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III.

aggrandisement, which he thought he could most promote CHAP. by exalting the power of the Church;-that he had long aimed at the primacy, with the intention, as soon as he had obtained it, to trample on the Crown; and that, to disarm the suspicion of the King, he pretended to conform to all his notions respecting ecclesiastical as well as secular affairs; that from the moment of his elevation he threw off the mask, and did every thing in his power to annoy and injure his benefactor, as if animated by the most deadly spite against him; that he proved his want of principle by swearing to observe the Constitutions of Clarendon, and immediately afterwards, regardless of his oath, infringing them himself, and stirring up others to resist them; that during his banishment, though he displayed firmness worthy of a better cause, he continued, from selfish motives, to refuse all reasonable terms of accommodation, and to plot against his Sovereign and his country; that when at last restored, he broke the engagements into which he had entered, persecuted his opponents with implacable resentment, and showed that, according to his long-fostered design, he was still determined to make priests in the West, like Brahmins in the East, the dominant caste, for the purpose of himself, as their leader, exercising absolute sway;-that he provoked his tragical end; and that, although the deed of his assassins cannot be strictly defended, there is reason to rejoice in it, as the hazards and the evils of his daring enterprise were thus shown to be greater than the advantages to be attained by it, ecclesiastical encroachment was effectually checked, and no more Odos, Dunstans, Anselms, or Beckets appear in our annals.

On the other hand, say the undiscriminating worshippers By his of Papal supremacy,—Becket having had the primacy pressed eulogists. upon him by the King for the purpose of subverting the authority of the Church, so necessary to the maintenance of true religion, then, for the first time, thought seriously of the duties and obligations of this new dignity, and his eyes were at once opened to the necessity of a new course of life, both for his own sake and for the good of others. Although, like Wolsey in a subsequent age, he might have joined in his

CHAP.
III.

own person all civil and spiritual power, enjoyed ease, wealth, and pleasure, and reigned in the King's name, he saw that such a course, however agreeable, would be sinful; that great sacrifices were required from him, and that he must thenceforth exclusively dedicate himself to the discharge of his spiritual duties. He therefore afforded the single instance which has ever occurred of the Chancellorship being voluntarily resigned, either by layman or ecclesiastic. He meditated nothing beyond what belonged properly to his sacred office, when the King began the persecution against him, which only ended with his murder. The Constitutions of Clarendon, however consonant to the doctrines of Wickliffe, afterwards adopted by Luther, were inconsistent with the clear precepts of the gospel, and the privileges and immunities conferred upon the apostles and their successors, and, at all events, were inconsistent with established law and custom. In a moment of weakness Becket promised to observe them; but this was to save himself from fatal violence which then threatened, and at last overtook him. A forced promise is not binding, and from this promise he was formally absolved by the Vicar of Christ. The unfounded charges brought against him at Northampton, and the unjust pecuniary demands then made upon him, with the threats of personal outrage, rendered it necessary for him to seek an asylum on the Continent, to appeal to foreign nations, and to put himself under the protection of the common Father of Christians. While at Pontigny, Sens, and at Rome, he was always willing to make any personal sacrifice for reconciliation, so that the cause of religion was safe; but the King, under pretence of guarding his royal dignity, was still bent on prosecuting his scheme for annihilating the influence of the clergy, which nothing but the heroic courage of one man hindered him from accomplishing. The conditions solemnly ratified at Fereitville the King was the first to violate. The excommunication of the three prelates was in strict accordance with the canon law, which was parcel of the law of the land; and Becket's only chance, either of personal safety or of preserving the liberties of the country, was then to enforce the rights which clearly belonged to his office and to his order. His martyrdom must be considered one of the most splendid that has occurred since the propagation

111.

of the gospel to edify Christians, for, not ignorant of what СНАР. was prepared for him, and being able at any time, by a slight concession, to avert his fate, he braved the assassins whom he could not withstand, and he received the deadly wounds they inflicted upon him with a constancy which could only have proceeded from a fervent faith in the promises of revelation, and the immediate aid of its divine Author.

mate of his character.

