leicester, Earl of, 100, 116-7, 123, 126, 175. Lincoln, Robert, Bishop of, 115. Llewellyn, Alexander, 120, 264, 294, 299. Lombard, canonist, 67. Louis VII. of France, 211-2, &c. ; his character, 140 ; receives Becket as ambassador, 33 ; takes part in the war of Toulouse, 34-5 ; gives audience to envoys from Becket and the King, 141-2 ; establishes the exiles at Sens, 195 ; meetings with Henry and Becket at Montmirail, 213, and Montmartre, 226 ; writes to the Pope against Henry, 295. Luci, Richard de, Chief Justiciary, 38-9, 61, 97, 139, 186, &c. Lucius II., Pope, 268, 287. M. Marshal, John, 108, 110-1, 113. Mary, St., Littory, 21. Matilda, mother of Henry II., 19, 25, 153. , mother of Becket, 10-16, 17. Mauclerc, Hugh, 282, 349. ROCHESTER. Mercers' chapel, London, 10, 354. Merton priory, 17. Montmartre, meeting at, 227. Montmirail, meeting at, 213-6. Morville, Hugh de, 266-80. N. Nevers, Bishop of, 231. Nicolas of Mont St. Jacques, 154. Northampton, meeting at, 109, sqq. Norwich, Bishop of, 100, 112, 208. o. Octonummi, 19. Osbert, Archdeacon of York, 75. Otho, Cardinal, 202-8. P. Paschal, Antipope, 147, 176. Peter of Blois, 241. of La Celle, 175. of Pavia, 225. Peterpence, 145, 181. Philip, Abbot of l'Aumone, 95, 334. Pontigny, 153, 162-3, 196. Poitiers, John, Bishop of, 163, 166, 196, 314, &c. Q. " Quadrilogus," 4. R. Reginald, Archbishop of Cologne, 175, 205. , Archdeacon of Salisbury, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Arch- bishop of Canterbury, 210, 308. Richard, Prior of St. Martin's, Dover, and afterwards Archbishop, 73, 82, 259, 309, 355. of Ilchester, Archdeacon of Poitiers, 105, 139, 175 ; becomes Bishop of Winchester, 307. Ridel, Geoffrey, Archdeacon of Canterbury, 65, 105, 209, 222, 228-9 ; is made Bishop of Ely, 301 ; his family, 327. Robert of Melun, Bishop of Hereford. 93, 95, 131, 287. of Merton, 165, 285. Rochester, bishopric of, 21 ; castle, 71, 247. 360 INDEX. ROESA. YORK. Roesa or Roheisia, 14-5, 353. Roger of Pont l'Eveque, 105,121 ; shows enmity to Becket, 20 ; becomes Arch- deacon of Canterbury, 21 ; and Arch- bishop of York, 23; claims the right of consecrating Becket, 46 ; sets up pretensions against Canterbury, 92-4 ; his behaviour at Northampton, 121-5 ; on a mission to the French King and the Pope, 142-4 ; crowns Henry's son, 238-41 ; is suspended, and complains to the King, 250, 258, 265 ; purges him- self of a share in Becket's death, 301 ; his behaviour at a council, 258 ; said to have bought the Chancellorship for his nephew, 322. of Pontigny, 5, 8. Rotrou de Beaumont, Bishop of Evreux, and afterwards Archbishop of Rouen, 107, 176, 183, 225-6, 228, 249, 250 ; ; alienated by Becket's assumption, 194, 225 ; employed as a commissioner, 231. s. Sackville, Nigel de, 229, 248, 264. Salisbury, Josrelin, Bishop of, 100-1, 119, 186, 219, 241, 250, 301. Scutage, 34. Seez, Bishop of, 183, 226, 241. Sempringham, order of, 338. Sens, description of, 198 ; relics of Becket at, 348. , William, Archbishop of, 198, 216, 229, 231 ; writes to the Pope against Henry, 236, 294 ; interdicts the King's dominions, 301. Sicily, 159. Simon of Mont-Dieu, 211. Stephen, King, 23-4, 73, 323. T. Theobald, Count of Blois, 295. , Archbishop of Canterbury, 14, 20, 22, 37, 46, 60, 73, 75, 139, 238, 323. Theotwin, Cardinal, 302. Thierry's theory as to Becket, 2, 12, 13, 1 52-3, 67, 93, 327, 350, &c. Toulouse, war of, 33-6, 60. Tours, council of, 68-71. Troparv, 111. Tracy, 'William de, 266-280. Tuesdays, remarkable, 339. Tunbridge castle, 71. U. Urban, Cistercian Abbot, 179. V. Ve'zelay, 184-6 ; description of, 347 ; date of Becket's excommunications there, 347. Victor IV., Antipope, 68. Villeins, ordination of, 99. Vivian, Archdeacon of Orvieto, 222-8. w. Walcher, Bishop of Durham, 287. Waldric, Bishop of Laon, 287. Walter, Archdeacon of Canterbury, and afterwards Bishop of Rochester, 21,112, 117, 241, 259. Warrenne, Reginald de, 253. Westminster, council of, 89. William the Conqueror, separation of spiritual and secular courts by, 84, 330. of Canterburv, biographer, 8. of EynesfordJ 72-3, 114. of Newbury, 8. of Pavia, Cardinal, 151, 202-8, 250. of Salisbury, 158. , St., of York, 75. Winchester, Henry, Bishop of, 62, 121, 208, &c. ; his power under Stephen, 22-4 ; claims release for Becket, 45 : consecrates him, 46-7 ; advises him at Northampton, 115-6 ; assists him with money, 159 ; on his deathbed is visited by Henry II., 302. Wolf, editor of the Life and Letters, 4, 6. Worcester, Roger, Bishop of, 202, 240, 297, 300. y. York, Archbishops of ; see Henry, William, Roger. LON DON : PRINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, AND CHARING CROSS. Aleemarle Street, London. January, 1860. . MR MURRAY'S GENERAL LIST OF WORKS. ABBOTT'S (Rev. J.) Philip Musgrave; or, Memoirs of a Church of England Missionary in the North American Colonies. Post 8vo. 2s. 6d. 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