Setting aside exaggeration, and miracle, and religious pre- Just estijudice, I must confess I am inclined to think that this last view of Becket is not only the more merciful, but the more just. I cannot doubt his sincerity, and almost all will agree that he believed himself to be sincere. Let us consider the sudden effect of the touch of the mitre on men of honour in our own time. It must be remembered that by the same ardour and enthusiasm he was led to put on a coat of mail and engage in single combat with a stalwart knight, and afterwards to wear a shirt of hair and to submit to the discipline of the whip. If he bore implacable resentment, he showed inflexible resolution in the support of what he considered a good cause, willingly submitting to poverty, exile, and death itself.

Both sides concur in ascribing to him brilliant talents, Result. great acquirements, and delightful manners, which captivated alike king and commonalty.

Becket

champion

race.

Some have lately thought they discovered in Becket a Whether patriot who took up the cause of the Saxons, and quarrelled with the Normans in trying to obtain justice for his country- of Saxon men; but although he is celebrated for his impartiality to both races while Chancellor, I can find nothing political in his subsequent disputes,—which appear to me to have been purely between the civil and spiritual authorities, and not between race and race.*

Thierry, the great supporter of the notion that Becket's actions and his fate are to be explained from his being the champion of the Saxon race against Norman oppression, quotes (iii. 190.) from a note in Hearne's edition of William of Newbury:

"Willelmus Maltret percussit cum pede sanctum
Defunctum, dicens; Pereat nunc proditor ille,
Qui regem regnumque suum turbavit, et omnes
Angligenas adversus eum consurgere fecit."

But there was no insurrection in England during, Henry's reign, and the poem

CHAP.

III.

Becket's letters.

We can best judge him by the large collection of his letters which have come down to us. In these, although we should in vain look for the classical style and delicate raillery of Erasmus, we find a vigour, an earnestness, and a reach of thought quite unexampled in the productions of the age in which he lived. Making us familiar with him, they explain to us the extraordinary ascendancy which he acquired over the minds of mankind.*

from which these lines are taken, giving an exaggerated account of the martyrdom of St. Thomas, is evidently the production of a later age.

* See Fitzstephen, Hoveden, Quadrologus, Lord Lyttelton's History of Henry II., Thierry's History of the Norman Conquest, Epist. Sane. Thom.; Sanctus Thomas Cantuariensis, ed. J. A. Giles; and a Life of Becket in the English Review," for September and December 1846.

CHAPTER IV.

CHANCELLORS FROM THE RESIGNATION OF THOMAS à BECKET
TO THE DEATH OF HENRY II.

son.

CHAP.

IV.

Obscure

Chancel

lors after

Becket.

JOHN.

A.D. 1173.

THE history of the Great Seal during the reign of Henry II. is left in a state of much uncertainty from the time when it was resigned in 1162 by Thomas à Becket till it was delivered in 1181 to Geoffrey Plantagenet, the King's natural In this interval there were very powerful chief justiciars-Richard de Luci, and Robert Earl of Leicester; and they probably rendered the office of Chancellor for the time of little consequence. However, we find the names of several who are said to have held it. First, "JOANNES Cancellarius "* occurs; but of this John Chancellor we know not the surname, nor what other dignity he ever attained. Next comes RODOLPHUS de Warnavilla, of whom we only know that when he was appointed he was archdeacon of Rohan. The third is WALTER de Constantiis, who was made Bishop of Ely. Although the last is supposed to have been at one time Chancellor to the King, it would appear that in the year 1175 he only held the Great Seal as a deputy, if we may judge from the account given us by Hoveden of an embassy to the Earl of Flanders, in which he was joined with the famous Ranulphus de Glanvil, afterwards Chief Justiciar, and the earliest writer on the Law of England. On this occasion he is described as " Vice-Cancellarius." What share any of these Chancellors had in the stirring events of the time,―the framing of the Constitutions of Clarendon, the deadly controversy with Becket, --the conquest of Ireland, - the war with Scotland, -the feudal

Spel. Glos. 109.

† Ib. Or. Jur. 3.

Et ad audienaum inde responsum comitis (Flandriæ) misit Walterum de Constantiis, VICE-CANCELLARIUM suum et Ranulphum de Glanvilla. Hoveden, P. ii. p. 561. n. 10.

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